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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Korean, Chinese, Hawaiian, English, Scottish, French

hapa289I am the bouncing baby boy of two wonderful Hapa parents.

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.

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Japanese American

hapa288Hello all, I am glad to have found a site where there are so many others who have had similar experiences that I had growing up!!

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.

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Iranian, Japanese

hapa287My name is Michael Astar, I am 25 years old. I was born and raised in Japan – Tokyo ’til I was 11 years old, then we moved to Norway. I am half Iranian half Japanese. I am proud to be Hapa because I can speak fluent Japanese, Persian, Norwegian, and English.

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.

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Filipino, Chinese, Spanish

hapa286I’m Edward Guillar and I’m Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish.

I haven’t really felt different while living here in the Philippines, though a lot of people tell me I’m quite good looking. I haven’t been to other countries so I can’t have a comparative understanding of what other people think of me from that perspective. But living here in the Philippines is really amazing, I can be who I want to be without worrying about what other people think of me.

I guess I want to share something to all Hapas out there! Just be yourself and know yourself because if you don’t others will do it for you, and you may not like it. Whatever race or ethnicity you are, you’re a human being capable of loving and sharing your talents with the world, and that’s what really matters. Smile and be happy because there is only one race and that is human race!

Chinese, Romanian, British

hapa285To those who are mixed, melded, and molded by a variety of races and cultures,

My name is HanLing Petredean, a name that inspires a paradoxical sense of isolation and increased connectivity. Presently a student at Harvard University, I’ve had the chance to break from my Californian roots and experience what it is to be Hapa on both coastlines. Raised by racially divergent yet emotionally compatible parents, I grew up in the sun and surf of California’s central coast.

My mother is Chinese, a native of the Jiangsu province, and was persuaded to move to the US after my American father met and eventually wooed her during his time in China. The two of them have inspired a respect for my Asian heritage quite unique to my predominantly Caucasian hometown.

Identity I believe, is enmeshed in personal identification, not necessarily confined to race nor heritage. In my eyes, the best aspect of being Hapa is the buffet-esque quality of our backgrounds. Think about it. We can essentially pick and choose the choicest qualities of our respective cultures. From China I have been gifted with the sport of Wushu, a form Chinese martial arts. From my “American” side, a love for individualistic expression and an appreciation for the diversity found rampant American society.

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Japanese, Mexican

hapa284Hi! My name is Anne, and I’m half Japanese and half Mexican. My dad is Mexican-American and grew up in East LA, and my mother grew up in a small city in Kyushu, Japan called Tosu.

I grew up in Montebello (near Los Angeles) in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, speaking Japanese at home with my mother and spending time with my Mexican extended family. Even though I knew a handful of other Hapas, I was not always comfortable with my identity.

I specifically remember filling in the “What is your ethnicity?” bubble on standardized tests. I made sure to alternate between “Asian” and “Hispanic” during my elementary school years, for fear that my parents would find out and get upset with me for denying either side of my heritage. Eventually it became a hassle to remember what I filled out the year before, and by the time I reached middle school, I settled for filling in “Other.”

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