Nice to meet you 

My name is Haruna Heima (ヘイマ ハルナ). I was born in Japan and raised in the United States. As a returnee who lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, I still can’t say that my Japanese is completely fluent. (I’ll keep doing my best!)

I returned to Japan in February 2023 and joined Okura Shoji in July. Since joining, I have worked on domestic deliveries, appeared on ApparelX’s YouTube, and written English blog posts, but I recently started Global Delivery, so I decided to begin an overseas blog in Japanese for Japanese readers as well. Today’s blog will be a simple self-introduction.

The reason I moved to the United States was my father’s job. For the first six years, I lived in Seattle, Washington. It’s a wonderful place surrounded by nature, where you can enjoy both the sea and the mountains. After Seattle, I moved to Cleveland, Ohio.

In Cleveland, I was able to enjoy beautiful scenery throughout the four seasons. I studied fashion merchandising at Kent State University in Ohio and graduated in May 2021. During college, I studied abroad in Korea and Japan. After graduating, I worked for a year and a half at the headquarters of JOANN, one of the top craft supply specialty retailers in the U.S.

Ever since high school, I had secretly wanted to live in Japan someday. I worried about when to return, but I thought that if I waited until my Japanese was perfect, I would never be able to come, so I gathered my courage and came back. I want to keep building up all kinds of experiences throughout my life like this.

Interests and hobbies: fashion, sustainability, camping, driving, cats (I have a cat named Turkey, whom I brought with me from the U.S.), and music

As for future blog posts, I’d like to write about various topics related to the U.S. apparel industry, so please look forward to them. (I’ll keep working hard on my Japanese too!)