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.

Well, the only time people confront me about my race is when I travel to other places such as Japan or the mainland. Most people tend to see my caucasian side (especially in Japan), and are always shocked when they find out I am half Japanese. Whenever I go there, people stare, ask questions, and stare some more. They get even more confused when they try to speak to me in English and I respond in Japanese. (haha)

Growing up, Japanese and English were very much interwoven in my learning. My first word was in Japanese, and I believe the first book I read was also in Japanese. Living in Hawaii, it was very easy to access my Japanese heritage/language, as many of my close friends were also Japanese or mixed.

I remember when I was younger, I wasn’t ever content with my own heritage for whatever reason. Now, I am so very proud of who I am and where I come from, and I try to embrace and love every part of it.

I am Japanese and caucasian, but I failed to mention early on that art also runs in my blood. Ever since I can remember, creativity flowed through me as naturally as my heritage did. I find things that have more than one component/one media (mixed media), so breathtakingly beautiful. Whether it’s people, art, music, or nature, I find myself very attracted to “mixed” things. I have only made this connection recently, and I want to explore this through my art, and through myself, and ultimately inspire the world.

I am Melody,
I am Sakura,
I am an Artist.

If anyone would like to explore my art, please feel free to!

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.

It wasn’t until high school that I had my first friend who wasn’t white. Being an only child made it especially hard growing up with no siblings to relate to or rely on. Despite visiting my mom’s family in the Philippines on several occasions growing up, I never really identified as Hapa growing up, and often distanced myself from it when possible.

However as I grew older, I became more comfortable with myself. Part of growing up is becoming more comfortable with being you, and in my case, being a person of mixed race. Additionally, moving to San Francisco really allowed me to embrace my own background as well as other cultures. Living in an environment as diverse as San Francisco was a refreshing change from my upbringing in suburban Sacramento.

I am now very proud of being Hapa. I love the uniqueness of it. I also love that there is a site like this where I can come and share my story and learn about others’ experiences. Being in the Philippines last December, I realized just how proud I am of being Filipino. It has helped mold me into the person I am today, and I am proud of that.

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.

Surprisingly there was a decent-sized Filipino community in Salt Lake City due to the many Mormon missionaries who served in the Philippines and found wives. Occasionally my family and I would hang out with other Filipinos, but I didn’t speak the language and felt disconnected from everyone there, especially the other kids who were full Filipino.

As time went on, I grew more connected to my Filipino roots, and made a name for myself in the community as Miss Filipina Utah. Now that I’m in my mid-twenties and have money of my own, I make a point to visit family in the Philippines every few years. I’ve now been there four times total, and each time I go, the culture and heritage feels more and more like an integral part of my identity. I’m not just an American Hapa; I’m an extension of the Philippines.

Now I live in San Francisco where I work in education development. My boyfriend is Persian, so I’m excited to see what our kids will look like!

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.

I once told my principal about it and all she said was, “Did you lose a hand? Are you bleeding? No, then I think there’s nothing wrong here.” I guess she thought that it was just kids being playful and whatnot. She wasn’t biracial, so I guess she didn’t know the things that I had to go through.

When I was 13, I moved to a school in the city, nowhere near my previous school. I made new friends and everyone there never picked on me for being half Japanese. They never called me names or made me feel like an outcast. In fact, my friends find me unique for being half Japanese — it’s rare in Malaysia to find someone who’s half Japanese. Some of the friends I made are still my best friends even after five years. They’ve helped me embrace my Japanese side without having to worry about whether I’d fit in well or not.

My mom is of course the reason that I made it this far. She would always fight for me when I was denied my rights. I know it was hard for her to raise my sister and me in a place foreign to her, but I’m proud to say that she is the best mom in the universe!

Although my childhood was rough for being half Japanese, I never blamed her. I love her so much and I’m thankful to God for making this my destiny.

If I was given the chance to change who I am, I would still choose to be half Japanese and half Malay, just as I am now. Although I have gone through a lot as a biracial child, having my rights taken away from me for not being ‘fully’ Malay, I am happy with who I am, I am proud to call myself a Hapa.

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.

My father never really embraced his German or English culture so I usually just identify myself as Filipino/Canadian to make it easier on people.

Living with my mother for the majority of my childhood, I really embraced the Filipino culture.

I swear I have my mom’s accent to a tee! I’ve traveled to the Philippines over six times and I do understand Tagalog.

One day I hope to travel to England and Germany to explore my European cultures as well.

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.

South Korea feels like my second home. I am getting used to the culture there and loving it. I’ve made close friends from diverse nations and I believe friendship is the language everyone can speak regardless of nationality. I make friends with everyone, and I try to appreciate people for their personality and their heart because I believe that’s the important thing.

I celebrate both Indonesian Independence Day and Chinese New Year. I’ve never seen myself as only Indonesian or only Chinese, because I am part of both, and I am happy to be Hapa.

Being Hapa has given me an appetite for language, travel, and meeting people because it’s so natural for me to absorb and speak multiple languages. I adore the beauty of languages. I can speak Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, English, German, and also a little bit of Chinese.

What I want to say is always believe in yourself, embrace your uniqueness, follow your heart, and learn from everyone, because life is a gift from God to enjoy :)

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.

Being mixed is a blessing because it makes me proud to represent two beautiful cultures. Thank you mum and dad!

If I were born all over again, I would choose Team Hapa!

My mom is Korean and English and my dad is Chinese, Hawaiian, Scottish and French.

Despite my parents both having brown eyes and dark hair, I inherited genes that go back quite a few generations on both my parent’s sides. Isn’t that cool.

Being that my parents are both proud Hapas I know I will be raised to appreciate all the cultures that make up my wonderful ethnic background.

I also know that my mom and dad will help me negotiate the trials and tribulations of not always being recognized for your cultural background.

I was born in Kashiwa, Japan (close to Tokyo) in 1991. My given Japanese name is Satoru, while my full American name is Nathan Satoru Kogge. My mother is Japanese, born in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, and my father is American, born in Chicago to Irish/Polish parents. We lived in Japan until 2001 with my two brothers, born in 1995 and 1997.

While living in Japan, I was almost immediately made aware of my distinctions. In all my schooling in Japan, everybody else was full Japanese. My father would tell me of when I used to deny the fact that my hair color was brown — an after effect of being harassed for not having black hair.

However, ten years of my life were spent in Japan, and it shaped the person I am today. I know the difference between Tonkotsu/Tonkatsu, I love Natto (fermented soybeans), Ikura (salmon roe), and I still say “Ibaraki” as “Ibaraghi”, a dialect of the area I spent my years in.

Many challenges have been encountered both in Japan and the USA throughout the years. Many kids would make fun of me for my hair color in Japan, though there were some that openly admired it as well! In the USA, I’ve struggled with the fact that no one saw me as Japanese/Asian, and conversely didn’t fit in with the Caucasian crowd. Lonely is the best way I can sum up growing up. I have never spoken to anyone who had experiences similar to mine, nor have I met many Japanese people, which quite honestly still makes me feel isolated as I consider myself, to the fullest extent of the meaning, a Japanese American.

Although I have had thoughts of wishing to be monoracial throughout the years, I can now say that I am proud to be Hapa. I have been exposed to “both sides of the coin” so to speak from a very early age. I am always willing to listen to both sides of the story, and my experience has made me smarter, stronger and more adept than I ever would have been had I not had the experiences I had. Above all, I hope to expand my Japanese to a native level ability (I have no accent, but vocabulary can be challenging when the conversation gets technical), and put to good use my language abilities and cultural understanding of Japan and the USA.

Thank you for reading,

Nathan Satoru Kogge

I feel special even though my appearance looks mostly middle eastern. When I tell people where I’m from, people get surprised — especially tourists from Japan in Norway get shocked when I speak fluent Japanese to them!

Although my childhood in Japan was great there were bad times where I faced bullying at school because I was different from others — I was the only kid in the entire school who was not 100% Japanese — so I was lucky to have one best friend that was there for me in those times.

My biggest challenge now is that I don’t use Japanese that often as there are almost no Japanese people living in Oslo. But I do speak Japanese to my sister when we hang out.

Today I work with music (as producer and DJ) and I am a professional chef, specializing in Japanese dishes, everything from homemade miso to takoyaki. I feel that Japanese food brings me Japanese culture and I get the connection with Japan even though I live half a world away.