Tag Archives: hapa
What are words worth: Hapa, Hafu or Mixed-Race?
I’ve recently finished writing revisions for a new edition of my book, “Being Japanese American: A JA Sourcebook for Nikkei, Hapa … & Their Friends,” which will be published this June by Stone Bridge Press. I mention this not just to pimp the book to you all (speaking of which, you can pre-order the book […]
Hapa Voice celebrates mixed-race Asian identity
Erica Johnson is a woman on a mission. Earlier this year, she launched a blog called Hapa Voice where she posts submissions from hapas — mixed-race Asians — with photos and short autobiographies that explain a little about themselves. The titles of each post are a simple rundown of the submitter’s ethnic mix. This elegant, […]
Can we exorcise Jon Gosselin as an Asian American?
When I first found out Jon Gosselin is Asian American, I thought, “Cool!” His kids were an adorable hapa brood, and Kate was a somewhat… shall we say … difficult partner. A mixed-race family is nothing unfamiliar to many AAPIs (and especially Japanese Americans, who have had the highest out-marriage rate of all AAPI ethnicities […]
Next on visualizAsian: Kip Fulbeck – hapa artist, author, slam poet, professor
Photo by Suzanne Bernel Think of it as a racial mashup. We’re living in an era when the President of the United States is multiracial, and we’re changing our perspectives on ethnic identity — especially what it means to be Asian American. We’re moving beyond single cultural identification. Many of us are connected to our […]
Keanu Reeves as a samurai: Is it still ‘yellowface’ if the actor is hapa?
The Hollywood news source Variety reported yesterday that Keanu Reeves, everyone’s favorite hapa actor (his father is Hawai’ian-Chinese) is going to play the lead role in a samurai epic, “47 Ronin.” The 47 Ronin is the celebrated 18th century story from Japanese history, of a group of masterless samurai who avenged the death of their […]
