Marvelous Miwa Lyric, Again!

This week’s Hip Hapa Homee is a long-time acquaintance of Your Hip Hapa. I like to refer to her as The Marvelous Miwa Lyric because she really is something to marvel at. A clothing designer, music producer, performer, rapper, songwriter and more, Miwa is also immensely popular—especially in Los Angeles where she currently resides. We first met because of the proliferation of emails she sent me marketing herself. Surely, I thought, anyone believing so strongly in her own skills was well worth knowing. And, I was right. Friend the friendly Miwa Lyric on Facebook or MySpace. That’s her in the photo here taken by Suzisusana.

Q: What's a nice Nissei (second-generation Japanese American) girl like you doing rapping?

A: I don't really like to be categorized as nice, or categorized at all, cause I am not really "nice". I just love music and through my childhood struggles, music is the one thing that kept me alive, literally.

Q: When did you know for sure that you wanted a career in music?

A: At the age of five.

Q: How have black audiences responded to you compared to Asian or more racially mixed ones?

A: It's rather recent that I perform in front of Asian audiences. When I first started about 12 years ago, there were not many Asians in the audience or in hiphop in general. A lot of Asian women come up to me and tell me that I inspire them to chase after their dreams--knowing the odds of me being Asian and female in hiphop. A lot of black audiences usually give me a blank look when I approach the stage. Then, when I start, they just roar up with smiles and claps. It's always a good feeling! Overall, I get a lot of surprised reactions from everyone because most people think I'm gonna go up on stage to sing, then when I start rapping they just flip out.

Q: Lately, hiphop is everywhere. It may have started out with black gangs in New York, but now even Japanese Ainu (Indigenous) are rapping. Do you think the art form is played out because it’s no longer quote, unquote, pure?

A: I feel like hiphop that calls itself hiphop nowadays has lost its message of the struggle, the movement. It seems like the newer generations have forgotten the past and where hiphop and just history in general comes from. But then again, those who are passing it down need to educate the young ones as well. Me, being in between the new school and old school, I hope to connect that. I think the new music now is a new type of hiphop but it is definitely not the "real" or "original" hiphop that it used to be.

Q: You have such a huge following in L.A. Can you explain why your fans are so devoted to you?

A: Well first off, I am different--something new and, like I mentioned earlier, I was against all odds, which gives people hope that maybe they can go after what they always wanted to try (not just music, but everything in general) but were afraid to. But I think, overall, it’s because I speak from my heart. Everything I write about are things that I want to address because of my experiences and my own personal struggles. Many can relate and those who can't, see a new perspective. I feel that whether people love me or hate me, I bring words that people can ponder about.

Q: Recently, you've been appearing in Japan. How did it feel to perform for people who look like you, but who are so different at the same time?

A: It was an amazing and scary experience. Scary because I have always heard that they don't react like us Americans do, but I proved that wrong. They were bobbing their heads and had their hands up! They showed me that music definitely connects people worldwide!

Q: Your parents don't seem like typical Japanese parents because they allow you and your sister (a fashion designer) to fully express your art. Do you have any thoughts on that?

A: I guess since they are not typical I really wouldn't know what typical defines! But my folks are both artists, and they lived the times through the war. They’ve both seen different parts of the world (dad lived in New York, mom in England), and my dad struggled through poverty and losing his parents at a young age so he never got to go to high school. My mom was definitely a "new age woman", the type of lady that escapes the "norm" and how women shouldn’t be able to do what they want. My dad was always very supportive of my music, but my mom was not. She told me that I had to prove to her that I wanted it, and I proved it to her.

Indeed you have, Marvelous Miwa Lyric. For more info on Miwa, check out the sites below:

http://www.miwalyric.com

http://www.miwakayama.com

http:// www.soulawear.com

http://www.cdbaby.net/miwalyric

http://www.itunes.com

If you Hip Hapa Homeez haven’t already, you should check out the video below. Can you believe it? After all the information educating folks about the nonsense of being color struck, here comes this travesty. I feel like I was just transported back to the plantation or something.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/09/09/sidner.india.white.skin.cnn

Anyway, please keep your comments and emails coming. A special shout-out to my girl, Mary no-last-name-please, for continuing to stay so involved with this blog.

Remember to join our Hip Hapa Homeez group on Facebook and our Watermelon Sushi fan page, too. We’re also trying to tweet on Twitter as much as we can (honestly, we forget with all the things we have to do). And, we still have those t-shirts.

Until next week, I am…

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

The Name Game And Who's More Japanese, Fool?

On Wednesday, I wrote about my birth name and why I began calling myself Yayoi instead of Lena as my family used to do. As we know, life imitates art and today, during a discussion with coworkers, I was asked to explain the whole March/May, spring flower/early spring sky, Yayoi Clan/bronze bells significance of my Japanese name.

As I did, I suddenly remembered attending an Asian-American, star-studded event some years ago, and being introduced to various celebs at the soiree. Because few people of Japanese descent were in the house, I very carefully enunciated my name (as I do when among those not well-versed in Japanese pronunciation) so that I was repeating, "Hi, my name is YAH-YOH-EE" over and over again. (In Japanese, there is no emphasis on any syllable.)

When I was introduced to George Takei (Star Trek's Mr. Sulu in the photo above), I automatically repeated my mantra. Eying me suspiciously, Mr. Sulu wrinkled his nose and blurted out, "You're not pronouncing your name correctly!" Well, gee, thank you Mr. Second-Generation-born-in-Cali-but-knows-everything-about-Japanese-culture-actor man!

You see, there's been this little ongoing rift between Japan-born Japanese and issei, nissei, sansei, yonsei, ad infinitum. All of those Japanese terms refer to various generations living in America. Issei, derived from the word meaning "first" or "number one" as in ichi, are the first generation that emigrated to the U.S.--like my mother and me. Technically, I'm issei. I wasn't born in America, but in Tokyo; and, Japanese was my first language even though I stopped speaking it by age two. Even with an African American father, I have a more direct link to Japan than Mr. Sulu because my mother is uber Japanese and has never stopped sharing her customs and culture with me and my sister. Yet anyone seeing both Mr. Sulu and me on the streets together is going to proclaim him more Japanese than me.

Which reminds me: I was in Little Tokyo (J-town, Los Angeles) with a sansei (Third Generation) actress friend one night when we decided to eat at a Japanese restaurant. When I opened the menu, I saw natto (fermented soybeans) listed, and promptly exclaimed, "Oh, look! They have natto (pronounced nah-thoh)! "What's natto (she pronounced it gnat-toe)?" my friend asked. I just sighed.

Back to that rift. The Japanese in Japan oftentimes look at the Japanese who left for America as traitors, especially since the Japanese in Japan fought the U.S. during WWII. As for J/A's (Japanese Americans), a lot of them resented Japan attacking Pearl Harbor as they struggled for acceptance in the U.S. Because Americans had a hard time separating the Japanese in Japan who started the war from J/A's who were American citizens, the unfortunate consequence was that J/A's were rounded up and put in prison camps. Of course, time heals and, although people aren't as angry now, there's still a sense that prevails in Japan that J/A's abandoned their own country.

Actually, I find it amusing that a J/A like Mr. Sulu felt the need to correct me. He probably saw right off that I wasn't a 100%er, and automatically assumed I didn't know anything about his culture. But, I bet I know a whole lot more than he does about Yoshitsune, Genji tales, and old Edo. What, are you kiddin' me? My Moms is a storyteller who can't stop talking. Even if you're busy and clearly doing something important, she will boldly interrupt to talk about some significant point in her life (like when she used to heave her baby sister upon her back and run really fast so that the unfortunate asthmatic kid would gasp non-stop).

Really, though, my Moms is cool. And, she still tells many fascinating tales of Shogun v. Tenno, the 47 ronin (master-less samurai), and Benke, Yoshitsune's vassal whose statue graces a bridge in Japan. When the taiga drama series featuring Shinsengumi aired a few years ago on NHK, I was riveted--having already heard of the rogue cops' adventures from my mother.

Moms also talks about entitled samurai who tested the sharpness of their swords on unsuspecting citizens late at night. She claims the victims would walk city blocks before realizing that one of their arms had been sliced off from their shoulder. That's how sharp those swords were, and how swift the samurai would strike as they strolled past their innocent targets.

Before anyone in America even knew what a ninja was, my mother demonstrated to us how the mercenaries would literally disappear by jumping high into a tree to hide. Of course, she herself didn't jump into a tree, but she'd hop into the air to show us. (You had to be there.)

On a more personal tip, Moms loves telling about the time she put her hand through a paper wall (typical in Japanese homes when she was growing up) after suddenly standing when she'd been sitting on her knees for hours (her legs had fallen asleep). Now, that is pure Japanese. I bet Mr. Sulu never sat on his knees in his life.

Truthfully, I have no quarrel with Mr. Sulu, or anyone either J/A (Japanese American) or straight-up Nihonji. I'm just saying that just because you happen to LOOK more Japanese than me, it don't mean a thang.

And, to answer that question that's always on people's lips after they realize what my last name is--yes, I AM related to Oprah. I'm sure I am. I just wish the sistah would realize it. Say, Oprah, if you're reading this, do you know that you have half-Japanese cousins, cuz?

Oyasuminasai!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi