culture en

Author Andrea Tsurumi on kindness and the role of uncertainty in art and cultural identity - Part 2

Read Part 1 >> Monnier: How do you describe your identity when you describe yourself? What words do you like? Tsurumi: Well, it depends on who ...

culture en

Author Andrea Tsurumi on kindness and the role of uncertainty in art and cultural identity - Part 1

In the undersea world of Andrea Tsurumi’s new picture book, Crab Cake, the community has a steady rhythm: “ Seahorse pretends to be seaweed…Parrotfish ...

culture en

Hapa Music is Black and Brown

Jhené Aiko and the Problem of Multiracial Self-Representation

At the 2018 VH1 Mother’s Day music tribute concert titled, Dear Mama: A Love Letter to Moms, Grammy nominated singer and songwriter Jhené Aiko ...

identity en

A Man With Two Names

My family roots are in the British Isles, but one name in my family tree stands out: Jujiro Takenuchi. My grandma, Elizabeth Taylor—no, not ...

identity en ja es pt

Nikkei Chronicles #7 — Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage

Sharing Heart Beats

(content warning; child abuse and suicidality) These days, I talk with my grandma, younger siblings, and a cousin, but that’s it for biological family ...

identity en

Nikkei Chronicles #7 — Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage

Japanese Hair: A Rambling Exploration of its Cultural, Familial, and Personal Roots

When I enter that “nonki” (as my grandma jokingly calls it) state of being where I sort of zone out of the present time and ...

identity en

Canadian Nikkei Series

Canadian Nikkei: Oakville Sansei Dr. Erik Nabeta - Part 2

Read Part 1 >> Have you ever been to Japan? What attracts you to it? Any contact with family there? Yes, Tokyo. It was only four ...

identity en

Canadian Nikkei Series

Canadian Nikkei: Oakville Sansei Dr. Erik Nabeta - Part 1

As a public school teacher, I’m keenly aware of the breakneck speed at which culture is evolving and how, correspondingly, ideas of “Nikkeiness” are ...

identity en

Nikkei Chronicles #7 — Nikkei Roots: Digging into Our Cultural Heritage

Becoming Half

My mother is Japanese and my father is American. I am half-Japanese. Ha-fu. Some people dispute this term. They call mixed-race people ‘doubles’, to reflect ...

sports en

Happy Hockey Hapas’ “Dream Season”

Every team across Canada dreams about winning it all, and in 2018, Richmond’s Seafair Islanders Bantam hockey club’s young U-15 (ages 13-14) finished ...