New Year Hapa-ness

 Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! Akemashite Omedettou Gozaimasu! Happy New Year! 

I know we all say it every year, but next year’s gotta be better than this one was, right?

I guess that remains to be seen. 

Meanwhile, in the 12/31/2024 post, this question was posed: Do you think that the mixed-race agenda has become obsolete?

Recently, this clip of Dr. Frances Cress Welsing surfaced. Here, she breaks down what she feels is the main impetus of racism. According to her, the more mixed people there are, the fewer so-called ‘pure whites’ who will then be toppled from their positions of power. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c06FshgK0bU

How do you feel about that? Do you think the sister was too radical in her thinking? Or, does what she says make absolute sense to you?

Please enjoy these photos from blog posts past.

Moving on, here’s a reminder that we are only publishing on June 30 and December 31 going forward. After a long arduous change in residence, we have finally settled enough to finish editing our Watermelon Sushi film.

Please check out our website links:

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

https://yourhiphapa.wixsite.com/starwheels

And, join us on Facebook:

Watermelon Sushi
Hip Hapa Homeez
Hapa Teez T-shirts

Here's to happy HAPAS!

Your Hip Hapa, 

Yayoi

Watermelon Sushi: In The Mix

Aloha, Hip Hapa Homeez!

Your Hip Hapa

Here’s wishing you and your loved ones the best in health and circumstances during these turbulent times.

If you’d like to participate in discussions about today’s world's state of race, please join us on Facebook at Hip Hapa Homeez. We began this group in 2008 as a way of sharing our thoughts about being multiracial, multicultural, interracially adopted, culture crossing, and more.

These days we’re more focused on the subject of racism as it grows more pervasive.

The good news is that the 5-part award-winning ‘War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory’ can still be viewed on Vimeo.

Here are the 5 links:

Herstory

The Brides

The Kids

The Culture

BFF’s; Buddhist Friends Forever

A shout-out to our donors can be viewed on our website: (Scroll down to ‘our Donors’)

www.warbridesofjapan.com/about

'Flamingo Eats Sushi' by b.r. Winfrey

Our trailer titled, ‘The Chase’, is a winner at several film festivals:

War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory: The Chase

Soon, we’ll update our winning film festival laurels on our Screenings page:

www.warbridesofjapan.com/screenings

'Flamingos Fiend for Sushi' by b.r. Winfrey

Please follow our Facebook pages for the latest:

War Brides of Japan

Throwing Rice Productions, LLC

And, check out our interview with host Janice Malone of Film Festival Radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQQpnaG43pk

 a watermelon shopping bag becomes 'Watermelon Sushi, The Movie'
by b.r. Winfrey

Now, we’re finally circling back to Watermelon Sushi, the narrative. We’ll soon be announcing our fundraising campaign to get this movie made.

Meanwhile, artist b.r. Winfrey has been busy creating items to accompany the film. There are several scattered across this blog.

When we meet again on September 30, I hope you’ll be happily multi-culti. Stay safe!

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi

More About War Brides

Because of an earlier blog outlining my mother's adventures as a "war bride", I received an email from Michele who is Vice President of the World War II War Brides Association. Here's her website, which is devoted to war brides of every nationality:

http://www.geocities.com/us_warbrides/

Michele is a "war baby" from Belgium.

I also received an email from Erin who handles membership for the World War II War Brides Association. Erin is a "war baby" from Australia.

I'm so thrilled these two women reached out to me because I've been thinking a lot lately about war brides. As much as I like telling the stories of biracial and bicultural children, I also realize that we wouldn't be here if our mothers hadn't taken that huge leap of faith.

For Japanese women like my mother who spoke very little English, the prospect of moving overseas with a man she'd known only a few years must have seemed monumental. That my Moms coped with Southern racism and all the wild elements of Texas (snakes, tarantulas, cockroaches, red bugs, etc.) makes her all the more courageous in my eyes. And, she did it with me as a toddler and my sister as an infant, too. Now, that's what I call strength. While it's true that dodging bombs in Tokyo may have been a little more challenging for her, living in a segregated Texas town without her own family or friends--or anyone who even spoke her language, for that matter--must've been a waking nightmare. My mother used to tell us that she cried every day during her first, horrific year in America.

If any of you out there have some good tales about your own war bride mother, please drop me a line. I'd like to share them with my readers.

And, that's my mother as a young, idealistic woman BT (before Texas) in the photo above.

Your Hip Hapa,

Yayoi