What's It Like Being Mixed Race in Japan? | Blasian vs Wasian

I do think that the experience of racism is probably a little bit worse for blazian Haus but like they said they used think like I was a drug dealer this is me I am what Japanese people call a Hau the Japanese ter for mixed race people as a Japanese Nigerian growing up in Japan I was a constant outlier in a country that is 96% ethnically Japanese mixed race people like me are often labeled as not real Japanese with even the term Hau originating from the idea that mixed race people are only half of a proper for Japanese person so today I invited the two most common groups of mixed race people in Japan wans and blans to see what they think about the mixed race experience in Japan and what common ground they have as the 2% minority I identify as Japanese all right well first off I got two passports so I'm both spend as much time in Japan as I did in the state States as well and that's why earlier when I introduced myself I didn't say I was half this half that I'm both you know even if I wasn't raised the way I was raised you know you can't tell me like I'm only half this that that feels weird that feels like really inhuman you feel me well I said yes because one I was born here I lived here for 7 years I do represent Japan my country for fencing Flex so um it's a little bit different um so I do have to say I feel Japanese in that way you're a niin bro yeah I also identify as Japanese but I definitely identify as both Japanese and Canadian I think this is a pretty important point because I feel like both of those cultures are like equally within me so it'd be weird for me to say that I'm I don't identify as Japanese I definitely identify as both and I did grow up in Canada so when I was in Canada I think my Canadian identity was way stronger but I've lived in Japan for over 10 years now so I feel a lot more like a local and I feel more in touch with my Japanese rout so yeah definitely also Japanese now um I also agree a lot with her I identify as American and Japanese my household was really Japanese thanks to my mom with cooking and culture and I would come to Japan every summer that helped me get close to my Japanese routs and now living here a lot of people see me as Japanese too so I think that's reinforced my Japanese identity I said yes and let me speak in Japanese I thought [Music] so I said yes because you know I'm Ghan Japanese I'm definitely both I grew up in Ghana so I never really lived in Japan but I came every summer like you you know you have family and like family is one way you can really feel that you're connected so I think I took your statement literally so I agree with actually what she was saying a lot so I think I identify as Japanese and ghanian so if it's just Japanese in the sentence it's hard for me to come forward if that makes sense but I definitely identify with both Hearts she joined our team it was a difficult question right that's such a hard question Japan is [Music] racist 2 one I feel bad to say it but okay yeah you guys tell me why you think Japanese racist it's hard to say racist but they definitely treat you differently if you like speak Japanese or not like they don't think I speak Japanese so initial interaction would be English but then if I speak Japanese to them back they kind of open it opens a gate like they'll treat me better especially at restaurants they'll give me better service in a way some instances um restaurants have different menus they give you an English menu which is very limited did they give you English menu yeah for sure I'll respond in Japanese and they're like never mind give you so um so there's that yeah there's that kind of situation yes there are a lot of times where you can experience racism here kids have you fa any me oh like for example in my old company I don't know if I'll call it racism like you know you guys say names too there's times where like there's stereotypes that people they put on to you like when I first moved into my apartment and I bought like a hibiscus plant and my next door neighbor who now we become really good friends you know but like they said they used think like I was a drug dealer when I moved in next door for example right cuz it's like it's like it's a hibiscus you know with flowers and stuff like that but like in my corporate like they've said things like you look like a mafia toas you look like like Kawai type stuff I have plant in my house so they're looking at their plans they're like like for sure there are some things are charged like kids are ruthless I think here I think like when people grow up then they have a sensor a little bit you know but kids they say some crazy maybe yeah you know to you they're when you're a kid you know you experience racism but as an adult it's more so like kind of like microaggressions like little implicit bias like they might not mean to be racist but they still do it for example I went to a Koke spot and I was like asking for a room and they just automatically was like Nong even though they didn't hear me speak English to begin with how do you know that my Japanese is good and you don't even know if I speak another language whatever is that pretty common to hear yeah it's pretty it's pretty common to hear especially from strangers did you like experience any discrimination in your K did you I'm kidding you yeah of of course of course bro I got jumped a lot you got jumped I got jumped bro it was a team effort oh yeah they were organized so you grew up in Japan as a kid yeah yeah yeah it's not like in the movies where you know you somehow miraculously beat up the two kids and then they're like I respect you man they come back in threes until they until you eventually lose you feel me I do think that the experience of racism is probably a little bit worse for blazian hauss than like weian like white hauss cuz I think people tend to judge a little bit more strongly that you're for in like based on your skin color I knew one white and Japanese Hau who grew up in in Japan most shocking story I ever heard she said that some kids put Staples in her sandwich like at L go oh my God stles oh God I couldn't believe it like that's horrible bullying so I think um yeah like even from childhood kids face a lot of bullying here if you look different also I think one thing to note is that I think Japan walks a fine line between like deeply ingrained like long-term stereotypes of people who are who don't look Japanese like foreign foreign stereotypes they'll say things that are like borderline racist but they don't really mean it it's just like a just longterm stereotypes oh yeah had a lot of those yeah that's that's a really big one too so this is a tough one I feel like if I grew up in the US a lot more things would come across as racist to me because I grew up in Ghana and Japan like you said a lot of the thinking is I think ignorant would be the word I would use rather than racist because of the intention behind it and I know that that doesn't make it okay but I feel like a lot of Japanese people literally have not seen a black person before I completely agree with you thank you I feel like I belong in Japan okay okay that's these are so hard really hard I feel like I belong in Japan I think it's easier for me because I look really Japanese so I can blend in more than I think some other halfy or you know dudo that said there are still times where people will like treat me as a foreigner like Japanese people somehow they can tell that I'm not fully Japanese but that said I still look more Japanese so it's easier to blend in and I have a Japanese name which helps a lot I also relate to that and especially being in Tokyo I don't experience that many situations where I'm identified as a foreigner but on the other hand if I do go to the countryside people tend to see the foreignness in me a little more and then so they would speak to me in English when I obviously just spoke to them in Japanese for the most part I feel very comfortable and feel like there's no friction between me being here in the Japanese Community I feel like I do belong here and it shouldn't be like other people's like approval whether I belong here or not I know I personally am Japanese and I know I mean not look the part to a lot of people I don't even culturally I got a face tattoo and a neck tattoo come on bro but uh but you know it it is it is pretty funny when you know as a mixed person you kind of challenge how people like perceive race or whatever it doesn't matter how people perceive me how people look at me I am Japanese and I do belong here and if you don't feel that way you're just backwards yeah I remember growing up I didn't really feel like I belong cuz I never really lived here we had huko it's like Japanese language school and you have to sacrifice your Saturday and your Friday it would be really tough when you have like the CH cuz they are coming from Japan J once I was doing we had to do is it unu where you have to read the the thing right oh I was reading I was reading the thing and then it was something something and I said like awesome or something like my teacher and this girl laughed at me and she's like Japanese you know I was like God damn and I was like man this that was kind of rough you feel like you I had a US versus them type thing you know theoretically of course I know that I belong here but like feelings wise I feel the more familiar you are with the place you build community like I don't belong in every part of Japan but it's like my space that I found here which I really like you know you said once you go to the countryside right and I grew up in Countryside called geu perfecture so G perfecture is very Countryside everyone look at me almost like three times kind of hearing what everyone was saying I think I spent very little time in Japan so I went to middle school in Japan but I left for a long time and I kind of came back this year I'm now finding a community and getting used to being here but at the same time I feel like both countries I wouldn't say I felt like I belonged in either one fully because when I'm in Japan when people talk to me they're like wait you're half it you look full black or African and when I'm in Ghana it's the same thing so kind of similar to you it doesn't affect whether I feel like I identify as Japanese or ghanian but I don't feel naturally like I'm part of everyone yeah and also I'm not that good at Japanese like to friends I can speak Japanese but I say a lot of age with that and also I think it has a lot to do with how maybe people treat me I feel like definitely Japanese people don't treat me like I'm Japanese hopefully next round I'm coming forward with you guysone oh no what's your favorite part about Japan then yeah I like berries that's I really like berries a lot the fruits here are good no oh not that oh like berries that if you want to get to know each cast member better head over to our YouTube membership where you can access exclusive content such as one-onone interviews from the video as well as behind the scenes content and more with terms like zand the Hau I feel like I'm fetishized as a mixed person like there's definitely Japanese people that like say such things like like you know I've definitely also heard I want to have kids like you which is which is like I think they think it's a compliment I don't know how they think it's compliment but I've definitely heard those type of things and it's not like a dang like like it's not even a sad thing but it's just a weird thing it's weird it's weird yeah why are you dating me to have kids like me like that's weird and also I've never thought to want to have a particular looking kid if I were to have one so that thought process is already like kind of weird to me I don't want the reason you're dating me to be because you like a particular type of person it's kind of like how um Olivia Rodrigo said he dated an actress next I guess that was just your type like okay so are you just going to date me because I'm blazian your next girlfriend if we break up is going to be blazian before was blazian yeah I totally agree with the like the Hau kids thing the Hau kids thing is more women who say that which is also weird so it shows that like both men and women kind of fetishize Hao which is also really interesting because I've met a lot of women who are like oh it's but it's like why I mean the only reason is you think that they're cute but do you realize the struggles and like the identity struggles that they have to go through depending on where they grow up it's it's really hard so you're just really like idolizing their look the other thing is like not only in Japan but I think globally people fetishize mixed race people and I think you can see that a lot on the internet I haven't had like comments to directly but YouTube is a wild place so anytime on I'm on YouTube there's like comments like she like people will say she looks so exotic like the word exotic comes out a lot I mean it's I don't know I don't I don't like hate it but it is weird and it does feel kind of fetishy you're like a special a bird to put on their shelf or something in a little cage remember I spoke out I was like yo I don't like to be called exotic and then somebody in response was like but you are crazy bro I blocked her right after was this from a Japanese person she was like Cuban from Miami interesting it's crazy but yeah everything she said though 100% I've also seen ads like at train stations for makeup that are like half so basically saying that oh like if you use this makeup you'll look like a half Japanese half something you know usually white you know person so so I think that's pretty fetishizing that's pretty problematic yeah I remember seeing the the first time I saw like hauu they actually sold like eyeshadow palettes that would make you look more like a Hau and there are even YouTube tutorials by Japanese people where they show you how to look like a Hau which is so weird so they'll like make their eyes look really big they'll like Contour the nose you know all the contouring they look like half white it's it's very bizarre for when it came to like math in high school it's like oh it's because you're Asian like no it's because I studied do your homework I did yeah yeah you expect like my life to be easy CU like they call me all the time um but they say it in terms of like I had this look it was like god-given look but for me I actually grew up very chubby and fat so I had to like transform myself like training losing weight you know so it's like kind of like hard work to where I got to now but like people think I was born like this which is kind of very frustrating it's flattering but it's also very kind of awkward for me when people say boy g g it's kind of like sort of new to me too it like trivializes your effort that you put in totally it's a little Annoying I mean I shouldn't feel offended but it is a little annoying when they say [Music] like it's like it's a backhanded compliment I I mean I appreciate that you think that but it's like so have you guys heard the terms on the before I have I have not where did you hear it I heard it at University when I was going to school in Tokyo I think I don't remember who I heard it from but yeah it did come up once yeah I remember learning about it and being like what what a horrible thing to say to somebody an unfortunate Hau cuz you're supposed to look really perfect and I think it's not only Outlook and the beauty and also someone you know who can't speak English everyone call aan then that's why I always struggling about these words because I H I'm still learning English and yeah and I'm my English is not perfect but I'm trying thank you but I'm trying also the Japanese people think the and know speak English even know the German like everyone in a different country this show welcome so why do you not feel I just don't really feel like it's just like you're always going to be treated differently for like being different like in Ghana too like I've always looked different so I'm so used to it that it's not something but I mean I guess it is a thing like one I used to do some fighting before so at the gym I just showed up there I don't know how to do anything right but then I mean then again we're from Ghana so but then they see like ah they are scared of you and that helps you know they fighting them and they scared of you it works to your advantage so like in those kind of sense I guess it happen but I guess I've been lucky with the environment I grew up in so in the US there's a lot of people from diverse backgrounds so I've never really felt P partiz after I moved to Japan my University was also diverse and there were people from many backgrounds so I've of course heard the comments that all of you guys said like I never really felt attacked by I just kind of explained why it's not always the case that they imagined so if I were born again I would choose to be half it I said yes being half allowed me to live in different countries so us and Japan for me allow me to be bilingual understand multiple cultures and I think that's very important in this world you need to be understand of different cultures and people if I was just born Japanese I feel like I'll be limited in terms of perspective and so I would want to be born as a half again especially with my job when I travel around the world and competing I interact with everyone around the world so I have to be open-minded well uh first off I didn't choose to be born in the first place however however you know I think being mixed I think it automatically just like opens my mind to the fact that you know I might be treated like an outcast treated like a misfit based off of how it look so I feel like a lot of like it throws away a lot of maybe ignorance that other people have to go through in order to become less ignorant I totally agree with both of you guys I feel really blessed to be able to be a part of two different cultures and I feel it's expanded my World viiew a lot I lived in Canada for all of my life until I was 18 so I think my worldview was still culturally a little bit more diverse just growing up with like a Japanese culture but I think I still hadn't seen as much of the world and I think I just didn't know as much but being able to have that that Japanese cultural background it gave me that connection as you said to move to Japan and like really be immersed in a whole other culture to the same degree that I had in Canada and I think that's not something that everybody gets to experience and I feel really grateful for that so I would I'm very happy to be Happ so I feel like this a little bit tough I feel like if I were born again I just want to be me but if I were to specify it to being mixed I totally agree with what you're saying about having an open mind because a lot of the times when I interact with people from Japan they usually think they're fully right the way they live is how everyone in the world lives and then same with people from Ghana and I'm just glad that I get to see a lot of different worlds so I kind of don't always think I'm right I'm just like this probably just how I think which I feel like having that open mindset there would be a lot less conflict and I also think it's easier to grow when you're exposed to a lot of different people a lot of different opinions so specifying it to like background I would totally agree with what you're saying being mixed I've been able to um connect with more people I think if I was only Japanese my world be limited and if if I was only American then I would also be limited in that way so being mixed and being able to speak both languages I can understand both cultures also food and um connect with more people as well so I think that's helped me in many ways to learn about new things and gain more opportunities yeah I think I'm super blessed to have been able to grow up um in a household where there are two completely different cultures um and I think that's a really like valuable way to know the world because you're very intimate with two cultures from the day you're born if I was a fully Japanese person I could still go to a different country or meet other like people from different countries to have that intimate relationship with a different culture but being half or like double or like Multicultural from the day you're born really gets you a head start start and I think that's been a lot of fun to experience both you know food culture and many other things so I'm yeah I'm really glad that I was um half and I will choose to again I don't know if it's the same for you guys but at least for like my grandparents my Japanese side they were like super against marriage to like a black person African person in general and I've heard that from a lot of gaysians as well and I realized that a lot of those thoughts from grandparents disappear once the grandchild is born so technically kind of solving racism you know so little by little little by little so I think that's also they'll die anyway no but I really like that point especially like in my case Japan and America just several decades ago we were like literally at war with each other and then now I'm here um so I think it's pretty cool to see you know countries that were once like completely against each other now you know are together and you know times change things like that but I think it's really cool to be a physical proof that people can get along you know yeah lastly [Music] have no so basically how I took the question is like if I were to be born again do I want to be a human being no not really like maybe I could be a bird like it would be kind of cool to be I know I feel a different being so if you think about like rebirth you could be reborn as a human you could be reborn as anything else like a river or like fish you know like those kind of things so that's where my mind was going and even if I was reborn like I would like to be reborn to my parents right cuz I like my parents I love my siblings you know so like that's nice I enjoy that so like the half part is cool but it's like if I were to be reborn to my parents then it would probably have to be like around this time I me be born at a different time so I was just kind of thinking of it in a different way like like know I want to be a halfway game like I've done it once you know it's [Applause] cool kind of cool to be something else but if I were to be reborn in this time I'd like to be born to my parents so that would make me have food yeah the advantages of being mixed in okay I feel like this might be biased to my job but I feel like the same things that used to bother me when I was younger because I was mixed come to play into my advantage in Japan now that I'm older because when you're a kid you want to look like everyone else and you want to fit in but then now it's like if you look different you're going to get cast for modeling you're going to get all these gigs and I'm like guys I'm actually not that tall but in Japan I can pass cuz they're like we need a diversity card let's let's get you in I also feel like it's just an immediate interesting thing about you like when you walk into a room they're immediately like where are you from oh you're this this this oh I I've never met that type of vibe I've come to realize there's a lot of advantages to be mixed as well being mixed race in Japan allows you to be that bridge between Japanese people and the rest of the world because it's really difficult for Japanese people for the most part to get to know people from different countries we can help a lot of Japanese people that have no contact with outside countries get to know the world so I think that's a really good Advantage I think I feel the same way workwise I noticed that in Japan there are a lot of opportunities for people who are mixed race if you're doing something Talent related like in the entertainment industry there is a really high demand for people who are mixed race here and coincidentally I wanted to do work in the entertainment industry when I came here so it did work to my advantage very much to help me get my foot in the door and also having that bilingual ability with a pretty convin ing Japanese accent just from like growing up with it makes a huge Advantage from being able to work in Japan I've also heard from some Japanese people that even if you look a little bit more like foreign um but you speak Japanese and you're Hau you're kind of a more relatable Foreigner for Japanese people is what I've heard so like you look like a foreigner but they don't feel as afraid to talk to you because there's some relatability like with you having that Japanese culture and little bit of an Asian look they seem to find it like easier to connect when people hear my last name they always get so scared cuz they don't know how to pronounce it but then they hear my first name sakur like the look of relief what's your last name you want to go first sure yeah I'll go first it's a yes if you're bilingual or grew up in a like multiple different countries then you understand different cultures but if I was mixed blood but just grow up in Japan only spoke Japanese there's not really an advantage I'm just Japanese I have Advantage because I speak English I grew up in the US you know I've been to many different countries so I understand different cultures just being mixed race does not mean your advantage you have to understand different cultures be bilingual like you said it all depends on how you were raised I feel like it also has to do with like how you look as well it's not just mix but like how close you are to your Asian features how close you are to your other features you feel me to respond to what you said like yeah expose other people to other cultures but also maybe teach people not to be racist but I don't want to I don't want you to look at me and and be like oh look at Kazo I'm going hate black people less like you know it's just it's just I don't want to be the reason that's like it's 2023 you should just like already like not be a dick yeah yeah it's not your work to do yeah it's not my responsibility to make know how to behave around others exactly wait wait I do still think though that like I get this like idea you're tired of explaining you know but then I really like the point that you made about being like a middle point between you're not like entirely a foreigner you're not entirely Japanese so like they can relate to you and I think there's still value to doing that hard work of trying still to educate and expose them to different perspectives you know like it's tiring but I still think there is value and we have a unique position being able to explain and teach as well as like you know make the change you know be part of it comp wow I like [Music] that

Channel: JESSEOGN

Views: 534,075

Keywords: blasian, wasian, japan, jesseogn, black in japan, white in japan, mixed race, hafu in japan, hafu, hapa, tokyo, life in japan, living in japan, biracial, mixed-race, half japanese, half japanese half black, biracial kids, biracial in japan, jubilee, ハーフ, 黒人ハーフ, 白人ハーフ

Id: i1kl0hf3jhA

Length: 31min 57sec (1917 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 16 2024