Akiko Katagiri

Let me explain... Onna-bugeisha or a female samurai sounds really badass... but here's an episode that lead me to finding my own path to seeking my inner onna-bugeisha.

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When I was in college, when I told someone I wanted to be an actor, he laughed at my face and told me,

"With that face!?"

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Although I was in a great theater program in Southern California and enjoyed every class I took, I suffered with acne and was super self-conscious of my looks. When this insensitive Japanese man demolished all integrity and courage I summoned up to that moment as an actor, I became fearful of trusting people and never told people I dreamed of wanting  to be an actor. It was sad. Not because of what he said, but because I didn't have the courage to stand up for myself or even cry and show how emotionally distraught I was. It was sad because I simply, laughed it off and agreed with him.

Well, 10 years later, thanks to this incident, I've been able to stubbornly walk this path -- simply because I love the work too much or maybe even out of spite to prove him wrong. Thanks to my mentor and good people who encourage me to follow my heart, I accepted just how too passionate I was to walk this path of storytelling.

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I know there are more "beautiful", more "talented", and only a handful of "lucky" people out there, but here's one girl who simply wants to play just as she did when she was 5 years old playing house all alone as she waited for her sisters to come home from school. I love people. And I love stories. And I want to be the mediator of the world that connects one person to another through story.

There must be some sort of meaning behind even this traumatizing episode of hearing someone affirm how he thought how ugly I was. So I simply say, "Thank you" to this man who allowed me to see beyond my physical being, my skin texture, the size of my eyes, my lips, my everything that makes me who I am -- A hybrid Japanese women from Guam living in America in 2020.

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I continue to seek what my mission is as a storyteller in this world on a daily basis, and I hope I get to be a part of yours too one day. If it involves Japanese sword fighting, now that's a BIG plus. Nice to meet you. I'm Akiko.