In eighth grade, I began interviewing Japanese entrepreneurs who had chosen to build businesses and lives in Beijing. Across six conversations, I asked what had brought them to China, how they navigated cultural differences, and what it meant to build something in a place that was not originally home.
I wrote each conversation into a profile, hoping to make their experiences more visible across the Japanese and Chinese communities around me. These conversations introduced me to storytelling through listening; understanding how someone's unique experiences, choices, and sense of home could unfold through a conversation. How much a personal conversation could reveal that broader impressions never could.
