Owning my domain

Enoden tram near my house.

In many areas in my life, I’ve found that I’m the “third culture.”

The genesis

There’s a notion of “third culture kids” that are born to parents of different countries/territories/cultures, who create for themselves a “third culture” that is distinct from either parent’s culture. On the surface level, this describes me and my siblings, of course, being raised in both Japan and England and speaking the languages of both.

Digging deeper, though… In my life, I’ve found that I’ve consistently placed myself in various situations where I am a “third culture.” Not merely in the national/ethnic/regional sense, but in other senses too.

For instance, my day-to-day work as a Client Partner requires me to occupy a space that is both sympathetic to the client, but also in a position to advocate for my team’s interests to (sometimes against) the client. I’m both a client advocate and a team advocate, and also not really part of either culture.

Of both, but distinct.

When I’m working to coordinate teams toward a solution, I’m often the bridge between design culture (is this experience valuable? do these feature requirements represent the experience we want the customer to enjoy?) and technology/delivery culture (is this feasible? Is the solution elegant? Is it futureproof?).

Of both, but distinct.

This website

As I explained above, the domain that I often occupy in life is the “third culture,” and the domain that my website occupies is 3rdcultures.com. I hope to keep this website and blog going as a record of the view from there, both professional and private.

I often have thoughts that are too long for a tweet, or more permanent, or more considered. I may fancy creating a photo gallery that’s semi-public, but worth more than just a share on social networks and that I want to present a certain way. This website is my place on the web.