"We Japanese" - Half-Japanese and Zainichi Koreans On Japanese Identity

[Mulboyne]

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1. Introductions

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2. Earliest memories of being different

Here's an interesting series of videos compiled from interviews with half-Japanese and zainichi Korean students talking about their identity. The three clips here are an hour's worth of viewing and there is even more in the next post. I came across the third one first and, if you haven't got much time to watch them in order, that's not a bad place to jump in to get a feel for what's going on (although you might miss the fact that there are twins). The interviewer, Tamarah Cohen of Kansai Gaidai University, is certainly guilty of "leading the witness" on occasion and the editing reflects her agenda: you can't help but think a different set-up would have produced some different answers. Nevertheless, it makes for fascinating viewing and raises a number of important issues. I'd recommend making time to watch them all.

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3. The advantages of being different

Related FG Thread: No Problems for Hafu Celebrity. See the next post for the remaining interviews.

[Mulboyne]

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4. Disadvantages: Sense of Belonging 5. 22 = 2 - 1: Adulthood 6. Looking Apart 7. Gender and Ethnicity

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8. Family: Two Unusually Ordinary Examples.

If you want to know more about the twins, Eimi & Ayana, here they are with their mum in the video above. The second group is Wakaba's brother, sister and mother. It's fairly clear that the interviewer found these girls to be the most engaging subjects and it's not difficult to understand why. The next two videos also mainly feature these two families.

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9. Patterns 10. Isolation

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11. Believe It Or Not!

[Adhesive]

Awful interviewer.

[james]

very interesting videos though i don't care for the interviewer. i'm still watching #1. y'know, i have to say i've never met anyone who describes their ethnicity as being "floridian".

edit: i also wonder if these interviews could have been more effective had they been conducted in japanese or allowed for some responses in japanese and then subbed afterwards for the japanese-impaired. some of the subjects, while being able to speak ok english, i think were having a lot of difficulty understanding certain questions and expressing themselves, with the exception of that boy, maya miller.

[Mulboyne]

The videos have been made as discussion materials and I think they serve that purpose. However, you are left in no real doubt which way the interviewer, Tamarah Cohen, wants the the discussion to go. She has edited the videos to show pauses in the dialogue where the impression is that an interviewee is wresting with the implication of her question. However, it could just as easily be that the interviewee is struggling with English rather than the ideas she is raising.

She likes talking with Eimi, Ayana, Wakaba and the Canadian-Japanese girl with the surname Laurence. That's partly because they are bright and outgoing people but they also give her the kind of response she wants. It's noticeable that she puts them at ease a lot more by complimenting them and joking with them but she doesn't do that with the others. Those four girls don't pause much when they speak but, when they do, Cohen steps in to draw them out while she leaves the others to find their own way. She also allows them to use Japanese to express their thoughts but doesn't appear to suggest that option to the others. The Philippine-Japanese girl, for instance, might have expressed herself differently in Japanese.

She might have a point about the differences between hafu girls and hafu boys. I really don't know. However, she can't take as evidence the fact that fewer boys responded to her request for interviews. Rather than hiding their ethnicity, they may simply have baulked at the idea of sitting down for an interview with her no matter what the subject.

[Johnny Box]

I liked the first video, but the "discussion" question the director leaves us with is off the chart on the Johnny Box Scale of Pretentiousness.

"Can you think of other contexts in which ... 1 + 1 = hafu?"

I've heard this before and not only is it pretentious, but it's also plain stupid. For two reasons:

#1) Do you mean to say that one human being is actually two human beings. As in 1 + 1 = 2, and therefore 1 mother + 1 father = 2 person???

#2) 1 American mother + 1 Japanese father = 1 child who is half-American AND half-Japanese. 1/2 + 1/2 = 1.

It's not a difficult - or inherently racist or derogatory - concept.

But other than that, well done on the Intro part. Although, a little more flesh would be nice

[Greji]

[quote="Johnny Box"]I liked the first video, but the "discussion" question the director leaves us with is off the chart on the Johnny Box Scale of Pretentiousness.

"Can you think of other contexts in which ... 1 + 1 = hafu?"

I've heard this before and not only is it pretentious, but it's also plain stupid. For two reasons:

#1) Do you mean to say that one human being is actually two human beings. As in 1 + 1 = 2, and therefore 1 mother + 1 father = 2 person???

#2) 1 American mother + 1 Japanese father = 1 child who is half-American AND half-Japanese. 1/2 + 1/2 = 1.

It's not a difficult - or inherently racist or derogatory - concept.

But other than that, well done on the Intro part. Although, a little more flesh would be nice ]

Hmmm, Father is male + Mother is female = hafu?

Might work for Iraira, but I ain't buying

[Iraira]

Hmmm, Father is male + Mother is female = hafu?

Might work for Iraira, but I ain't buying

Are you implying that I wasn't manufactured in a lab somewhere in someone's basement?

Keep in mind that the expression "half" is Jinglish, so looking at it's meaning in a Webster-ian sense of the word might not convey it's true Japanese meaning which is more along the lines of my bitter morning coffee,"It is half-Japanese, so forgive it for the glaring errors it will make in terms of satisfying the "duties of all Japanese" and praise it for overcoming it's genetic handicap when it does satisfy the "duties of all Japanese"".
I'm in a foul mood as I'm about to do my US income taxes, can I write off the money I earned from furikomi sagi as charitable donations by idiots?

[Greji]

Are you implying that I wasn't manufactured in a lab somewhere in someone's basement?

A buzzard shit on a rock and the sun hatched it?

[Iraira]

A buzzard shit on a rock and the sun hatched it?

I prefer the concept of having risen from the primordial ooze that seeped from the vents at the bottom of the sea.