Hafu: Living in Japan

[2triky]

[yt]I82gxZF99Ic[/yt]

http://www.indiegogo.com/hafu-film

[Yokohammer]

Hey, very cool!!

I like this a lot. Will be keeping an eye on progress.

It'll come down to their storytelling and filmmaking chops ... supported by money, of course. But if the former aren't in pace the latter won't follow (although it looks as though they've already received more twice their $10,000 goal). This type of project can be really difficult to pull off, especially in the generally apathetic environment they're trying to do it in.

[gaijinpunch]

David (Ghana + Japan) was on a special on Harajuku the other day.

[omae mona]

Yeah, funny timing. I had never seen that guy, David Yano, until last night. He was on TV participating in a panel on a show about Meiji Jingu (http://www.tbs.co.jp/f-hakken/). Very articulate and interesting guy, actually. Then he showed up in this post this morning.

[james]

as the father of two legitimate haafu boys, i'm definitely looking forward to seeing this. it's too bad that despite greji's best efforts the statistic is still only 1 in 30. we need to step up to bat on this issue.

[legion]

lighten up people

[tone]

wow look timelapse of tokyo!

leave it up to americans to want to make everything about race and racial experiences...

that said - its gotta be a little hard on the hafu. at least foreigners can just play the novelty card, hafus maybe raised here or wanting to connect, do seem to get that "your actually from XXX" reaction it seems.

i wonder of these hafus were they raised here or came later?

[Yokohammer]

leave it up to americans to want to make everything about race and racial experiences...

I believe these kids are Japanese by birth and nationality, which is the whole point of the movie. One in 30 Japanese born today are of mixed race.

And, as you point out, they're probably facing some level of discrimination (it doesn't all have to be "bad" either) every single day of their lives, which can be pretty hard to ignore.

[maraboutslim]

As Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) would say: "Goddamn you half-Japanese girls. Do it to me every time..."

[Greji]

leave it up to americans to want to make everything about race and racial experiences...

I'm not sure what you mean about the Yanks in this instance, but having raised a herd of Hafu's here in Japan, I don't see how you can discuss that without race, or racial experiences being involved. You don't believe that the Japanese specialize in that?...

[matsuki]

leave it up to americans to want to make everything about race and racial experiences...

Uhhhh, what Americans are you referring to?

that said - its gotta be a little hard on the hafu. at least foreigners can just play the novelty card, hafus maybe raised here or wanting to connect, do seem to get that "your actually from XXX" reaction it seems.

i wonder of these hafus were they raised here or came later?

I've been called "half" for most of my life and I didn't come to Japan for the first time until 10 years ago. Neither of my rents are Japanese. Us mixed peoples are all over the world and with all kinds of different "racial" backgrounds. (though I think culture is what really defines us) I've known quite a few others with parents from different cultures and it doesn't matter what mix they are, I can always relate to their situation. (though being mixed in Japan is a totally different environment than the US) Anyhow, this documentary seems pretty interesting....

[Kagetsu]

http://joeisjapanese.com/video

Was personally reminded of Joe is Japanese. ^_^

---

I think it's a good idea, and it's nice to see they made their budget.

[IparryU]

wow look timelapse of tokyo!

leave it up to americans to want to make everything about race and racial experiences...

that said - its gotta be a little hard on the hafu. at least foreigners can just play the novelty card, hafus maybe raised here or wanting to connect, do seem to get that "your actually from XXX" reaction it seems.

i wonder of these hafus were they raised here or came later?

probably because "American" is not a race/ethnicity, but nationality... before you open your mouth, write something, etc., you are judged by what you look like... hence the race and "racial experiences".

I am half myself... Mexican and Kraut but I am an American. On paper, I am a wetback, and to people's eyes I am white. Good example, when I got pulled over by the police they would say, "Hey son, do you know why I pulled you over? Gimmie your licence and registration please " They look at my Cali ID, go to their car, then both of them come back guns pulled and say, "Get the fuck out the car "Mexican_Last_Name"!"

I dont have many white friends either, so when I am confronted with the police in a group of "minorities" the police will tend to speak with me because of my appearance. Saved me and my friends many nights from being in the intake room at the county for doing nothing just by looking/speaking white... but then again, this is an "American thing" that you are probably referring to.

But in Japan, I cannot be Mexican or German cause I was born in America :/

Now take that into consideration for haafu and the stick up Japanese peoples asses about being "Japanese". They are not Japanese, they are haafu. But the read, write, and speak the same, but they are "just not Japanese".

My sons are almost 4 and 2... and I have had numerous occasions where the haafu card was pulled. My sons not speaking "on time" like the Japanese kids, my sons are too aggressive when doing ta-chi (high five), and other BS that just wouldn't come up in regards to not being "Japanese".

Fix up your statement about America man... nothing backing it but bullshit.

[matsuki]

1 in 30 does not mean "a new generation" it means a very small minority.

LOL, yeah, 3.3% of the future is hardly "a new generation" but it is worth noting.

I think the whole premise for the film is weak. What about people who a quarter Japanese? What about Japanese diaspora brought up in Paraguay or even France? What about non-Japanese brought up in Japan, like a friend of mine who is Spanish and spent his whole life in Kyushu?

Narcissism has got in the way of making a documentary that could explore this important issue to its fullest.

By parent of two "hafu" kids.

While I totally agree with you, maybe the movie will inspire a documentary that deals with the entire issue...it's a start.

I am half myself... Mexican and Kraut but I am an American. On paper, I am a wetback, and to people's eyes I am white. Good example, when I got pulled over by the police they would say, "Hey son, do you know why I pulled you over? Gimmie your licence and registration please " They look at my Cali ID, go to their car, then both of them come back guns pulled and say, "Get the fuck out the car "Mexican_Last_Name"!"

LOL, or the times at the university when they call your hismexican last name, see your face, and think they made a mistake? "But...but...you're white!"

But in Japan, I cannot be Mexican or German cause I was born in America :/

Hahaha, Japan...where "Native American" means blonde haired, blue eyed and English speaking fellows from the U.S.

Now take that into consideration for haafu and the stick up Japanese peoples asses about being "Japanese". They are not Japanese, they are haafu. But the read, write, and speak the same, but they are "just not Japanese".

My sons are almost 4 and 2... and I have had numerous occasions where the haafu card was pulled. My sons not speaking "on time" like the Japanese kids, my sons are too aggressive when doing ta-chi (high five), and other BS that just wouldn't come up in regards to not being "Japanese".

LOL, that's when you ask them to define "Japanese."

[Yokohammer]

One in 30. 3.3%. That's about double the normally quoted "foreign population" figure of about 1.7%, which in itself is apparently enough to scare the shit out of the local politicians and right-wingers. It is significant. Very significant for Japan, especially since it is a percentage that is only going to grow. And all these "hafu" will have quarter children if they marry the mythological "pure Japanese," and three-quarter children if they marry a foreigner. How long will it be before it's 5%? 10%?

I also disagree that it's the wrong approach. Trying to hit modern Japanese with facts about their Zainichi Korean, Ainu, Burakumin, etc. history will only result in glazed-over expressions and blank stares. On the other hand, saying "here's the current situation, here's where it's going, and these people are living lives very much like yours, with many of the same issues and problems, going to the same schools, paying the same taxes, following the same social rules ... except that they also have to deal with discrimination that can make their lives more difficult at times," is much more likely to get through. Facts often don't translate. Emotions usually do.

[Coligny]

I am half myself... Mexican and Kraut but I am an American. On paper, I am a wetback, and to people's eyes I am white.

bwaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

(surrendur...)

[Samurai_Jerk]

[matsuki]

Bullshit.

Mmmmm yeah, Korea and China are two others that come to mind...

[tone]

Fix up your statement about America man... nothing backing it but bullshit.

hey my bad - very interesting and kind of sad bullshit it sounds like your kids have to deal with

what i think backs it up is how often in the states race is even mentioned before gender - like it matters on a hugely existential level when telling a story or whatever. how its funny and gets sent around, the you tube of the white kid that tries to rap.

i just think labels are bad - and i guess this film will out another shitty label that makes a persons life slightly shittier by being boxed into that label by peers. but i wonder if they will embrace the label or say that they hate it

in this case, it does seem interesting especially this audience.

my initial reaction was just as to how racial identity is a well worn trope for academic papers and student films - and my one good
hafu" friend, it does sound rough compared to what seems like the way people are able to embrace both sides of their parents and still be a citizen.

i dunno... i'm mainly talking bullshit. this does seem like a tough place to be when the culture of your mom or dad tells you that you dont belong here basically.

[6810]

[legion]

did they finish the documentary already?

[rooboy]

I'm sorry if my comments struck you in this way.
I'm nothing but a cynic about all people's actions, I'm interested in Why they do the things they do.

First of all, the whole "homogenous" myth needs debunking - the Japanese being mutts made up of Koreans, Chinese, Siberians, Polynesians. Not that I suggest asking Japanese people if they are actually half Korean unless you want a chopstick poke in the guts.
What do you mean by "homogenising otherness/difference" ? Not sure what you want to say here.



"work in a way with fewer platitudes and do some good among the people you actually have relationships with "

well that's an absurd remark, you have no idea about my relationships !

I dunno, on another thread bout the myth of Japan's failure you tell us all you're Japanese but in this thread and others you don't come across like one. Sorry to be so fucking cynical but Japanese/Koreans/Chinese who are very good to almost fluent in English still tend to write differently from native English speakers.

Own up, you aint a native Japanese in the sense we use it. Maybe you were born in the US of Japanese parents but it doesn't seem like it. You come across as a gaijin yet in the other thread suddenly you're Japanese.

[rooboy]

Bullshit.

So fucking true - from Samurai. East Asian culture is Japan, Korea and China and all 3 countries have big issues with their own idea of 'uniqueness', 'one culture', 'one race' etc etc. Talking here about the official line thats been around for centuries upon centuries.

Try talking to Chinese in Australia who come from the People's Republic - what many of em will say is mind-blowingly ignorant re China as 'the centre of the world', 'the great Han race', 'Chinese superiority; etc etc. China is full of minorities and the Manchu emperors to name just one example were minority rulers.

Koreans - there's a basic fucking reason why the Japanese and Koreans generally don't get along and tho colonialism is a lot of it, there's also the situation of too much similarity in the way the cultures and ruling classes think about themselves. Nazi like notions of 'race' and 'blood' are fucking widespread in Korea tho the official line these days is pulling away from it. Korean textbooks in schools often repeat the same kind of racial bullshit and myths that the equivalent in Japan do.

Koreans focus on their victimisation by Japan but what they can't allow to be aired is the fact that many Koreans of the non peasant backgrounds were fucking delighted to be portrayed as 'co partners' in the Greater Asian Co Prosperity Sphere.

So much that collaboration was incredibly widespread in Korea and there were plenty of willing Korean propagandists for the new order because of course Korea was 'superior to the world's peoples' as some Korean writers and political thinkers spread around before Japan took hold of the country. Korean political prisoners were often tortured by their own countrymen as well as Japanese prison guards.

The 'comfort women' were rounded up by their own countrymen and military leaders - as far as I know there have been only 2 Korean academics to make mention of this and the latest one, a woman, received many death threats for daring to criticise the way in which Korean war criminals and sex slave traders of their own people suddenly don't exist and it was always the Japanese of course.

[FranciscoDeXavier]

Wait until they do a stunt like the Portuguese massacre of 1637. Godless nazi lemurs.

[Coligny]

http://thediplomat.com/2013/10/03/in-ja ... red-whole/

Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan will be shown at Shibuya Uplink Theater from October 5 until October 18. A post-screening Q&A session with director Megumi Nishikura and a person featured from the film will take place on October 8. Tickets can be purchased at the Shibuya Uplink box office.

image.jpg

[Samurai_Jerk]

Mixed-race 'Rola' changing the DNA of Japanese pop culture

In celebrity-obsessed Japan with its conveyor belt of 15-minute stars, fashion icon 'Rola' is blazing a meteoric trail at the forefront of a galaxy of mixed-race stars changing the DNA of Japanese pop culture.

Turn on the TV and there's no escaping the bubbly 24-year-old of Bengali, Japanese and Russian descent -- she even dominates the commercial breaks.

A marketing gold mine, Rola smiles down celestially from giant billboards, her wide eyes and girlie pout grace magazine covers and she even greets you at vending machines.

But Rola, who settled in Japan when she was nine, has done it by turning the entertainment industry on its head, her child-like bluntness slicing through the strict convention that governs Japanese society.

Half-British singer and actress Becky is another superstar with model looks

[matsuki]

Mixed-race 'Rola' changing the DNA of Japanese pop culture

In celebrity-obsessed Japan with its conveyor belt of 15-minute stars, fashion icon 'Rola' is blazing a meteoric trail at the forefront of a galaxy of mixed-race stars changing the DNA of Japanese pop culture.

Turn on the TV and there's no escaping the bubbly 24-year-old of Bengali, Japanese and Russian descent -- she even dominates the commercial breaks.

A marketing gold mine, Rola smiles down celestially from giant billboards, her wide eyes and girlie pout grace magazine covers and she even greets you at vending machines.

But Rola, who settled in Japan when she was nine, has done it by turning the entertainment industry on its head, her child-like bluntness slicing through the strict convention that governs Japanese society.

So that's the secret to cracking J-stubbornness? Appeal to their pedophile-kawaii neediness?

Half-British singer and actress Becky is another superstar with model looks

That bitch belongs in the same stable as Sara Jessica Parker...

[Samurai_Jerk]

[kurogane]

what i think backs it up is how often in the states race is even mentioned before gender - like it matters on a hugely existential level when telling a story or whatever.

I thought the initial comment irrelevant to the thread, but this bit is right on. I don't think that many Americans can even understand just how race obsessed normal American conversation seems to First Worlders. Sitting at a pub in Vancouver talking to a Southern Tourist can be rather surreal. And I don't mean Racism! or Bigotry!, simply the fact that it is even a topic worth that much attention. I also mean White People. American Blacks and Browns seem to enjoy the silence. OTOH, you guys are way better at allowing it as a topic without freaking out in a PC hysteria like most doofus hipsters in Canader.

I think you guys on here are just outside the box, and even before you were maybe you were just Better, Smarter, Faster. I am proud to know we were once neighbours, FWIW. But do note the spelling there

Anyways................Becky is supposed to be a singer now???? The only thing she's ever done worth watching is that day she spent with the Lesser Pandas. And they were the stars of that one. That Lola chick is annoying, but I saw a smoking Halfie on TV last night (nice face, 30s, no tits) and she wasn't playing the idiot.

There's actually a Lola lookalike (Jpn-Slav????) that takes it in the pooper from that gang of Jpn Porn black guys but she's grossly skinny and obviously hates it. Better than her straight TV counterpart, though.

[matsuki]

I thought the initial comment irrelevant to the thread, but this bit is right on. I don't think that many Americans can even understand just how race obsessed normal American conversation seems to First Worlders. Sitting at a pub in Vancouver talking to a Southern Tourist can be rather surreal. And I don't mean Racism! or Bigotry!, simply the fact that it is even a topic worth that much attention. I also mean White People. American Blacks and Browns seem to enjoy the silence.

Dude, it's everyone. I get the "Japan? Ching chong sushi! How do you understand that shit?" and " are their pussies really slanted?!" and "bring me back a geisha" comments from every "race." Nationality and culture are one thing but melting pot USA (and I'd say Canada too) is often too fixated on "race" and often uses the words interchangeably when they don't mean the same thing.