ABSTRACT
The author discusses her own experiences with three mentors by drawing on the concept of socialization in an academic community at different stages of her career. In retrospect, her first anticipatory socialization process in the academic community began when she met Professor Charles A. Curran. In addition to being an informal mentor during her anticipatory socialization process, her husband was instrumental during the initial stages of her organizational socialization, that is, after she was employed as an assistant professor. Her time and energy were spread so thin she did not get a sense of fulfillment or accomplishment in any of her roles, and she always felt alone in her struggles. After having lived in America longer than in her home country, her cultural and linguistic identities have become much more complex and multidimensional than they used to be; hence, she could no longer fit into the stereotypical image of Japanese mother and wife.
