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I'm curious to know what end of the hapa scale you were raised.
I'm half Okinawan and half white. But I was raised in CA and in a mostly white environment with little bits of Okinawan life - food, occasional visits to mom's Japanese friends or very rare trips to Okinawa to visit relatives. Otherwise it was casseroles, jello, country music and life on a farm.
Did you get a 50/50 life? If not, now do you seek to balance yourself out by learning about the heritage on your other side?
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I'm half Okinawan and half white. But I was raised in CA and in a mostly white environment with little bits of Okinawan life - food, occasional visits to mom's Japanese friends or very rare trips to Okinawa to visit relatives. Otherwise it was casseroles, jello, country music and life on a farm.
Did you get a 50/50 life? If not, now do you seek to balance yourself out by learning about the heritage on your other side?
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SF Bay Area
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Re: Upbringing
Wed, March 30, 2005 - 2:37 PMgood topic.
I'm half Chinese, half Mexican. Both parents are from their native countries.
My dad (Chinese) was disowned when he married my mom, so I was raised pretty much acculturated in a Mexican heritage.
We moved to Los Angeles when I was 7 and there I noticed two distinct things:
1. I physically appear more Asian
2. Asians were much more respected than Latinos were
I tended to socialize with Asians while having my boisterous, loving, hugging Mexican home to go.
So I guess it was a 50/50 - outside the house I was Asian, took classes in Chinese history, etc. Back home I was Mexican. -
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Re: Upbringing
Wed, March 30, 2005 - 10:42 PM1/2 Japanese, 1/2 Caucasian.
My dad (white) was in the Navy. We lived on a US Navy base in Japan until I was 16. So I pretty much grew up in Japan except went to American school. As a Navy brat, I had to change friends every few years, so I had times when I hung around all white people, all Japanese people, all Filipino people....but a lot of them were mixed like me. On TV, we only had one American channel, so I never watched any American TV shows. I grew up on Japanese anime.
When my dad retired from the Navy, we moved to Nebraska where he grew up. Small farm town, population 500. No Asians at all. Big change. My poor mom. It was OK for me...I went off to college. Now, I guess I am Americanized, hardly speak any Japanese anymore. I wish it wasn't so expensive to go to Japan, or I'd go there more often.
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Re: Upbringing
Thu, March 31, 2005 - 9:17 AMI grew up pretty similar to other Yonsei, I just looked white. You couldn't say I grew up very japanese at all, but my family was pretty typically japanese-american. We celebrated Oshoogatsu, had occasional Japanese relatives come visit, ate with chopsticks, but even my dad doesn't speak Japanese. Everyone my dad's generation in his familiy married white people so all my cousins are hapa too.
I did get more than your typical dose of Japanese-American history and cultural events, since my dad is an Asian American Studies Professor. So we would go to Okinawa Kenjinkai events, and I got to go to Manzanar and Tule Lake. -
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Re: Upbringing
Tue, April 5, 2005 - 2:51 PMi came up completely mixed. mixed mixed mixed mixed.
what i identify with is the mixed up cultural whatever in hawaii. habits from all over the asian PI diaspora that are reflected in HI, plus good ole american whiteness... hard to escape that part.
didn't learn chinese. did learn a little pidgen.
my popo calls me a haole
gggrrrrr
but she's the only one who gets to
anyway i kinda look like her
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Re: Upbringing
Wed, April 6, 2005 - 11:51 AM>> Did you get a 50/50 life? If not, now do you seek to balance yourself out by learning about the heritage on your other side? <<
50/50, nope, more like the United Nations. In my family we were all taught to celebrate our uniqueness. Raised in CA and spent my summers in HI. ^_^
