It's a Small World After All
Cosmopolitan US|Issue 05, 2022
Trudging around Tokyo Disneyland, Lauren Wells glared at her friend Sabrina, dressed in a Princess Tiana costume, flitting a few paces ahead. It was May. The park's flower gardens were blooming. And Sabrina's life-or at least the life she pretended to have-was crumbling. Lauren knew it. She suspected Sabrina did too.
SARAH TRELEAVEN
It's a Small World After All

But for now, that day, Lauren kept quiet, letting the charade play out a little longer: Sabrina like any of the other Disney adults enjoying the rides and attractions, the cinnamon sugar of overpriced churros dusting the front of the green-and-cream dress and matching cardigan she claimed to have made herself. Obviously an Amazon purchase, Lauren thought bitterly.

In a couple of days, the two women would be back home in Seattle, and Lauren was deciding what to do next. She just had to make it through this one final vacation, the last of many with a best friend she never really knew.

Lauren and Sabrina were in a niche squad of sorts: four American women in Japan who shared a love for some aspect of Japanese pop culture, whether anime or visual kei. "We're all nerds," Lauren says.

Three of them actually lived there Lauren worked as a translator for Nintendo, based for a time in Kyoto. Then there was Kathryn Robarts, an English teacher and belly-dancing instructor who'd been in Matsudo for more than a decade. Ebony Norwood-Brown was a longtime Tokyo resident, working as a daycare provider while co-parenting a young son with her ex. Sabrina was the globe-trotting tourist of the bunch, a science researcher who lived in Seattle, with a love of Japan so big that it stretched across the sea.

Sabrina's connections with each of the others began when she friended them on Facebook, followed by messaging them one-on-one to ask if she could stay at their place while visiting. She'd book a plane ticket, touch down in Tokyo, and lavish her host-Lauren or Kathryn or Ebony-with meals, gifts, and whimsical adventures.

She had plenty of money and was always happy to treat. She never asked for much in return, apart from a comfy place to crash. Every few months, she'd be back in Japan for more fun.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Issue 05, 2022 من Cosmopolitan US.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Issue 05, 2022 من Cosmopolitan US.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من COSMOPOLITAN US مشاهدة الكل
DREAM-SCROLLING FOR DINNER
Cosmopolitan US

DREAM-SCROLLING FOR DINNER

With young people in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis, TikTok creators are turning grocery runs into rich-girl-coded productions - and followers are eating it up. Krista Diamond digs into what happens when a cart full of staple goods becomes a clout metric.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Winter 2025
Young Love in Atlanta
Cosmopolitan US

Young Love in Atlanta

WE TOOK OUR COUPLE SPOTTING SERIES DOWN SOUTH.

time-read
2 mins  |
Winter 2025
THE NEW C-SUITE 2024
Cosmopolitan US

THE NEW C-SUITE 2024

Progress. It’s a word that, in 2024, gets thrown around a lot. Especially when it comes to representation across all sorts of roles at all sorts of companies, including, crucially, at start-ups. Yet...people of color—and specifically women of color—still don’t often get the chance to even enter the conversation. Over the past few years, less than 1 percent of venture capital funding in this country has gone toward women of color entrepreneurs. (Making matters worse, funds that are geared toward supporting these women have become targets of anti-affirmative-action groups, forcing at least one to shut down entirely.)

time-read
8 mins  |
Winter 2025
Revenge Dressing
Cosmopolitan US

Revenge Dressing

Model and content creator Olivia Ponton is giving you permission to bring everyone who's ever wronged you to their knees with these simple yet very effective styles.

time-read
1 min  |
Winter 2025
HOTTER Than DRAGON FIRE
Cosmopolitan US

HOTTER Than DRAGON FIRE

It’s very likely that no matter where you are right now, there’s a copy of Fourth Wing nearby. Probably one of Iron Flame too. Both books, by romantasy queen Rebecca Yarros, topped every bestseller list—and absolutely ignited BookTok, spawning a rabid fandom that cannot get enough of badass heroine Violet Sorrengail and her relationship with fellow dragon-rider Xaden Riorson. Honestly, what’s not to love? There’s extreme adventure. Absurdly high stakes. Wildly hot sex. And the promise of a lot more, starting right here, with this exclusive first excerpt of the series’ third book, Onyx Storm. Friends, get your daggers ready. (IYKYK. If you don’t, prepare to get obsessed.)

time-read
8 mins  |
Winter 2025
RACHEL ZEGLER
Cosmopolitan US

RACHEL ZEGLER

She won a Golden Globe for her first major film role, in West Side Story. She took on a beloved franchise and made the newest Hunger Games a hit. She became a bona fide Disney princess with 2025's Snow White. And now the 23-year-old is checking a new career milestone off her bucket list: Broadway. Here, she chats with her Romeo + Juliet collaborator Jack Antonoff about it all.

time-read
10 mins  |
Winter 2025
Your Holiday Brunch Requires a Panful of These Treats
Cosmopolitan US

Your Holiday Brunch Requires a Panful of These Treats

A gooey, coconutty gift to you and yours from Tik Tok-viral chef Tuệ Nguyễn.

time-read
2 mins  |
Winter 2025
We Need to Talk About ADHD in Young Women
Cosmopolitan US

We Need to Talk About ADHD in Young Women

We've been excluded from this conversation for a long time...and we're suffering because of it.

time-read
4 mins  |
Winter 2025
Go Ahead - Plan a Trip Around the Northern Lights
Cosmopolitan US

Go Ahead - Plan a Trip Around the Northern Lights

Because we're in the midst of a solar maximum (yup, we had to google it too) that's expected to end soon and this is the most intense and most accessible the aurora borealis will be for years. These stunning under-the-radar spots will grant you the best, least crowded views.

time-read
2 mins  |
Winter 2025
I Got My Tubes Removed and It Was the Most Liberating Experience
Cosmopolitan US

I Got My Tubes Removed and It Was the Most Liberating Experience

With reproductive health care ever at risk in this country, could this be the future of birth control?

time-read
4 mins  |
Winter 2025