{"id":3166,"date":"2013-10-24T14:07:56","date_gmt":"2013-10-24T05:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/?p=3166"},"modified":"2014-01-23T11:47:45","modified_gmt":"2014-01-23T02:47:45","slug":"film-review-hafu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/2013\/10\/film-review-hafu\/","title":{"rendered":"Film review:<\/b> HAFU"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, in one single day I got to experience the thrill of being pointed at and hearing, in an almost accusatory tone, the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gaijin!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d no less than six times. Three times walking in southern Nishinomiya by senior high school students, and three more times at the onsen that evening by guys in their 20s. Six times.<\/p>\n

I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s safe to say that if you are a Caucasian man like me, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already experienced the staring and the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gaijins\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. This, in a usually lower frequency, was for me just part of my day-to-day life in Japan, something that one can only observe and shrug thinking, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e3\u0081\u2014\u00e3\u201a\u2021\u00e3\u0081\u2020\u00e3\u0081\u0152\u00e3\u0081\u00aa\u00e3\u0081\u201e, I stand-out and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the way it is here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Of course, like me, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure many of you have also thought about how this situation would be downright rude and treated as prejudice in our home countries, but hey, Japan is known for taking its time with societal change. Now, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s try to imagine that this has happened to you all your life<\/i>. Countless times in your youth, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been congratulated by strangers simply for speaking a few words in your mother-tongue, the innumerable instances you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been met with unease when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve approached a store clerk to ask a question; and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been concluded time and time again that your linguistic talents and weaknesses are related to your family heritage or a country you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never even visited. This could be a taste of the reality our half-Japanese students face in Japan today.<\/p>\n

A Half-Japanese is called a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e3\u0192\u008f\u00e3\u0192\u00bc\u00e3\u0192\u2022\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in Japanese. A once pejorative word, \u00e3\u0192\u008f\u00e3\u0192\u00bc\u00e3\u0192\u2022 has now been reappropriated by the Half-Japanese and is used to designate people who have one Japanese parent, independent of their home or residing country or physical traits. The word made its appearance in the 70s because of an increase in mixed marriages in Japan. Since then, the number of mixed marriages has greatly increased, with half of them being Chinese or Korean interracial marriages, followed by Philippine or Brazilian interracial marriages.<\/p>\n

In recent years, greatly because of efforts to internationalize Japan, as well as the decline in Japanese population, the Hafus have come to represent a much greater portion of society than in previous decades. It is said that now 20,000 mixed-race babies are born in Japan every year, so technically that could mean that we have at least one Hafu student in each of our classes!<\/p>\n

In order to better represent and raise awareness, as well as start a dialogue around this facet of contemporary Japan, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hafu Project\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has been collecting pictures, profiles and life stories for the last 5 years from Hafus in and outside Japan. Born of this initiative and the desire to expand the project, Megumi Nishikura & Lara Perez Takagi have directed, shot and produced a documentary titled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e3\u0192\u008f\u00e3\u0192\u00bc\u00e3\u0192\u2022\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. Five months after its world premiere in Los Angeles last April, the film came to Tokyo and was screened for 20 days. Since the movie touches a rather sensitive cord in Japan, the directors thought it would be wiser to present the film abroad in film festivals in order to get the ball rolling and build a strong portfolio before screening the film in Japan.<\/p>\n