[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Shinya Tamada’s I Am What I Am: The Solitary Sprint Towards Self-Love” by Nicola Ulaan Wan
Shinya Tamada (director). I Am What I Am (Sobakasu), 2022. 104 min.
In Asian societies, romantic love is still frequently presented as a biosocial imperative, an indispensable precursor to marriage that blends emotional validation with socio-economic necessity. Yet Shinya Tamada’s comforting masterpiece I Am What I Am offers a fresh avenue for interrogating the meaning and relevance of amatonormativity in contemporary life through the experiences of 30-year-old Kasumi Sobata.
Kasumi’s tranquil, solitary life as a kindergarten teacher is disrupted by her anxious mother, who forces her into an omiai (arranged blind date). Although Kasumi and her date initially agree to pursue a platonic friendship, tension arises when he develops an unwelcome sexual attraction to her, bringing their friendship to an awkward end. Kasumi cannot help but blame herself, wondering whether she might have inadvertently sent the wrong signal. Yet this moment also marks the beginning of her recognition of herself as aromantic.
The film’s emotional thesis crystallises when Kasumi’s outspoken friend, Maho, helps her record a voice-over for a kindergarten puppet-show adaptation of Cinderella. Reading the script, Maho questions the fairy tale’s underlying premise: must romance be a woman’s entire world, and marriage her ultimate destination?
Kasumi admits that she cannot experience the romantic happiness expected of her. Encouraged by Maho, she resolutely rewrites the fairy tale to proclaim that marriage is not the sole path to joy. Although the kindergarten administration swiftly reprimands Kasumi, insisting that children must first be taught conventional values before learning about diversity, her act of creative rebellion cannot be undone.
The full significance of their reinterpreted story emerges when Kasumi’s colleague, Amado, recognises himself in the altered play. He confesses to Kasumi that hearing their version gave him a sense of salvation: simply knowing that someone else shares his reality in a world obsessed with couplehood is enough. This mutual validation sparks a moment of exhilarating catharsis: Kasumi breaks into a frantic, breathless sprint down the street, echoing the kinetic desperation of Tom Cruise running in War of the Worlds, a film she likes. Yet Kasumi is not fleeing a disaster; she is running towards an embrace of her individuality, shaking off the weight of societal judgement.
Amado (left) tells Kasumi (right) that her adapted version of Cinderella moved him: “it was enough just knowing there was someone out there who thought the same way I do.”
Romantic relationships have long seemed an obligatory tax on adult existence. But Kasumi’s story reveals that human partnerships need not depend exclusively on romantic or sexual intimacy. We need to explore new ways of rethinking established social conventions and honour the dignity of self-acceptance and self-love. I Am What I Am has the bewitching power to remind us of something we already know but have inadvertently forgotten amid our hectic lives: celebrating our own nature and embracing a modest life on our own terms is perhaps the most courageous act of love there is.
How to cite: Wan, Nicola Ulaan. “Shinya Tamada’s I Am What I Am: The Solitary Sprint Towards Self-Love.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 5 Nov. 2026, chajournal.com/2026/11/05/sobakasu.
Nicola Ulaan Wan holds a PhD in comparative literature and is currently an academic researcher whose interests centre on Hong Kong studies, Japanese literature, literature in translation, urban narratives and literary criticism. [All contributions by Nicola Ulaan Wan.]