Aisha Fukushima, a multilingual mixed roots African American Japanese woman living in Copenhagen.
My mother often laughs when she recalls how, as a child, I used to call airports “home.” Growing up as a mixed kid with roots stretching from the Pacific Northwest to Honshu, Japan, I learned early on to identify with life’s liminal spaces.
For me, home has rarely been a comfort zone. It’s been a place of adventure. A realm of constant learning where new experiences often challenge what I thought I knew. Home, for me, isn’t defined by geography but by the connections we create with others.
This perspective has profoundly shaped my work as an activist, singer-songwriter, speaker, and storyteller. Through my art and expression, I aim to inspire others to envision a world rooted in compassion, liberation, and equality—one that transcends our current limitations, and redefines what it means to belong.
This journey has led me to collaborate in places as diverse and far-reaching as Nepal, Kazakhstan, and beyond. In each, I have found a sense of refuge through the constellations of people I meet and our shared human experiences.
Moving to Denmark now adds yet another layer to my understanding of home. It has invited me to embrace being a beginner again in so many different ways. It’s both humbling and invigorating. While some may label me a ‘foreigner,’ I choose not to feel foreign here. On my best days, I’m learning to release the fear of mistakes or being misunderstood, making room for new possibilities of belonging to emerge.
Aisha.
