Interviews

1. What Nikkei means to her

2. Fitting in to both sides of her family

3. Hapa Haole

4. Daughters want to identify with their cultures

5. Culture is an important part of one's identity

6. Writing a novel on the 442nd

7. Not many Japanese Jews

Biller,Francesca Yukari

Jewish Japanese American journalist

Not many Japanese Jews

I've never met, ever met a Japanese Jew. Maybe this is why writing about it. It’s almost like a shtick. Like it’s not something like anybody else is [doing], I'm realizing it. If I google and look what other people are writing, there's no one writing about it. And just the fact that it sounds so strange. I think people are curious about it. Besides my own family, my own siblings I've never met a Japanese Jew in my life. I know they're out there but maybe they're just too embarrassed to admit it? I don't know. But I'm sure they're out there. In all the articles I've written and get a lot of comments on my pieces. No one's ever said, "I'm also a Japanese Jew." I have had people that say, Japanese say, "I just married a Jewish man and we don't have children yet, and your articles helped me look at it like we're not so nervous because it’s funny and it could be interesting." I've gotten letters like that.

hapa Hawaii Japanese Japanese Americans Nikkei racially mixed people United States

Date: April 4, 2013

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Patricia Wakida

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Francesca Biller was born in Hawai'i and raised in Southern California to a Jewish father and Japanese American mother.

She is an award winning investigative journalist, political satirist, author, and social commentator for print, radio, and television. With a background of Japanese and Jewish, she writes about her interesting background in both an introspective and humorous way and her work has been published for The Huffington Post, CNN, The Los Angeles Times, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and many other publications. Awards include The Edward R. Murrow award, two Golden Mike awards, and four Society of Professional Journalists awards for Excellence in Journalism.

Biller is currently writing three books, the first a novel about the 442nd Infantry set in Hawaii, the second a compilation of humorous essays about growing up as a Japanese Jew in Los Angeles during the 1970s, and the third a Lifestyle book about how a diet of Hawaiian, Japanese, and Jewish food keeps her family healthy and happy. She is also currently on a national radio tour discussing her humorous take on politics, pop culture, and families. (August 2013)