The day I gave myself the title of Education Writer

Recently, I've had more opportunities to be told that I have weapons like "education" or "Japanese language" at my disposal.

That makes me happy, haha.

It means I look like an "education writer."

It means the title I gave myself is now in my profile.

That is an amazing thing.

If there is anyone eccentric enough to have been watching me since my early days as a freelancer, you might know this (I'd be happy if there were, haha).

At first, I was quite lost, thinking, "I don't have any weapons" and "I'm not sharp at anything."

No weapons!
Not sharp!
As a result, no title either! Haha

At the time, I didn't really intend to become a writer specializing in education, nor did I intend to put out content about the Japanese language. I vaguely knew there was no demand for it (and I was later told that "educational fields don't pay well").

So, on the first business card I made in March 2022, I included:
"Writer and mother of two children who is a teacher."

There were zero elements that defined me, especially as a writer. Being a "mother of two" or a "teacher" were not writing skills at all, nor were they my skills; they were just attributes. But I thought that was all I had, and the only way I could differentiate myself. [Mother of two x Teacher x Writer]. It's easy to understand, so I still use it sometimes, but I remember well how I squeezed it out to write it like that at first.

And then... the next problem was when I quit being a teacher.
What about "former teacher writer"...?
I even asked about it in the lab's Q&A room.

For a while, I also wrote "Mother of two, teacher, writer"... Since I was a "teacher" as an online tutor, it wasn't a lie.

Some time after that, I think I removed "mother of two" (the timeline is fuzzy). I think it was when I realized that adding "mom" might not have much meaning when working as a freelance writer.

Also, I saw that if you put "I'm a mom" on your account and use a cute illustrated icon, people will look down on you. Fortunately, I haven't directly felt like I was being looked down on while working so far, but I simply thought it would be a negative to give the impression that "I'm doing this as a hobby for pocket money."
I don't have the courage to show my face yet, so I thought I'd at least remove that from my title... so I did.

But thinking about it now, I realize that back then, I simply didn't have the resolve or confidence to call myself an "education writer."

I felt safe having easy-to-understand labels like "former teacher," "teacher," or "mom."

It was the same when I was a teacher.
What do you do for work?
"I'm a teacher."
And that was the end of the explanation.

But it's different now.
It's not about my "occupation" but rather,
"What kind of person am I?"
I have to be able to answer that.

And so, right then and there, I made a decision.

I would use the title "Education Writer."

I wasn't sure if I had the track record to justify the name, or if I was at a stage where I could say it with confidence, but I decided to just go ahead and call myself an Education Writer anyway.

I admitted to myself that even after quitting my job as a teacher, I couldn't walk away from education.

Despite being young and inexperienced in many ways, I decided that I would involve myself in education through "writing."

↑ I know this kind of phrasing isn't great from a freelance perspective, and since I have serious researchers around me, I often think, "Who am I to..."... I can write articles about education, but I feel like I could never step into writing articles about classical literature, especially the Tale of Genji, which is right in the middle of my specialty! I want to write it, I love it, but I love it so much that I think it's a bad idea—I'd probably go over the word count, get scolded, and have it cut... lol

And then, a few months later, I also created a business name.
People often ask me why I created a business name, and the answer is: so I wouldn't be looked down upon! lol
You might think, "How much do you not want to be looked down upon???" but in addition to my background, my appearance and attitude are also easily underestimated, so I included it to show that I'm doing this properly...
I put it on my business cards, and I sometimes get comments like, "You're really doing this professionally, aren't you!" so I'm glad I did it.

Because of that, I would be happy if "education" and "Japanese language" could be considered my weapons.

I wonder if I've become a bit of an education writer yet??

Someday, I secretly dream of becoming someone people think of when they hear "education writer," or someone they think of when they need to request an article on education—that's Igari.

I don't know what will happen from here on out, but I want to be someone who can express myself through "what I do" (the downside is that it's hard to explain my job to people, lol).

I am happy now that I have a job where I can become anything I want to be.