Japanese, Caucasian

hapa296My mom’s from Hiroshima, my dad’s from Florida. They met in Hawaii, moved to New York, had me in Florida, moved to Japan, and moved back to Honolulu!

I am now 17, and have been living on this beautiful island for about 16 years. Hawaii’s whole “vibe” is very unique as there are many mixed people like myself, and I noticed that I don’t really associate people with their race anymore. I see everyone being part of this one community here at home, instead of being “this race” or “that race.” I feel like this is the way it should be…everywhere.

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Filipino, Chinese, Caucasian

hapa295My name is Vince and I currently live and work in San Francisco. My mom is a native of the Philippines (her father was part Chinese), and my dad has had his roots in the US for several decades.

I was born and raised in a small suburb about 20 miles east of Sacramento. It was a very quiet and conservative town while I was growing up, with nearly 95% of the population being Caucasian. While I did enjoy my childhood and wouldn’t trade it for anything, I always felt different growing up as the only kid I knew who wasn’t fully white.

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Filipina, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Irish, Scottish, French

hapa294My parents met when my dad (Czech, Irish, Scottish, and French – born and raised in Ohio) served a Peace Corps mission in the Philippines where my mom lived with her family. He brought her back to the United States, where I was born.

When I was seven, my family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where most people were white and Mormon.

I remember getting teased a few times because my eyes were “like this” (as kids would pull the corners of their eyes up), but in general I got along with everyone. Continue reading →

Malay, Japanese

hapa293Hi everyone! My name is Elena Yui Zafrul. My mother is Japanese and my father is Malay. I was born and raised in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

I’m 18 years old and currently studying in Iowa. I can speak Malay, Japanese and English.

My parents separated when I was young, so I was basically raised by my mom in a Japanese-like household. I’d speak Japanese with my mom, but when I’m with my sister, we’d communicate in Malay.

My childhood was pretty rough. Since Malaysia was once invaded by the Japanese, the kids at my school would be mean to me. They would call me names and tell me to go back to Japan. Continue reading →

Filipino, British, German

hapa292Hey Everyone! My name is Laura, I’m from Toronto, Canada.

I have a younger brother named Jordan. Our mother is Filipino, from Lucena City, and our father is British/German born and raised in Toronto.

I found this site by random browsing but I’m so glad I did — I love reading about other Hapas around the world.

Toronto is a very diverse city, so I never really had issues feeling alienated as a child due to my mixed race. I grew up with many Hapa classmates and a lot of my friends are blasian.

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Indonesian Chinese

hapa291Hello everyone, my name is Clarissa. I am Indonesian Chinese. I’ve lived in South Korea and Indonesia.

Sometimes people can’t guess what my ethnicity is. They think I’m either Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Singaporean, Filipino, or Taiwanese, especially when I lived in South Korea or traveled outside Indonesia.

Being Hapa is a blessing for me. I’ve learned to be a chameleon, to be open minded, and to respect different points of view.

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Austrian, Filipino

hapa290Servus! My name is Joanna. My mother is Filipino and my dad is Austrian. I was born and raised in Austria (Vienna) and I’m proud to be Hapa.

When people ask me “Where are you from?” I first let them play the “guess my race” game. I think it’s funny because some say I am Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Turkish, etc. In the Philippines people see me more as European and in Austria they identify me as an Asian girl.

Growing up Hapa in Austria was great and I have wonderful childhood memories. But when I was younger I did experience an identity crisis. For some people it was hard to accept that I am mixed and they treated me as a foreigner because I look different. That was quite hard for me because Austria is my home country and it hurt me to be called a foreigner. But as I got older, I learned to embrace my ethnic background and be proud of who I am.

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