HAPA New Year!

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

a hip hapa homee

Akemashite Omedettou Gozaimasu! Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!

Hey, hip hapa homee, what are your New Year’s resolutions? Are any of them centered around issues of importance to BIPOC and, especially, us mixies?

Since Your Hip Hapa began this blog in 2006 (and really moved forward with it in 2008), so much has changed in our Watermelon Sushi World.

In the old days, we rarely saw any outed multiracial images onscreen, in books, or anywhere public. There may have been actors who were mixed in real life, but they were often forced to play mono-racial characters. Except for a few pioneering films that addressed the issue of being mixed, the topic was mostly ignored.

Watermelon Sushi the Movie by B.R. Winfrey

But 2008 brought a biracial president of the U.S. into the public arena. Although he was “one-dropped” by most media, he also quietly stood apart from issues of ethnic identity. Despite having a white mother, Obama was considered to be a black man by the majority, and he went with it.

Still, there has been so much progress on the planet in the 15 years that we’ve been publishing this blog. We can hardly wait to see what’s coming next. Maybe soon, we might even stop writing this blog because, hopefully, the world will reach a point where there will be no reason to bring light to BIPOC and mixie-related topics.

featured family in Watermelon Sushi the Movie

Meanwhile, our goal for 2022 is to produce two films. One is in homage to a Japanese war bride married to an African American soldier. Her fantastic life includes her work as an artist, dancer, chef, and so much more.

Our second film is also a documentary. With major “arrigatous” and “mahalos” to VeganFlix for their generous grant, we are producing a short about Indigenous who were likely vegan before being colonized.

Here’s our VeganFlix interview:

https://veganflix.com/interview-with-2021-veganflix-video-seed-grant-recipient-yayoi-l-winfrey/

Additionally, we’re finally releasing some of our fiction. One will be a collection of short stories all featuring BIPOC, multicultural, mixed-race and interracially involved characters. Another is a novel about a multi-generational mixed-race family living in the Caribbean in the midst of race-based political turmoil.

2022 promises excitement, so please stay tuned!

Watermelon Sushi Youtube channel:

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

www.watermelonsushi.com

War Brides of Japan Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPemluw0stoTsx8yvz2tCrg

www.warbridesofjapan.com

making War Brides of Japan

dir. Yayoi with war bride daughter, Diana Portugal

dir. Yayoi with war bride daughter, Roleta

dir. Yayoi with war bride daughter, Yoshi

Starwheels Productions website:

https://yourhiphapa.wixsite.com/starwheels

A HAPA New Year to you!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

New World Vibes: Mixies Everywhere!

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

watermelon

It seems like mixed-race people are much more prominent these days with so many from our community thrust into the spotlight.

Besides tennis player Naomi Osaka, who is Japanese Haitian American, there are new mixed-race families being created—like (another) tennis player Serena Williams and her husband German Armenian American Alexis Ohanian producing their daughter, Olympia.

There’s even a mixed-race marriage within England’s royal family—Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

And, so on. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll get to the point where no one will care who anyone else marries and/or has children with.

watermelon sushi

Hopefully, this new world vibe will lead us towards getting our film “Watermelon Sushi” onto the movie screen. In any case, we’re planning to fundraise for it in 2021.

Meanwhile, we’re also working on an (as yet) untitled "docu*memory" about Japanese war bride and artist Yuriko, as well as a graphic novel about her life. Here’s Yuriko’s website along with her quarterly blog.

iam aristyuriko

heartwork by yuriko

For more about “Watermelon Sushi”, check us out at:

www.watermelonsushi.com

https://www.facebook.com/watermelonsushi/

https://twitter.com/watermelonsushi

https://vimeo.com/watermelonsushi/videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSuiAGml-IAM5lQjaEmk-lQ

https://www.pinterest.

And, please send us cards and letters to let us know how you’re doing in 2021!

Akemashite Omedettou Gozaimasu and Hau’okli Makahiki Hou!

See you on March 31.

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

Nothing HAPA-ning Here

Aloha Hip Hapa Homeez,

Well, it’s finally HAPA-ened. Here we are on the first Wednesday of the month, ready for publication, and there’s no interviewee to publish.

MGM Kahlil Crawford

Apologies to all our readers, and mahalo nui loa for liking our Facebook pages (Watermelon Sushi, Hapa*Teez, War Brides of Japan) and following our social media accounts (twitter). You guys rock!

If any of you have an interesting story to tell, drop us a line. Whether you’re of mixed ethnicity, a transracial adoptee, in an interracial relationship, or someone who crosses cultures, we want to talk to you!

Meanwhile, let’s revisit a Hip Hapa Homee from the past who was featured here earlier this year, multi-generationally mixed-race Kahlil Crawford.

Here’s a quick update. Since February, he's founded a startup called http://kinortec.com. When asked what he’d like us to know about it, Kahlil replied: “The new start-up was inspired by a bank executive who believed my approach to IT Consulting warranted a larger platform.”

Congratulations, Kahlil!

Rob Lee

Meanwhile, our producer at large, Rob Lee, has been busy campaigning on behalf of Hapa*Teez. Check him out in his BlacKorean tee.

Here’s the vid clip that features our t-shirts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBIMaJUljjI

Speaking of vids, if you’ve never been to Hawai’i--land of the cultural melting pot--here’s a little taste for you. We call it Hapa Luau. Hapa feasting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K04-gRSs29Y

Until we meet again, please visit our Watermelon Sushi website and join us at Hip Hapa Homeez on Facebook for some pretty darn interesting discussions.

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi