Fall N2 Hapa Holidays

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

At last, we're in the process of setting up several online ‘stores’ where you can purchase our merch—like buttons, posters, stickers and t-shirts for your ‘hapa holiday’, hapas!

Under the banner of ‘YayoiClanArt’, there will be several designs for our films: ‘Tokyo Lily’, ‘War Brides of Japan’, and ‘Watermelon Sushi’; ‘hapa*teez’ for mixed-race folks, ’T_zing’ for the metaphysically inclined, ‘Vegan*Jin’ for those embracing the eating of plants and not animals; and finally, ‘Palm Island Tropical Tease’ which showcases island culture.

‘Tokyo Lily’…war bride. wife. mother. artist. poet. dancer. seamstress. home chef. …

‘War Brides of Japan’…Japanese women who married American military men after WWII endured many hardships including raising mixed-race children while navigating a new language and culture…

‘Watermelon Sushi’…a film about two biracial sisters that explores identity, family, love, birth and death against the backdrop of 1980’s African American hiphop and Japanese traditions…

‘hapa*teez’…for the mixed-race community, no matter how you choose to identify… 

’T_zing’…designs for spiritual folks include both Asian and Western Astrological symbols, as well as other metaphysical signs from world cultures…

‘Vegan*Jin’…art that embraces vegans and animal rights activists. the word  ‘jin’ is often used in Japanese language to denote benevolence…

‘Palm Island Tropical Tease’…a gentle ocean wave, a cooling breeze, a swaying palm; welcome to the peace & zen of caribbean & pacific islands in Tropical Tease…

YayoiClanArt is reflective of Yayoi Jidai, a period of artistic achievement in Japan. It’s believed that the Yayoi Clan crossed the Korean peninsula 2,000 years ago to settle on Honshu. Not only were they the first to cultivate rice in Japan, they were also fantastic artisans and created bronze works, especially temple bells.

Our store links below will be made clickable as soon as they become functional over the next few weeks:

RedBubble

Teepublic

Zazzle

If you made a purchase at our former Cafe Press store, then rest assured we have your donation for ‘Watermelon Sushi’ noted in our records and you will be credited on the movie. Here just a few of our generous supporters:

Andye

Teri

Cassie

Ro Lee

Carol

Eva

Julia

Ejiro

Meanwhile, in other news:

‘WAR BRIDES OF JAPAN, A DOCU*MEMORY’ can still be viewed on Gumroad. The five part series includes interviews with Japanese war brides, their husbands (and former enemies), their adult children, and their grandchildren. There’s an intro and trailer for each segment explaining the stories before you watch it.

https://watermelonsushi.gumroad.com/

War Brides of Japan website
War Brides of Japan on Youtube

War Brides of Japan on Facebook

'TOKYO LILY, A WAR BRIDE DOCU*MEMORY’ is still fundraising and still in its research stage. The story of Tokyo Lily (or Yuriko), a war bride who eventually became an artist, should be completed in 2025. Arrigatou! to all of our past donors whose names can be viewed here:

Tokyo Lily website

donor page

Tokyo Lily (left) in front of one of her paintings

‘WATERMELON SUSHI’ is in the editing stages thanks to our Executive Producer Lowell Douglas Ing. We are so proud of how the footage has held up all these years and the stellar performances of our amazing actors. The narrative will feature a vintage look with hiphop music from the mid-1980’s.

Watermelon Sushi website

Watermelon Sushi on Youtube

Watermelon Sushi on Facebook

                             selling copies of 'Watermelon Sushi' chapbook with Tokyo Lily (left) and her husband

We’re now preparing for 2025 interviews. Are you a mixie with something to say? We’re always looking for folks exploring their ethnic identity. If that describes you, drop us a note.

Have a hapa fall!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

Enter the Dragon with War Brides, Watermelon Sushi and Tokyo Lily

 Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

Welcome to the New Year of the Wood Dragon (as of February 10). So far, the charming and fiery creature has propelled us forward—and, fast.

dragon time

For one, we are now in possession of our original ‘Watermelon Sushi’ reels converted to 8K! The footage is just gorgeous, subtly vintage, and with an authentic 1980’s look.

watermelon sushi

Thanks to our Executive Producer, Lowell Douglas Ing--a Dragon himself, we will now complete the film that’s been languishing for decades!

dragon Doug Ing

Currently, we’re busy editing, but we’ll soon be recruiting animators, composers and voice actors for some scenes that weren’t shot the first time around. If you fit any of those talent and crew categories, please get in touch with us.

Meanwhile, we’re also working on ‘Tokyo Lily a war bride docu*memory’. This film is a continuation of the ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’ five-part series that was released in 2019. But the focus of ‘Tokyo Lily’ is on one war bride who eventually became an artist.

Tokyo Lily

War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory

Ironically (or not), today is ‘Tokyo Lily’s’ fake birthday. Unbelievably, she celebrated two. Since the cut off date for the birthdays of kids starting school in Japan is April 1, 'Tokyo Lily’s’ father reported her birth as March 31. So even though ‘Tokyo Lily' was really born on Buddha’s April 8 birthday, she commemorated both. Otanjoubi omedettou gozaimasu, Yuriko-san!

Since we’re using some of the same sources for both ‘Watermelon Sushi' and ‘Tokyo Lily, a war bride docu*memory’, we’ve made a slight change in our donation link. Please note that any contributions you make may be marked either for ‘Watermelon Sushi’ or ‘Tokyo Lily’. 

Additionally, ‘Tokyo Lily’ has her own crowdfunding page here:

https://crowdfundr.com/tokyo-lily?ref=ab_bCoUv9_ab_3e8AhlTqLsY3e8AhlTqLsY

It goes without saying that none of these projects could exist without you, our generous supporters. We truly appreciate you!

Please visit our December post below to learn about some of our most ardent contributors.

Here are some links to where you can stay updated:

Watermelon Sushi website

Watermelon Sushi on Youtube

Watermelon Sushi on Facebook

Tokyo Lily website

War Brides of Japan website
War Brides of Japan on Youtube

War Brides of Japan on Facebook

Let’s meet again in June, mina-san! have a Hapa Haru (spring)!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

Autumn Announcements

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

Here’s to a Happy Hapa Fall making all of your Autumn dreams come true.

At long last, ours are starting to manifest, and it appears that we’ll be producing our ‘Watermelon Sushi’ film next year.

Our esteemed Executive Producer, Lowell Douglas Ing, has already begun the process of having our old 16mm reels scanned and digitized for editing. With a mix of animation and other new-fangled editing processes, we'll be releasing a uniquely artistic film. Initially shot 25 years ago, ‘Watermelon Sushi’ will definitely benefit from today’s wizardly technology!

As for Doug, his own film, 'Alan @ Work' has been making the festival rounds. Next up for a screening is HIFF, in Doug's hometown:

https://hiff.org/events/alanwork/

filmmaker and EP Lowell Douglas Ing

Watermelon Sushi's original cast

One of our early 'Watermelon Sushi' producers is no longer with us, and we’d like to acknowledge his major contributions while promoting us in Japan. Arrigatou gozaimashita, Derrick Holmes!

producer Derrick Holmes

Meanwhile, we’re still presenting the ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’ series at various colleges and universities. The topic of women marrying their former enemies during WWII is always a hot button issue. And, we’ve really enjoyed participating in discussions about interracial marriages and mixed-race kids, too.

You can learn more about those films at this link:

Gumroad

There are also Youtube channels for ‘Watermelon Sushi’ and ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’:

Watermelon Sushi

War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory

If you’d like to learn more about our film productions, please visit our websites:

Starwheels

Watermelon Sushi

War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory

Tokyo Lily

Besides working on ‘Watermelon Sushi’, we’’re also in preproduction for ‘Tokyo Lily’, a film about a Japanese war bride who became a notable artist. The website for that movie should be available early next month. A graphic novel, ‘Lily Wisteria’, will eventually be published, too. And, of course, promo items like t-shirts, stickers and posters will be created and offered.

blogger Yayoi

Here’s where you can read more about ‘Tokyo Lily’:

heARTwork

iAmArtistYuriko

Please stay warm and toasty while you’re out there raking leaves. Or better yet, our little mixie fans, curl up with a ‘War Brides’ film or two. We love having your support!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi