Culturally Distressed is co-hosted by Loic Pichot, a first-generation French-American gay millennial, and Miyoko Sakatani, a second-generation Japanese-American (Nisei) and straight baby boomer. Together, they dive into our culturally confusing climate with unscripted, authentic conversations that mix humor, humanity, and insight. From pride to cultural diversity, love, life, and everything in between, they share stories, and remind us that at the end of the day… we’re all a little bit culturally distressed.
Loïc shows up in a French soccer shirt featuring a rooster, Miyoko immediately calls it by its other name, and the episode finds its theme.
This week: idioms. Miyoko grew up in a Japanese-only household where American expressions were nowhere to be found, then married into a family that speaks almost entirely in them. She still finds them mildly infuriating. Why say the ball is in your court when you can just say what you mean? Loïc, eleven years into American life, thought his English was solid until he spent an entire improv set using toss a salad as a business catchphrase without knowing what it meant. The audience loved it.
From there, the two go head to head: Miyoko throws American idioms at Loïc, Loïc translates French ones back. Highlights include fingers in the nose, raining like a cow is peeing, putting a rabbit on someone, and the birth of a brand new idiom that may or may not catch on.
Also: Miyoko produced, directed, and performed in a webinar reading of Tokyo Rose, the true story of a Japanese American woman wrongly convicted of treason. Her ukulele band played This Land Is Your Land at an assisted living facility, not knowing Woody Guthrie's son was in the audience. And Loïc has feelings about American vacation culture.
Culturally Distressed is the podcast where a French gay millennial and a Japanese American baby boomer figure out what it means to belong, one culturally distressing moment at a time. Hosted by Loïc Pichot and Miyoko Sakatani.
13 Jun 2026
Shikata Ga Nai & Energy Vampires
It is Pride Month, Loïc has a rainbow lei on his mind, and the episode opens with a question: how do you stay politically engaged without losing your peace?
Loïc reflects on growing up in France, where healthcare and education are treated as rights, not luxuries, and what it felt like to open his first American medical bill. He shares the conspiracy theory he has chosen to believe: that the people in power are energy vampires who feed on anger and attention. His conclusion is that living a joyful life is the biggest act of rebellion available to us right now.
Miyoko traces her complicated relationship with politics, from a family that stayed quiet through the Japanese American incarceration to the day she became campaign manager for her high school's first Black student body president, and the local newspaper that then printed an article full of things she never said. She shares the Japanese Buddhist concept of Shikata Ga Nai: it cannot be helped, so let us endure with humility, courage, and strength.
And then there is Richard, who worked in San Francisco General's first AIDS ward in the early eighties, before anyone knew what AIDS was, and the psychic who told him decades later that the young men were still there, and they wanted to say thank you.
Also: competency is sexy, diva energy is not traditionally Japanese, and Loïc was mean-girled by a straight man on the first day of Pride.
Culturally Distressed is the podcast where a French gay millennial and a Japanese American baby boomer figure out what it means to belong, one culturally distressing moment at a time. Hosted by Loïc Pichot and Miyoko Sakatani.
30 May 2026
Mailed Off the Porch & Sheet of Paper
Miyoko is back from Alaska, and the glaciers did not disappoint. The cruise ship, however, is another story. After 25 years away from cruising, she and Richard boarded what she was expecting to be a relaxing voyage and found themselves on a floating city of bingo, blasting music, and obscene amounts of food. The destination was worth it. The culture was not for them.
Loïc, meanwhile, had a moment at board game night. Tasked with reading the rules out loud, he confidently announced that everyone needed a sheet of paper. Nobody heard sheet.
From there, the conversation goes deep. Kids, legacy, and what it means to build a family outside the blueprint society hands you. Loïc opens up about burying his dream of becoming a dad when he came to terms with his sexuality, and how living in LA helped him reclaim it. Miyoko reflects on a lifetime of being asked when she was having children, her brother who once put her in a box on the front porch hoping the mailman would take her away, and what legacy looks like when it has nothing to do with having kids.
Also: 12 years of Japanese Saturday school, twin gays, French school in LA, and the white sheep of the family.
Culturally Distressed is the podcast where a French gay millennial and a Japanese American baby boomer figure out what it means to belong, one culturally distressing moment at a time. Hosted by Loïc Pichot and Miyoko Sakatani.
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