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Sentence starters:

1. One character trait that I notice in Eriko is....

2. Eriko is often......... and therefore I would say she is......

3. When Eriko feels or experiences ....... it shows that she is.....

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Erico started off the story as a stubborn character, she was insecure about her culture and was identifying herself American. She shows traits of arrogance when she started judging Miho without even getting to know her, she was trying to show how shes different and not similar to her. As the story progressed, she became more humble and calm about her tradition and culture, after learning what a true friend is, she didnt care to be judged anymore, she accepted the fact that she is Japanese and always will be. Erico became a loyal person to her culture in the end and also was calm about her race.

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Examples of character traits:

Compassionate: Shows empathy and care for others.

Courageous: Able to face danger or fear without flinching.

Generous: Willing to give or share freely.

Honest: Truthful and sincere.

Humble: Not arrogant; modest.

Kind: Friendly, generous, and considerate.

Loyal: Faithful to people, values, or duties.

Adaptable: Able to adjust to new conditions.

Ambitious: Having a strong desire to achieve success.

Calm: Not showing or feeling nervousness, anger, or other strong emotions.

Creative: Using imagination to make or invent things.

Curious: Eager to learn or know something.

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She demonstrates honesty in the ending of the story because, despite everything that has happened throughout the story, she finally finds the courage to come clean and reveal her true origins to people. She also shows rudeness in some parts of the story, such as in the part when she had to tell people about her culture, and she and the other girl did Japan, and at the end, one of the kids said, "My grandpa died in Pearl Harbour" and she wanted to reply, "What about Hiroshima?"

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is that she was compassionate because even though she did not like her, I noticed that in the end, she wanted to help Eriko, and she regretted not helping her

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One character trait that I noticed in Eriko was her stubbornness. Throughout the story she refused to claim Japan as her part of her identity, even going as far as avoiding Miho to not be associated with Japan as much as possible, as she sees her true identity to be America. In the end, Eriko accepted her heritage but she stills believes Japan is not her true home.

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When Eriko feels or experiences pressure or being uncomfortable, it shows that she is quite prone to being self-conscious and trying to put the blame on anyone else. This is evident when Miko came to the school and she wouldn't act friendly to her because she didn't want to be friends with her and made fun of her behind her back. This also showed when they had a presentation and a kid talked about Hiroshima and the next day she show absolutely no compassion for her culture.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is mostly negative behaviour such as, arrogant, cowardly and mean. She is like that because she has a lot of insecurity about her culture when people ask and she doesn't want to be compared to the eastern habits that Japanese people have. Furthermore she is courageous for the topics that she is interested in. She only is courageous for the subjects that suit her and her friends.

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I think throughout the story there was a lot of character development that Eriko faced. At first I perceived Eriko as selfish, insecure and mean especially when it came to her behaviours towards Meeho. As well as projecting her insecurities onto to other people of the same ethnic background as her, Japan. However, I notice towards the end of the story that she became more accepting to her culture and isn't ashamed of her Japanese roots which showed courage.

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One character trait that I discern in Eriko is how she is regularly aggravated when someone informs her that she has features alike to a native Japanese. This is evident when Eriko meets a male individual at a frat party who advised her that she had the accent of a Japanese and she got aggravated or when she goes to a boarding camp in Japan and her dorm mates inform her that she is clearly from Japanese origins even though she insists she is American. Another character trait that I notice in Eriko is that she constantly shifts her perspective on her true ethnicity. This is palpable when Eriko in in school and in college and constantly transitions her views about her ethnicity such as when she does a project with Miko about Japan or when she went to a Japanese festival, she felt prideful about her Japanese culture, meanwhile in school she constantly reminds her peers that she is in fact American and refuses to accept the fact that she is ethnically Japanese. Lastly, a character train that is present in Eriko is how she is a follower. Eriko noted the popular girls ranking out the new Japanese girl in the class, so Eriko distanced herself from her and additionally made fun of her to potentially gain the trust of the popular girls and for the popular girls accept her.

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When people ask Eriko about where she is from, it often shows how defensive she is. When she is asked this question no matter what she says people will disagree with her. In the end she noticed and understood this and decided that the right thing to do in situations like this is to ask the same question back, " where are you really from?".

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One character trait I notice in Eriko is that she can be very sensitive because whenever she was questioned about where she was from or chopsticks her tone would become ruder. Eriko is often afraid of what others think of her and therefor I would say she is insecure about being from Japan. When Erico experiences Japanese culture and tradition it shows that she is proud and honest.

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One character trait that I noticed in Erico is positivity. Although she struggled with excepting where she was from in the beginning, by the end of the celebration she only had positive things to say about Japan. She finally excepted where she was from, which is why I would also say she is adaptable. When she is in Japan she tries her best to be passionate and excepting even though she was once very cautious about her culture.

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Eriko becomes honest in the end of the story and talks about what home really is to her. After all the defiance, she finally accepts Japan. She went from ambitious to make people believe that she wasn't the Japanese coward, to become humble and not care what others think about her new personality can traits.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is being unsettled. Within the story, she refused to say that she is a Japanese or being part of Japanese. But Eriko believe that she is an American during the first part. In the end, Eriko excepted herself being a Japanese.

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Throughout the story, Eriko exhibits a range of distinct personality traits. One example is the compassion, showed clearly when she attended the protest on behalf of the natives. This shows compassion as she seems to care about these people to some extent. Although she's not perfect, she exhibits negative traits, like a tendency to be rude or uncaring toward certain individuals, especially those who remind her of herself or her original country. An example of this is her attitude towards Miho throughout her short stay in the country, dismissing and actively talking negatively about her behind her back.

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One character trait i saw in Eriko is that she was compassionate because even though she was rude to miho. but later in the story deep down Eriko regretted being rude to miho

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One character trait I noticed during the story was that Eriko was extremely stubborn. No matter what people asked, she always said she was from Minnesota. She always claimed that Japan was not part of her identity. She always said that Miho was weird because she was true Japanese. When her mom sent her to Japan to live with her aunt, she started to notice that she was from Japan and said,, "I feel the tradition in my bones." She ended the story by saying she would redirect the question back onto them.

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Eriko is often opinionated a lot in the beginning of the story when she decides her identity how she wants and refuses what her parents say to her. However as it is heading to the end of the story, she starts to accept the fact that she has the heredity of Japanese and also thinks of the goods of being a Japanese and reflects on her identity, showing a growth on her character.

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Eriko demonstrates sensitivity throughout the story because, people constantly ask her where she's from and she gets really defensive. She also got upset when people told her she isn't really Japanese for not knowing how to use chopsticks. she also felt sorrowful when Miho moved away because of her. Throughout the whole story it shows how Erico's tone just became stronger and stronger when people disagreed with her, stereotyped her, and made her look bad.

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Eriko's character evolved throughout the story, representing her cultural journey. Eriko starts off as an insecure girl with Japanese looks and American citizenship. She made fun of Minho to cover up the fact that the way she saw Minho was probably the way others saw her. But she was still insistent on being different, stating that she wasn't like Minho. She was American. Later on, during her sleepaway camp, Eriko was 'mistaken' for being Japanese once again. While her character evolved, so did her perspective of Japan. She realized that for her, there was no one-worded answer for 'where are you from.' Instead of being ashamed of her ethnicity, she embraced it, showing courage after her long line of challenges.

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One thing I have noticed about Eriko throughout the story is her evolution in character. At the beginning of her story, she is stubborn, she insists she is American and denies any connection to her herratige she has. She is selfish, she pushes away new a Japanese girl in need of friends because she was worried of losing her own. Despite these negative traits, she is also passionate and will fight for the greater good ,shown when she participates in a native American protest. Later on in the story, she matures and finds pride and a home in Both Japan and America. Now when faced with the question, "where are you really from?, all she can do is ask the question back.

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Two character traits I noticed in Eriko is that she was fearful and adaptable. She was fearful when she didn't want to become friends with Miho because she was scared to loose her friends since childhood, and when she was adaptable was at the end. She adjusted to both cultures and was proud about being Japanese and doesn't care about what others say or think about it.

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One time, she showed a characteristic when she was in Japan with her grandma for the festival, another example of honesty is by saying that she is both American and Japanese. Another demonstration is when she said that she enjoyed the presentation.

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One character trait that I noticed in Eriko was the bias. She said she was American, and then when one bad thing happened, she turned into a born-and-raised Japanese person. Erico is often insecure about anything and everything, including when she just heres the words chopsticks. I also think that when she was in middle school, she was embarrassed to be Japanese, and then when she got older, she was super proud and called it her home. Whereas in the beginning, she said America was her home and only home.

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One character trait I see in Eriko is that she is very honest. I saw this trait from Eriko was when she asked her dad about the Hiroshima incident and the Pearl Harbor. She asked her dad a very sensitive question even knowing that her grandfather died in Pearl Harbor. Being honest might be a good trait, but I think sometimes it can hurt other people's feelings.

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Eriko often gets very defensive when people argue that she is Japanese for example, when she met her roommates parents they asked "Where are you really from?" and she felt quite offended by that because she is insecure in her own culture and puts a lot of effort into not being associated with her own race. Another character trait that I notice in Eriko is that she is very preformative, and changes herself for others a lot for example, after her and Mihos presentation about japan she felt a lot of pride in being japanese, but that all changed as soon as she heard some girls talking about how nerdy her presentation was.

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One characteristic of Eriko is her loyalty. In all parts of the story, she shows loyalty to her American identity. For example, in the first part of her story, at Duke University, her friend's mother asks where she is from. While Eriko answers Miniopolis, America, her parents say Japan. After this scene, Eriko argues to her parents that she is not from Japan, but America. Pondering the fact that Eriko thought she was American, not Japanese, all the way back when she said that Miho wasn't an American like us, it can be said that Eriko had great loyalty to her American identity.

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One character trait that I noticed in eriko is her confidence. Even-though She had time to pass over where she’s originally from In the beginning of the story, But towards the end she only had constructive things about her religion-Japan.So she eventually is welcoming about where she was from , Also i would say she’s adjustable as-well Eriko doing her utmost to be proud when she is in her home city Japan even-though their was once a time where she was exceedingly scared about her civilisation

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is self-consciousness, because I noticed that multiple times in the story, Eriko is unsure about her identity. She keeps on saying she is just American when she I much more than that, she doesn't want to embrace her Japanese side. She is uncomfortably aware of her identity, her looks, her heritage, and her life in general. She is very awkward and uncomfortable about herself. For example, when she was Miho's partner in the Japan project, she felt like a true Japanese, but the second someone said something negative about it, she went straight back to neglecting and pushing away where she was from. But towards the end, she was embracing her ancestry and her heritage, and she finally understood herself with mixed opinions about where she is really from.

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Eriko is often denying the fact that she is Japanese. one trait I see in her is Arrogance, and she shows this is many different ways. Firstly near the end of the story, she was asked where she was from. She confidently answered "American". Later on she got asked about her looks and accent and sweared that she's American. Another trait is rudeness. One example is that when people ask her if she knows how to use chopsticks. Eriko believes that people are assuming that she knows how to use chopstick because her parents are Japanese. and she takes that as offence, which later leads to her being rude and she felt uncomfortable with these people. lastly she is racist cause she called the Japanese people weird.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is that she is very sensitive and negative at all. She knew that she is from Japan, but she wanted to uncertain where she is from. Because there were only American inside the collage. Eriko is often annoying to Miho and therefore I would say she isn't compassionate to him. However even she was ignoring Miho all the time, Miho just didn't give up and I might say that he is calm at all. When Eriko feels or experiences some Japanese cultures well, it demonstrates that she already knew that where she is from

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eriko is insecure because she she was always denying that she was Japanese and was embarrassed hanging out with the Japanese girl.

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Eriko often feels lost or confused about her background and personality, she constantly fights that feeling by being courageous and willing to stand up for herself. She feels pride in having a Japanese background but is never scared to say that she is American even when others doubt her just because of her looks. On the other hand, she also demonstrated fear as she wanted to blend in just so that she wouldn't be seen as weird or different by her classmates. As the story went on, she became more confident and started excepting her Japanese heritage which made her feel proud and less insecure.

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When Eriko experiences or feels a lot of pressure to be the " American girl. She becomes self conscious about the way she acts, the way she talks, and the way she looks. This is clear when Miho first comes to the school and the teacher makes Eriko sit next to her; .she feels embarrassed by her and is distant and not friendly. She even makes fun of her behind her back just so that her friends don't leave her and so that she isn't called the nerd or " the Japanese girl". But in the end she realizes that she is from Japan and will always be seen as the Japanese girl but it didn't matter this was were she belonged, she said, " I feel the tradition in my bones".

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Eriko did not like to be associated with Japan, which shows that she was unaccepting of her true heritage and culture. Most of her life was spent wrestling with others to prove herself as a true American. For example, when the boy asked her if she was Japanese, she was offended and said that she was from Minnesota. Her behavior continued to show her unacceptance of being Japanese. However, at the end of the story, Eriko started embracing her culture more, and accepting herelf as a true Japanese.

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One character trait that I noticed in Eriko is conflicted because when she argued with her mom about being nicer to Miho, she knew she should have, but didnt want to stand out and lose friends. Eriko is often mean to Miho as she tries to stay unassuming. When Eriko experiences a traditional bondori party in Japan, she changes, and it shows that she can still appreciate her culture. By the last chapter titled "Where are you Really From" she accepts she is both American and Japanese.

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Some character traits that I noticed in Eriko is compassion and insecurity. Since Eriko has been living in America most of her life, she has learned to adjust and fit in according to how the Americans would want her to. There was probably a time in Eriko's life when she was not always so insecure about her ethnicity, but she was taught to despise it as she was growing up because of how people treated her. In addition, I believe that even though she was a bully to Miho, Eriko still has compassion in her heart because of the regret she felt when Miho left; the regret of not doing more at the time. She looked bitterly at the new girl, claiming to see just an ugly girl with an ugly accent; everything she's not. However, I believe that deep down, she knows that what she sees in Miho is only another version of herself; only one that is not afraid to be different.

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and also she was avoiding the subject of the Japanese culture and heritage and was faking her accent

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In the story "Where I'm From", Eriko illustrates a positive character development in the end. Initially, Eriko is self-conscious, insecure, and performative about her character and heritage. She expresses her heavy disdain for Miho, a new Japanese student, showing her cruel personality. However, after maturing with age, Eriko begins to adapt and accept her culture more. For instance when she visited Japan again to celebrate the Bon Odori festival, she feels a traditional spirit in her. Eriko finally begins to understand her biracial nature. Eventually, she develops a calmer, and more composed character, like when she gets asked "Where are you really from" again, she responds with maturity, avoiding any further conflict.

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Eriko is often mean and I would say she is Very arrogant and cowardice when it comes to her identity. She is very negative and has a lot of insecurity about her own culture , she doesn't like to be the same as the Japanese people. She was also not accepting Japanese even when they had an event or something special. Additionally I saw that closer to the end of the story she was starting to accept and be positive about her culture as she was asking there ethnicity now , and when people asked her she would be prideful about it and say it in a way that she cares.

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Eriko is often mean and therefore I would say she is very arrogant and cowardice when it comes to her culture. She was very insecure and negative about her identity so she was very mean to others that were the same as her. When people asked her she didn't like to be referred to the japanese culture. Additionally she would not like to be in her own culture areas and would not like when the dad said there ethnicity. Something that caught my attention was when the story was moving on to the end , and Eriko was starting to Accept her culture and was very prideful explaining to other people when they asked.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is persistence. She kept telling people she was American, Evan, even when they denied it, she stayed strong and continued to insist she was American. An example of when she showed persistence is when she went to a frat party and someone said to her that she has a hint of Japanese in her, which she kept on denying, even when the person said that she looks Japanese, she stayed with being an American, even speaking like one. This shows that Eriko does not easily give up on how she wants to be seen, no matter what others say.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko that she was insecure for looking Japanese and she thinks people would notice her differences. She was also selfish because she did not want to sit next to Miho because she did not want to be associated with her. She thought if she sits with Miho her friends would reject her. At the end, Eriko accepted she was Japanese and started to feel proud that she is from there. An example is when she was talking about how great Japan is at the end.

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Throughout the story Eriko consistently demonstrates her uncertainty and insecurity of her identity. She is in a situation where she believes her identity is made of only one thing. That one thing being that she has lived in the United States for her whole life, making her an American. I believe that Eriko shows the character trait of adaptability, she is the type of person who tries to fit with those around her. Eriko's friends aren't form any other place but the United states. Eriko however is from Japan and the United States. She is different form the others and she can't control where she is from, which leads her having a hard time in sorting out her identity, but in the end of the story Eriko is able to find peace in who she is, and be proud of every place she is from.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is her honesty. Eriko is often thoughtful and therefore I would say she is reflective. When Eriko has experiences or feelings, it shows that she looks inward and reflects on them.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is that she is often cowardly around people who question her about her culture and where she is from. An example of this is when she gave the presentation about Japan with Miho. In the beginning, she was happy but as soon as somebody said that their uncle had died in Pearl Harbor, she immediately felt scared, fearing that people would use this against her and not want to be her friend anymore. An additional example could be when she was talking to the boy and he asked her if she was Japanese because of her accent. She was offended because she does not consider herself as Japanese along with scared that her friends have thought the same all this time.

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One character trait that I noticed in Eriko is that she had a negative and uncomfortable attitude. And I believe that she's acting this way because she is insecure about her culture. For example, when someone insists that she looks Japanese, and Erika denies it because she doesnt want to be compared to the Japanese people. And Eriko refuses to claim that she's from Japan.

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She was really loyal to the US. For example, when she was at a Japanese camp, she was fighting because people said But you're not really from the US and she felt attacked and more insecure about where she is from.

One character trait that Eriko has is being jealous of Miko, even though she doesn't speak English, she was proud of where she was from, unlike Eriko, who felt like Japan was inferior.

The last trait must be selfish; she only cared for herself while Miko was struggling, just because of her fake friends who would just leave her if she were friends with an immigrant.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is that she feels proud to be Japanese when people are impressed by Japan but when people criticize Japan Eriko feels like she shouldn't be represented as a Japanese. Eriko aslo didn't want to hangout with a Japanese girl in her school, Meko, because she didn't want to be treated the same way, not only that but she also makes fun of Meko for being Japanese. One day Wriko watches a Japanese festival with her grandmother, after all the singing, dancing and food she said she felt culture in her bones and that she knew the music so well. At the end she finally decided to have her own answer even though some people wouldn't like it. If anyone asks Eniko says, "Im from the United States. Eniko's character traits are, disloyal: Says that she's American for the liking of others. Rude: She criticised someone for being Japanese even though she is too. And Stubborn: Because even though she's Japanese she won't share that she is with people.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is that she is very self-conscious, not only in her actions towards others, but also in finding herself questioning where she really is from at the end of every conversation. The way she acts, agitated and humiliated whenever she is confronted with her Japanese origin, really demonstrates the influence others have on her. Which also makes others question why she calls herself American. Why is she not pleased with her culture? It might be the language barrier or the disconnect with her culture that causes her to twitch at the question," Do you know how to use chopsticks?". But it is therefore not a reason for her to be unfriendly or hateful towards Miho because of her

" Japanese stereotype". Towards the middle of the story, Eriko develops a sense of content after a successful class presentation about Japan, until that is broken by the mention of a classmate's family passing at the Pearl Harbor incident.

As the story progressed towards the end, Eriko sensed a feeling of calm and gratitude towards her culture and origin after a family celebration back in Japan, where she stated," I could feel the celebration in my bones".

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One attribute that Erico has evolved is being assertive. During the story when Erico and Miho are assigned to do a presentation together about Japan, she feels confident and is starting to feel more open about the culture. This is short lived as a boy from her class asked her about her opinion about Pearl Harbour and she immediately became sheepish as this question was aiming towards which side she took. Another incident is when someone asked her why her accent sounded Japanese to which she quickly replied in a more heavier Minnesota accent trying to fit in. This made her feel more insecure as people would look at her and hear her talk and immediately judge that she was from Japan- or at least this is what she thought. She tries harder to fit in only to realise that people are okay with viewing her as a Japanese American and not only American. She outgrows her fear and strives to be more confident, this is shown when she is dancing with traditional clothes at the Japanese celebration and remarks "I can feel the tradition in my bones." This states that she is slowly embracing her identity after hiding it for numerous years. The tradition was always inside of her however, she is trying to accept that being Japanese might not be as bad as she thought. She goes from being uneasy and self conscious to confident and this change marks a new era for her.

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In the beginning I think Eriko was feeling quite disloyal to her Japanese background (she changes throughout the story) as whenever asked where she's from she would reply "America" in a heartbeat. Another point of her disloyalty is showed is when her teacher has assigned her with a Japanese student to help her get around, her first instincts were: why am I put with her, she's a "real" Japanese, and she's weird. Towards the end when Eriko had been paired up with Miho to share about culture and this time Eriko wasn't as unhappy. After Eriko had shared a couple of words to her classmates she finally started feeling comfortable with her origin until, someone and slightly bursted her bubble by saying "My grandfather died in Pearl Harbor". Subsequently this had made revert back to her old ways thinking "But I'm not Japanese, I'm American."

,"Miho's a freak" , and many more horrible ideas. These ideas all changed when Eriko had attended an authentic festival with many dancers, food, music etc. At this point Eriko had started realizing that she doesn't "belong" to Japan nor Minneapolis but rather to all her memories. At long last, Eriko is now more open minded and more accepting to Japan.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is confusion or insecurity. She is American, but her parents are Japanese, which makes her appear Asian. Every time someone asked where she was from, she would immediately say she was American, but as the story went along, she realized that when people asked that, they were looking for her to say Japan based on the way she looked. She always denied being Japanese; for example, when she had a project with Mihoe, they picked Japan, and although they were proud of their work, one of their classmates pointed out Harosheema. Saying "my grandpa died in Harosheema," which made Areko want to say, "That's not me." "I'm not Japanese." Towards the end of the story, she accepted her Japanese culture and was happy about a event that she attended, seeing the traditional decorations, foods, sweets, and dances.

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One character trait that I notice in Eriko is that she is very compassionate about being American and not Japanese. She is also very stubborn about the fact that she is Japanese and insecure about being called Japanese by others. She was very creative when she made a project with Miho about pearl harbor and the atomic bomb.

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One character trait I notice in Eriko is that she tries to act like someone she really isn’t. For example, when she was dealing with Miho, she didn’t treat her the right way even though they were both from the same country. Instead of being herself, Eriko tried to act like the other kids just so she could fit in.

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One character trait I noticed in Eriko is her selfishness. This is shown in the way she treats Miho, the new Japanese student at her school. When Miho left to go to Japan Eriko’s mom told her it was because she had been mean to Miho. Instead of feeling sorry Eriko said she was glad Miho was gone and even called her a freak, which was very hurtful. Eriko acted this way because she was afraid her American friends wouldn’t want to hang out with her if she became friends with Miho. So, she started bullying Miho and saying mean things. She didn’t care about Miho’s feelings, she only cared about staying with her American friends. Even though she didn’t say it out loud deep down Eriko knew she had made the wrong choice. She felt guilty but her fear of being left out made her act selfish.