Born in Japan and raised in the United States, I have always existed between two worlds—familiar yet foreign, rooted yet untethered. Language, the very bridge between people, felt distant to me. Returning to Japan as an adolescent, I recognized my heritage but struggled to find my place within it. I am Japanese, yet I wavered in the spaces between belonging and estrangement. In my exploration for expression beyond words, I found solace in art. My first visit to New York City's MoMA was a quiet revelation—René Magritte’s "The Lovers" made me stop, made me feel. The faceless figures, veiled in mystery, reflected an unspoken truth: emotions cannot always be seen, touched, or neatly interpreted. Instead, they live in the spaces between perception and interpretation. That moment shaped my creative path. I came to understand design not just as aesthetics but as a language—one that speaks without barriers, that invites connection beyond borders, beyond words. To me, graphic design is the purest form of communication, a universal dialogue where culture, identity, and imagination converge. As I navigate the reciprocation of visuals and storytelling, I am drawn to the fluidity of the Japanese language, its abstraction, and its ability to shape meaning in infinite ways. This has led me to creative writing, editorial work, and a constant pursuit of new forms of expression. At the heart of my work lies a singular belief: no matter where we come from, what language we speak, or what stories we carry, we all seek to be understood. And in that pursuit, design becomes more than art—it becomes connection.