My name is Eryn and I live in Southern California.
My dad is Scottish, Irish, German and my mother is Japanese, and I constantly get asked “What are you?”
I identify with both my white and Asian side. My brothers and I speak Japanese and have visited Japan many times. We celebrate Japanese holidays such as boys’/girls’ day and on New Year’s, we go to Little Tokyo in Downtown L.A. to be part of the Japanese celebration. Read More
We were blessed with the best gift you can get from your parents: a twin sister.
When we were kids I had blond hair and looked more European while my sister looked more Asian.
The older we got the more we looked alike. Most people can’t believe that we are sisters and even twins.
Hi my name is Adrianna.
I don’t look Asian.
My mother is Polish. My dad is German and Chinese. I live in Poland.
I love being Hapa. I like to stand out among my peers.
People sometimes ask, “What are you?” When I answer no one believes me.
I am Hapa although I don’t look very Asian.
I believe that it doesn’t really matter what race you are. Being Hapa, you don’t usually look like your mom or dad or anyone in your family…you don’t always fit into your cultures.
You’re kind of half way there, you’re accepted as more than an outsider, but not as if you were “pure” whatever. Read More
I am proud of my multi-racial culture now more than ever. Growing up, I experienced a great deal of racism. Some of it was blatant and out in the open, some of it was in a more subtle passive aggressive way with looks or veiled comments.
My brother and I were different than the other children in our predominantly Caucasian neighborhood. For awhile, we were the only children of color around. People didn’t know how to categorize us.
The pain that comes from feeling ostracized and not belonging created deep wounds, but also great character. I was able to find my own identity through an outlet of art and creative expression. Read More
My Mother is Vietnamese and Korean, and my Dad is German and Irish.
Growing up, most people classified me as white, but some would identify me a partly Asian.
I was mostly known as white because of all of the freckles on my body, but have the facial structure of an Asian. My Dad is the one who gave me the freckles that I have.
I’m doing my senior project on Hapa people and this website is an amazing testimony of all the Hapa people around the world and how proud those people are of being multi-ethnic.
Growing up in Hawaii, my Japanese side was always more embraced but I also love that I look a little different than most of my relatives because of my father’s German and Irish. Read More
Racial ambiguity is a beautiful thing. Not just on the surface, but in the sense of love and peace.
Being Hapa never really occured to me. I knew I was different, especially during family gatherings. I always felt out of place, even in a family as loving as my own. Read More
My whole life I never fit in to any category.
I hated being viewed as a “silly white girl” for liking things of Asian culture.
I had a teacher tell me he couldn’t believe I was a great student because I “looked Mexican.”
