Home History JCCCW Omoide JCCCW Omoide program features “The Hapa Stories”

JCCCW Omoide program features “The Hapa Stories”

By Atsushi Kiuchi, For the North American Post

What was considered by many Issei parents as a “family disgrace” is now common place.

Interracial marriages, commonly known as “out” marriages, involving third (sansei) and fourth (yonsei) generation people of Japanese ancestry no longer carry the social stigma of the past. The “shin-issei ” children and spouses that came to America after World War 2 also faced discrimination.

Today,all people of Japanese ancestry, living in America, are called “Nikkei.” The collective noun for today’s mixed marriage, younger generation is “hapa.”

Hapas face special challenges and they will be the subject of the Saturday, November 17, meeting of the Omoide (Memories) group. A selected panel of hapas will discuss the complexities as children of mixed identities, social and cultural conflicts, education and
employment, and raising their own families.

“Our Omoide group’s primary focus is on our historic immigrant parents and older nisei generation. But it’s time to look ahead and beyond since our Nikkei history is being made today by our hapa generation,” said Dee Goto, Omoide program chairperson.

The hapa panel discussion will be held Saturday, November 17, 1 pm- 2:15 pm, at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington (JCCCW- “The J”), 1414 South Weller, Seattle. The writing group workshop will follow at 2:45 pm . The public is invited. The program is free.

*JCCCW Website – https://www.jcccw.org/

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Omoide is developed under an umbrella of organizations supported in part by the Nikkei Heritage Association of Washington and the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington. To date, the Omoide team has introduced the project to several thousand students, 200 teachers, and 400 members of the general public over the past 12 years. These personal accounts have encouraged open dialog and discussions of constitutional rights, personal history, cultural development, immigrant experiences in the US, family values, multi-cultural issues and much more.