I never imagined I would feel at home in a foreign land.

As a Filipino-Japanese, most of my travels have been between the Philippines and Japan, so the thought of visiting somewhere completely new was intimidating. 

Then I stepped into Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport in Guam. Somehow, the unfamiliar did not feel so unaccustomed.

Guam surprised me from the very beginning. And perhaps what surprised me most was how quickly I found something familiar: Filipinos.

Filipinos are everywhere

That feeling followed me throughout the trip.

At the Village of Donki, Guam’s enormous Japanese shopping destination, I found another piece of home. With its 247,000-square-foot sales floor, the store carries the familiar Japanese products, food and shopping culture that I grew up seeing in Japan. 

For someone who is half Filipino and half Japanese, it was almost a fever dream.

It was as if both sides of my heritage had somehow met on one island.

But Guam is not just a place where Filipinos and Japanese can feel comfortable. It is also a shopaholic’s paradise.

The luxury of time

Another thing that struck me was the pace.

But that comparison also made me stop and ask: If it feels so familiar, why should I travel to Guam instead of simply staying in the Philippines?

The answer came from the places we visited.

More than just beaches

Guam may be famous for its beaches, but its identity goes far beyond the coastline.

At Fish Eye Marine Park, I watched a cultural dinner show that brought Chamorro traditions to life through music and dance. 

At Jeff’s Pirates Cove, the story of the place was just as interesting as the food. Along Guam’s southeastern coast, the longtime seaside restaurant carries a name linked to local stories about Malay pirates, while today it is known for its oceanfront setting and local fare.

In Merizo, the Spanish influence felt surprisingly familiar to us Filipinos, and we even joked that Guamanians and Filipinos are like cousins, separated by the Pacific but connected by a shared colonial history that shaped our languages, traditions, faith and way of life. The village’s Spanish-era structures remain part of its landscape, alongside a history that also includes the trauma of the Japanese occupation during World War II.

At Fort Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, the view stretched over Umatac Bay and the Philippine Sea. Built by the Spanish between 1802 and 1819, the fort once formed part of Guam’s coastal defenses and overlooked a bay that served as a crucial resupply stop for the Manila Galleons.

From the Cetti Bay Overlook, Guam’s southern landscape unfolded in layers of green mountains and blue sea.

These experiences challenged my initial impression that Guam might simply be “another tropical destination.”

It isn't.

Guam has a culture that has survived centuries of outside influence, from Spain and Japan to the United States, while maintaining a distinct Chamorro identity. The island's Indigenous heritage stretches back thousands of years, and Chamorro traditions continue to be practiced and presented today.

The other side of paradise

But perhaps the most unexpected part of the trip was realizing that Guam is not simply a beautiful destination. It is also a place with complicated questions about identity, representation and political status.

Guam became a US territory in 1898, and the Guam Organic Act of 1950 established its civilian government and granted US citizenship to Guamanians. But Guam remains an unincorporated territory rather than a state.

That status has consequences.

Residents of Guam cannot vote for the US president in the general election, despite being US citizens. Guam is also represented in Congress by a delegate who can participate in congressional proceedings but does not have a vote on final passage of legislation in the House.

For a visitor, that can be difficult to immediately grasp.

Listening to our guide made the island feel more complicated — and, in a way, more human.

A different kind of home

Guam may be only a few hours away from the Philippines, but it carries a history and identity entirely its own. I arrived expecting to feel like a stranger in a US territory.

Instead, somewhere between the beaches, the shopping aisles, the cultural dances, the historic forts and conversations with locals, I found something I did not expect:

A little bit of Japan.

A lot of the Philippines.

And an island that is unapologetically Guam.