Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez. If you love bagels and sushi, we have a treat for
you! This month’s Hip Hapa Homee is an award-winning journalist who loves to serve up delicious fusion meals representing both of her cultures—Jewish and
Japanese. But she’s about more than just diverse food combos, as you will
see below. Dear Hip Hapa Homeez,
meet Francesca Yukari Biller:
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| Francesca serving up cultural fusion |
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| Francesca with parents and siblings |
Q: Francesca,
who are your parents and how did they meet?
A: My parents
are quite honestly two of the most interesting people that I know (and it's not
just because they are artists and polar opposites in so many ways), making
their intercultural marriage creatively flourish for more than 57 years with
four children and six grandchildren.
My father,
Les Biller, was born and raised in Los Angeles and his ethnic background is
Russian-Jewish, English, Welsh and Irish. He is a full-time artist and was an
art professor at USC, UCLA and the University of Hawai’i. My mother, Sumiko
Aoki, is 2nd generation Japanese (Nisei) and was born in Captain Cook, Hawaii.
Her family owned and farmed Kona coffee lands, and her brothers served as
decorated soldiers in the 442nd Infantry during World War II. Today, she is a
fashion designer and owns an upscale clothing boutique in Santa Monica,
California.
My father has
always been a rebel, and I say this quite fondly. After graduating high school,
he attended The University of Hawai’i. This was quite a shock, and a wild and
an unconventional thing to do, as this was the 1950's not long after World War
II when there was still a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment throughout the U.S.
This is where he met my mother as she was attending the University of Hawai’i
while studying for a Masters degree in teaching. They married shortly after,
had two children and spent three years in Kyoto, Japan where my father was a
Fulbright Scholar.
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| "famous L.A. martini", anyone? |
Q: You've
written about the meals you ate as a child. How did your mother learn to
cook Jewish dishes, and did your father share any culinary duties with her?
A: Some of my
very first memories as a child includes both images and sounds of my mother
cooking as she sang classic jazz standards in our seaside home. No matter what
else was happening, our family could always count on my mother's loving brand
of homestyle cooking, fashionable and stylish well before international fusion
meals became the norm.
I believe
that my mother learned to cook classic Jewish dishes like “Sweet and Sour
Cabbage Stew”, “Beef Brisket” and “Matzah Ball Soup” not only because my father
loved them, but because she truly enjoyed experimenting and trying new recipes;
and, the more unique and new, the better.
Some of the
recipes were handed down from my Jewish grandparents, and others, like the
classic brunch of lox, bagels and cream cheese were borrowed from the numerous
Jewish delis that we visited throughout Los Angeles during the 1970's,
including the infamous Cantor's Deli where we often saw Jewish comedians like
Mel Brooks and Milton Berle.
As for my
father, he did not share in any of the preparing or cooking of our meals,
although his great priceless contribution included a biting sense of both
slapstick and intellectual humor, story telling, and deep conversations about
art and culture, along with his "famous L.A. martinis" which
attracted unique and colorful guests from many different backgrounds.
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| Francesca in her "writer's hat" |
Q: When did
you know you would become a writer?
A: Writing is
such a fluid and organic art form, that I candidly cannot recall whether I was
first a writer, a person, or a person who was a writer. As I grew up amongst a
family of artists going back several generations, my every breath was sewn in
music, colorful images and creative cultural thoughts and energy as a natural
remedy and rhythm that formed the lives of my siblings and me.
My very first
memory as a writer was when I started to write poetry at about four or
five-years old. I was in love with the way that words simply looked when
letters came together as they both started and ended on a page. Before I
attended kindergarten, I was stringing words together that both rhymed and
echoed themes of nature and home. First, I wrote short lists of birds, and then
of trees and the sun. By the time I was seven, I was writing longer poems about
my visits to the seashore with both of my grandfathers, one a Japanese
fisherman and the other, a Russian wandering adventurer.
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| those encouraging parents |
Q: With your
mother being a fashion designer and your father a painter, in what ways did
they encourage you towards a writing career--either consciously or unconsciously?
A: Growing up
in my house was like living inside of a symphony that never seemed to have an
intermission. Fluid creativity seasoned every sense of both courage and somber
attempts, and my parents outwardly and inwardly encouraged passion beyond all
other values.
Whether I was
watching my mother hand-sew hundreds of intimate silk rosebuds onto a kimono-influenced wedding gown, or my father
thrash about his paintbrushes in turpentine and fleshy oils of bright and dark
colors, I only knew that I felt alive.
And I felt
most alive when I was singing, drawing and writing, which I did religiously
each day, even though our home boasted of no religious deities or icons.
Rather, the creative process was in and of itself our flames of joy and faith,
as my father painted on both small and massive canvases in our living room, and
my mother always seemed to have a needle and thread dancing on ribbons of
velvets and linen dresses that she designed beneath the large picture window
that framed our living room.
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| Sumiko with flowers in her hair |
As a writer,
the visual images that my parents continually created before my eyes gave me
boundless material to write about--and to become lost in--as I spent whole
weekends in which I wrote with barely sleeping or eating, as I developed
calluses on my fingers from the art pencils that I grasped with both a sense of
longing and calmness.
Q: It seems
you've experienced more than the "usual" mixed-race experience
through having a Japanese American mother who grew up in Hawai’i with relatives
who were part of the 442nd all-Nisei military as well as being Jewish. How has
all of that factored in your life?
A: I believe
that having an exotic and unusual mixed-race and cultural background is what
has given me the drive to create even more than the average artist, as I feel
so much emotional history from the blending and fusion of both. Whether I am
inspired by riveting tales of my Japanese samurai and World War II hero relatives, or by
stories of bravery, isolation and philosophy from my Jewish ancestors, I know
that having the opportunity to be part of both gives me a sense of tenacity
and purpose I may not otherwise have.
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| meet Francesca's daughters |
Q: Do you think by marrying a Jewish man
your children may lose some of their Japanese side? What do you do to keep them
connected to that part of their identity?
A: I am now
divorced from the father of my daughters. However, their thirst and interest
for their Japanese identity remains strong, perhaps even stronger than some
children who are 100 percent Japanese as they are continually excited about
being born into two distinct cultures and, therefore, more curious. As a
writer, I have found this to be a usual occurrence among children who are a
quarter of some strong thread of race and culture. Our home and extended family
inspires our daily life with Japanese culture, whether it be through recipes,
painting and writing, watching classic films by director Akira Kurosawa such as
“Rashoman” or “Seven
Samurai”, or attending
cultural events and museums.
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| Rose and Jade |
Q: Tell us about any of your future speaking
engagements, panel presentations, etc.
A: I am an
award winning investigative journalist, author, writer, poet, speaker and
singer. My work is published for The Japanese American National Museum,
Elephant Journal, Salon, The Chicago Sun Times, The Huffington Post, My Jewish Learning.com,
Interfaith family.com,
USA on Race, for radio and television and events.
This month, I
will be reporting special coverage and writing a unique personal perspective
for the exhibit "Hello! Exploring the Super Cute World of Hello
Kitty", the first
large scale Hello Kitty museum retrospective in the United States in honor of
the 40th anniversary of Hello Kitty to open October 11 at the Japanese American
National Museum in Los Angeles.
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| far beyond bagels and sushi |
I am also writing two books to be published in 2015. The
first book is a collection of humorous and thoughtful essays and short stories
about my more than colorful experiences growing up as a Japanese Jewish girl in
Los Angeles and Hawai’i during the 1970's.
The second
book will be a compilation of poetry and prose that tell stories of a
multicultural family and their artistic adventures, as well as motherhood as
told through the lens of creativity, idealism and cultural inspiration. Here’s
the link to the Author Page:
Speaking
engagements include a special talk for The American Association for University
Women in San Francisco in March 2015 about “Girls and Empowerment”, as well as writings and conversation
for the Mixed Remixed Festival in June 2015 to be held at the Japanese American
National Museum.
Francesca, your story was
delicious! Oiishi desu. Mahalo for
sharing with us. Hey, Hip Hapa Homeez,
if you’re still not full, here’s a short list of some of Francesca’s many
accomplishments:
Award Winning Investigative Journalist
Edward R. Murrow Recipient
Writer, Author, Poet,
Speaker
Print, Broadcast, Radio,
Television
Multiculturalism &
Identity
Parenting &
Relationships
Inspirational &
Philosophy
The Arts & Pop Culture
Short Stories & Essays
Poetry & Prose
Reporting &
Documentaries
You can also check out her
website:
To learn more
about us at Watermelon Sushi World, please check out these links:
Watermelon
Sushi film
Watermelon
Sushi on Facebook
Hapa*Teez on
YouTube
Hapa*Teez on
Facebook
Hapa*Teez on
Café Press
War Brides of
Japan v.2 on YouTube
War Brides of
Japan on YouTube
War Brides of
Japan on Facebook
Yayoi Lena
Winfrey fan page on Facebook (sorry, but Your Hip Hapa can’t add any more
friends to her regular profile page)
Sexy Voices
of Hollywood
Twitter
Until we meet
again on December 3, here’s to all the bagels and sushi your Hip Hapa Homee’s
heart desires.
Your Hip
Hapa,
Yayoi
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