Yuto's Yip Yap

What’s the most memorable thing you ever got in the mail? When I was in second grade, my family had moved to Champaign, and I had begun a new chapter in my life. Soon enough, I would face a big challenge: going to a new school. One of the things that helped me overcome this challenge was a piece of mail sent to me from the other side of the world. The summer before we moved, my family went back to Japan to visit my grandparents. During that time, I attended a Japanese school for two weeks to learn and have a different experience from school in America. I was scared. I was worried about not making any friends and spending the two weeks without having much fun. On the first day, I walked into the classroom to meet nineteen other classmates who were eager to meet me. Everyone would come talk to me at any chance they got, hitting me with question after question. After coming home from school, my parents asked me how my day was, to which I responded, “Not bad.” I wasn’t lonely, but I didn’...

Have you ever felt embarrassed by the things that you used to like?      I don’t remember how I discovered superheroes, but by the time I was in preschool, they were my favorite topic. I personally was a huge fan of the Power Rangers and the Japanese Masked Riders series, and watched every new season. I collected the figures, collectible cards, and the big, chunky gadgets with flashing lights and sounds. When I saw new toys at my friends’ houses, I would spend hours playing with those toys, fascinated by them. I was so into them that I went to a Power Ranger museum, taking photos with each of the heroes that, at the time, I didn’t know were random people dressed up. I’d write my own comics based on the superheroes and pretend that I was one of them, fighting the invisible monsters in the backyard.      It wasn’t until maybe fifth grade when I started to feel embarrassed talking about superheroes. My friends that I had once talked about superheroes with ha...