I was in the latter years of elementary school when I started to notice that I was different to everyone around me. I was born a ‘woman’. However, I felt like a man at heart. “Why do I feel out of place?” “Am I the only person in the world with such worries?” I asked myself these questions from junior to senior high school. The first time I got to know the word “gender dysphoria”, it was a relief because I then knew that there were other people with the same worries.

However, when I looked it up on the Internet, virtually all the information was about medical operations. I wanted to be a teacher but I couldn’t visualize the future.

When I entered the third year at university, people around me started to encourage me to search for a job. However, I didn’t want to wear a woman’s job interview suit. On the other hand, I felt that wearing a man’s suit would be unacceptable, so I wasn’t even able to get off the starting line. As a result, I didn’t go to any job-hunting seminars and I started to feel like I was giving up on life. It was at that time that one of my elders at my part-time job said, “Being different is attractive in itself. I’ll always be on your side, so live your life the way you want to.” Up to then I had been distressed that I could not lead a normal life, so those words turned my life around 180 degrees. I decided to lead a life true to myself and found a job as a man. I underwent sex reassignment surgery and changed my family registration from a woman to a man.

I started to think, “just as I was saved, next time I want it to be me to have someone’s back.” So, I moved from Okinawa to Hiroshima to start activities to reaise awareness for a diversity of sexualities. At the time I had no money and connections . I gave a lecture, which was attended by 17 people in a poky little venue. But this was the first step and I got started my activism in Hiroshima.

Above all, the major turning point was my meeting with Sakura Takahata in December 2017. With a shared desire to “support children worried about sexuality”, I launched “Cocoiro hiroshima” with Takahata san. It is a voluntary organization so the financial side is difficult, but we have made progress, such as meeting lots of people through our activities, planning gatherings for playing with children, giving lectures to the general public, and paying school visits. I hope that Cocoiro hiroshima grows even more in the future and that we continue to carry out activities until we gain a more significant social presence.

I currently work in the welfare sector, which I do alongside my activity work. My job is providing after-school day services, which involves interacting with children with disabilities. People with disabilities have different difficulties and hardships in their lives, dipending on the type of disabilities they have. That’s why I work face-to-face with the kids and every day is trial-and-error. I have made many mistakes, but seeing changes in children at close-up stimulates me.

My welfare job, my lectures and Cocoiro hiroshima activities are important for society and for ‘somebody’. I hope that you all live your lives without regret while asking yourself ‘What kind of person do I want to be’ and ‘What should I do to make that happen?’.

Published in "Follow your own path" (2019-)
Affiliation, job title, etc. are as of the publication of the 2019 edition of "Follow your own path".