Hello, all! I am from Urasoe but raised in America. My grandparents moved to mainland over 60 years ago from America and raised their children there, including my father. When he married my mom they moved back to America and raised me and my 4 sisters. My dad’s family is still there and I am getting ready to go back and visit. Obviously Okinawa calls to me and I will be going home for majority of my visit. Being a TCK, the only place I have ever felt at home was Okinawa and I know that since I began there, I’ll end there. It’s the only place in the world my heart belongs to. It’s hard to explain but I can almost literally feel a pull to Okinawa. I always have. But anyways. My aunt lived on Okinawa for majority of her life and we got on the subject of my tattoos. We spoke about hajichi and it fascinated me so I did a very deep dive on my research of it. I will say, I absolutely want to get hajichi on my trip out there. But seeing as I am half white half black with no Okinawan blood, my sister called me a colonizer and said it would be cultural appropriation. I’m not exactly sure where to go or what to think at this point. I feel one way in my heart and another way in my head. To be clear, I don’t just want hajichi because they “look cool” or anything like that. They are quite significant and sacred to me. Maybe too sacred for a “colonizer” like me. Any input would be appreciated as long as you keep it respectful! Thank you.
Edited: auto correct turned all my Okinawa into Oki for some reason and I just wanted to clarify that we don’t call Okinawa “Oki”!
by jcorb93