HAPA Summer!

 Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

Can you believe that it’s been 20 years since we launched this blog?

In the beginning, there was so much HAPA-ning!

In 2020, for the first time in history, the U.S. Census allowed its citizens to choose more than one racial category to identify themselves. Those of you old enough to remember will recall previous nail-biting days filling out forms and trying to decide whether you were the same race as your mother or your father.

Up to that point, most of us had been told all of our lives what we were by other people who were nothing like us.

A few of us reluctantly chose the parent we most resembled in appearance which made no sense if you embraced both parents and their cultures. And, if you had one Black parent, you were considered Black, period, due to the One Drop Rule. It didn’t matter whether or not you were accepted or recognized as being Black by the Black Community. 

Even if your parents shared the same culture, i.e., being American, they still had different backgrounds due to their ethnicities. So, how to choose?

In those early days, we began rebelling and calling ourselves mixed-race, multiracial, multicultural, hapa, blasian, wasian and some even referred to themselves as being mulatto—a word that was once synonymous with mix-bred animals. 

Based on our personal experiences of being mixed, we wrote books, made films and organized conferences and festivals all honoring the mixed-race agenda.

Our film, Watermelon Sushi, has been in the works now for 28 years. Well, it’s been in existence, but only worked on sporadically. That is, until we acquired our executive producer, Doug Ing, who a few years ago, had all of our footage digitized. Now, we’re editing and utilizing AI for enhancements.

Please stand by. 

Juggling three films (including Tokyo Lily and Vegan Jin) seriously cuts down on our time. Therefore, we are directing you to our Hip Hapa Homeez group page on Facebook to discuss any issues surrounding multiculturalism.

Hip Hapa Homeez

We won’t be updating this blog until the end of 2026.

You can also check out these links for any news:

https://watermelonsushi.com/

https://www.youtube.com/c/WatermelonSushi/videos

https://yayoiclanart.com/

https://www.redbubble.com/people/yayoiclanart/shop

https://www.teepublic.com/user/yayoiclanart

Here are our Facebook links:

https://www.facebook.com/watermelonsushi

https://www.facebook.com/hapateez

Enjoy a HAPA summer!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

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