Born from the waves lapping at the shores of California, I have sought light and enlightenment in many places. I have always loved learning and devoting myself to a practice, where I would be challenged in mind and body. As a young woman, I was driven as a competitive swimmer. Swimming brought me peace and focus, free from gravity and embraced by the water. When I returned to San Francisco this summer, I swam in the San Francisco Bay, challenging myself and now training to swim to the nearby island of Alcatraz (known for its time as an impenetrable federal penitentiary).
In late 2019, my husband and I were living in Vienna, Austria, when he was offered a position at the regional office of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Tokyo, Japan. We decided to accept the offer as of January 2020, but had to wait for the invitation from the Government of Japan. In February 2020, I went on my first mission as an international election observer to Azerbaijan. When I returned to Vienna, I learned that my brother had contracted a mysterious illness and was on life support in San Francisco, so I flew straight there. Miraculously, he recovered and was able to leave the hospital, as there was an inundation of admissions. At this time, talk of the pandemic seemed unreal, but major carriers began to cancel flights, so I jumped on the next flight out to Vienna, which was one of the last international flights before planes were grounded. Austria soon came under quarantine measures, and my husband, daughter and I were sequestered (along with the rest of the population) at home. In Austria, one could only move within one kilometer of your residence for groceries or medicine, and the police were patrolling, to ensure directives were followed.
To our surprise, in March we received a letter of invitation from the Government of Japan – this gave us hope for the future, in what seemed like a strange new world. Slowly, pandemic controls loosened. We could leave the house for 15 minutes to take the air but still had to remain in our neighborhood. As the summer approached, we realized that we had to prepare for our move. After 15 years in Vienna, it was time to winnow our collected belongings, as we hoped for a streamlined voyage to Japan in what felt like a dream world, still in the midst of a pandemic. We arrived in the height of summer: hot, humid and straight into quarantine – two weeks to re-calibrate and find our feet.
After living most of my adult life abroad, I have loved getting to know Japan. My work with an agency of the United Nations focused on food and agriculture brought me to Rome, Italy (6.5 years); Accra, Ghana (9 months); and Vienna, Austria (15 years!) where I met my husband and gave birth to my daughter. Along the way there were many detours and stops in many places in the world, yet sometimes I feel I have been nowhere at all. It seems like it was all unplanned, although I am sure I made a push at certain stages.
During my time in Japan, I have tried to learn a little bit of culture through language lessons and 書道, engaging with the history of objects through 金継ぎ, walking through the city and nearby mountains 森林浴. Training and athletics are never far from my routine, and in an outdoor boot camp I met Suz Wilkinson, who invited me to join her in taiko. Through this group of taikons (our moniker is ‘She Bangs’), I have met many wonderful women.
About a year ago, Suz hosted a get-together to tell us about CWAJ, and encouraged us to consider membership. By the end of summer 2024 I had joined, along with Patricia Cascio and Marisa Kellam. We quickly were drawn to the many activities – hikes and culture with Magdalena Iwamura and Ko Iwata, and soon we were recruited by Suz for the Scholarship Committee. As I was excited about CWAJ, I wanted to get to know more about the full range of activities, and I volunteered for the Print Show, helping out wherever was needed. I helped with set-up of the gallery, learned how to use SquarePay to sell catalogues and cards and calendars, loved getting to know the art, the show managers and the guides, and I took a turn monitoring the galleries. After the scholarship activities in the fall, in January I was asked to join the Print Show committee as the 3rd co-chair. I also joined the YPA group, and loved to support students by giving mock interviews in English for Tsukuba.
It has been a pleasure to get to know CWAJ, and I look forward to contributing to the Print Show, the Scholarship Committee, and to other forms of community service, as and when opportunities arise.
OM Profiles, commissioned and edited by Jennie Orchard
Katherine with her taiko group in the front row far left.
