What's in a Name?

Yumi Kitashima

Yumi Kitashima- Korean (mother); Japanese (father); Yumi Kitashima is one of the cashiers at the local bookstore that is routinely frequented by Hannah Quigley, with whom she has something of an intergenerational friendship. She is somewhat naïve and not thoroughly educated, but has a lot of common sense and briefly stays with the Quigley's when she becomes homeless after losing her apartment. Already quite overworked due to the load of her job, she can quickly lose her patience, especially when she has to deal with someone else's shenanigans or her neighbor's "criterballs". She is quite considerate however and usually willing to lend a helping hand, which has in turn made her employee of the month, a title she prides herself in. Hannah's initial interactions with Yumi reveal her to be bubbly and talkative, as she becomes very loquacious and animated when she hits on a topic that she is passionate about. She is very much a people person, greeting many of her customers with friendliness and affability and if prodded, is the type of person who will go on tangents telling stories of her past. She is generally very level-headed and cheerful when interacting with others at her job and is revealed to be a good multitasker. She often works well under pressure and efficiently handles several duties with the help of Aaliyah, the new shift manager, who has short, semi-curly hair and stylish glasses. Yumi is also possessive of people who mean a lot to her and can get defensive of her female friends, as she was visibly upset when Diego Fonseca cheated on Hannah. She is the type of person to come in three hours late and nap beneath her desk after lunch, yet somehow manage to accomplish twice the amount of work she usually gets done. She played Youth Soccer and has a fondness for sci-fi and enjoys reading paranormal sci-fi alien romance books, along with Golden Age sci-fi and horror comics from the top shelves.

She can usually be found reading the latest comic during a slower day as she eats some peach purée or slurps down a bowl of udon and allows music by Gwen Stefani to blare out of her headphones. Friendly, affirming atmospheres fill Yumi's soul with meaning and happiness, as being able to laugh, joke, and swap life stories with friends gives her a sense that life is worth living. She sometimes hangs out with the Quigley family at home or at the mall whenever she feels stressed out, as they oddly enough give her a sense of stability. Despite her calm and kind nature, she has somewhat of a sassy side to her and can be more headstrong, impulsive, and stubborn in dealing with ruder clients, being unafraid to verbally call out others who disrespect her or those around her. She has a keen sense of integrity and honor and believes in treating others as she wishes to be treated, showing a great disdain for rudeness or unpleasant behavior in others. Yumi is nonetheless energetic and optimistic, seeming to genuinely enjoy her job and meeting new people, and tries to protect Hannah due to her childlike and innocent nature. Despite her passionate demeanor, she has shown strong instincts at her job, staying focused at the task at hand and rarely losing her composure. A trait of hers that Hannah greatly admires is her indifference towards how other people perceive her, as she considers Coldplay's X&Y to be her favorite album of all time. Once a highly self-conscious, insecure girl who struggled to make friends due to her awkward appearance and personality, she was an easy target for others to manipulate and take advantage of with her desperation for popularity. Throughout her early adolescence, Yumi tended to worry excessively over what other people thought and highly valued outside opinions, going drastic lengths to alter who she was to better fit in with the rest. She was raised in the suburbs and often felt negatively about her ethnicity, belonging to one of the few Asian-American families in a mostly white space.

She idolized Maria Media, a popular newscaster, but struggled to make friends and often felt like an outsider among her classmates, leading her to internalize Eurocentric standards of beauty. She was rejected at times for coming on too strong in her attempts at befriending new people, such as when she snuck past a bouncer to get into a night club, which gradually deteriorated her self-esteem over time. Yumi has a spontaneous streak however and gets along with Aaliyah Murphy, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage and goes to Adelphi University. She likes practicing en plein air painting, as well as making paper chains and miniature versions of all the pets that she owns, and she gives Hannah seven little dolls known as the Gods of Luck. She misses her grandmother Chiyo, whom is her Obaasan and would often refer to her as "Yumi-chan" while sharing a special tea with her on certain afternoons. She knows how to change a car tire and considers her favorite foods to be tempura, gyoza, tteokbokki, cinnamon sugar toast on both sides of the bread, and songpyeon during Chuseok. Yumi was also obsessed with her physical appearance and tried to make herself appear "pretty" in different ways, which proved a relatively difficult task with her previous struggle with cystic acne. She was left wallowing in despair after losing both of her jobs at Area Coffee and Whole Foods Market, spending her days lamenting her misfortunate while scrolling through social media and watching reality tv shows. She went to prom in a salmon gown with spaghetti straps and black stilettos and planned to attend art school after senior year, but struggled to sell her abstract art and worked as a barista. She benefits from the kindness of Hannah's grandmother Lois once she uses some of her retirement funds to invest in a new business, allowing her to open her own bookstore known as The Night Owl. Yumi had a flair for poetry and became fixated with the idea of earning enough money to move to France in order to be surrounded by like-minded individuals who would appreciate her talents. 

At one point, Hannah came down to the basement in order to cheer her up, only for her to unexpectedly answer a call from her parents after coming back up. Reluctantly, she admits to her that she hasn't answered their phone calls in years, mainly because they often compare her to her highly successful cousin, Emily. Over dinner with the Quigley's however, her parents tell her they are proud of her and that she is surrounded by good people, even though Callum clarifies a misunderstanding and adamantly tells them he is not married to Yumi. Seeing some of her past self reflected in Hannah, Yumi quickly took a liking to her, and the two interact during her store visits, discussing the latest coming-of-age and young adult releases. Now aged 19, she has since put her past aside and is completing her general studies at a community college, with hopes of moving to France to open a Parisian café. She later admits that she dated an abusive man from Larchmont named Uriah who attacked her violently under the influence of steroids with his obsession with fitness. This leads her to break up with him after being defended by Mark Pataki, her next-door neighbor from an attempted physical assault. Yumi nearly moves back to the suburbs when 3 years have passed and she feels she has made little progress since then, but is convinced during an elevator ride with Hannah and her family that she belongs in New York. Described as being shorter in stature with an average build, she has long dark hair that is often tied into either messy ponytail or bun. She has almond-shaped dark brown eyes, a short nose that slopes upward at the tip, small lips, and a light complexion that has cleared up over the years. 

She wears clear braces that Hannah claims are "barely noticeable" and with her short height at 5 ft. 1 in., has a young-looking appearance that causes many customers to mistake her for being a high schooler. Yumi has gone to the Ramp Museum before and is known for her signature checkered-patterned Vans shoes, which she wears with esprit socks and a brown jacket outside when it is cold, as well as a bracelet from Banff National Park. She mentions that she took theatre classes when she was younger and hosted a trivia night during which Hannah realizes she is smart in her own way. She is later diagnosed with an early stage of thyroid cancer after a small lump is discovered in her neck, leading her to undergo radiation and chemotherapy to cure her disease. Having lost her mother prematurely at age 5 to leukemia, Hannah is saddened and emotionally triggered by the situation, but remains supportive of her and frequently checks in with the rest of her family. Hannah expresses relief once her good friend goes into remission after a year and a half of treatment, during which her formerly pin-straight dark hair grows back significantly curlier as a side effect of having undergone chemotherapy. She wears baseball caps instead of wigs and finds unexpected comfort and support in her former middle school English teacher Mrs. Schneider, who shares stories of her own past battles with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Mrs. Schneider reveals that she has not since relapsed and is currently expecting her second child, urging her to see the positive side of things and stay strong. Hannah also helps her adjust as she briefly experiences some mild thinking and memory problems following her cancer treatments that her oncologist refers to as "chemo brain". Yumi eventually enters a relationship with a 31-year-old man and aspiring actor who worked as an usher at a movie theater named Cade, despite her mother's disapproval due to their 12-year age difference, as well as his life choices.

Upon breaking up with Cade due to losing their spark, she gradually develops a romance with Kevin Ishiyama, a Mechanical Engineering major who is the best friend of Hannah's older brother Liam and a 2nd-generation Japanese-American. She admits that she doesn't have a lot of close friends in the city and that being surrounded by so many people ironically makes her feel rather lonely at times, although she manages to bond with 3 college-aged girls known as the Jessicas, who have a habit of taking selfies. She is loved by the Quigley family and seen by Callum almost like a second daughter, even as she moves out after having enough money to live on her own again. Yumi quickly connects with Kevin over their similar ethnic backgrounds, as well as their mutual love of anime and curly fries. She first reveals her feelings for him during New Year's Eve, with his preferring to take things slow and eventually complimenting her for having "pretty brown eyes". The two enter a long-lasting relationship, with Kevin romantically proposing to Yumi after 3 years spent together once they take a trip to Osaka. He speaks with Yumi's grandmother Chiyo when he visits her at an assisted living facility, and she mentions that she is the one who encouraged her to choose art school over law school. Yumi wears a blue dress and an ivory chemise as she waits for a red sugary drink at a renaissance faire with the Quigleys, while Hannah and her best friend Mia engage in a playful joust. She later housesits for Lois when she and the rest of her family went on an extended vacation, which her granddaughter joked would take them "galaxies away". After being in remission for 10 years, she hosts a fundraiser to spread awareness and makes peace with her cousin Emily, who shows genuine admiration over how far she has come. She decides to participate in Coachella along with Liam and their mutual friends, causing them to finally be able to see The 1975 perform live. ENFJ 9w8