To many in Japan, Megumi Nishikura doesn’t look like a Megumi. “People would assume that I was fully Japanese and when I would go meet them in-person they would do a double take,” Nishikura said. “They would be shocked that I look like I do and speak as well as I do, and when I […]
The Megumi Nishikura Story: Filming the distant dance of multiracial Japanese identity
September 24, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Washington selects Hachimura 9th in NBA draft
July 4, 2019 by Leave a Comment
NEW YORK (Kyodo) — Rui Hachimura became the first Japanese player selected in the opening round of the NBA draft when the Washington Wizards claimed him with the ninth pick June 20 in New York. The 21-year-old Hachimura played three seasons at Gonzaga University before being drafted. He now will join a Washington team that had […]
Naomi Osaka stayed above the fray to claim first Grand Slam title
September 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment
NEW YORK — As Serena Williams’ U.S. Open final crumbled around her on Sept. 8, Japan’s Naomi Osaka said she had to stay above the fray in order to keep her historic run to Grand Slam history alive. With code violations, broken rackets, tears and accusations of cheating coming from Williams’ end of the court, Osaka […]
Playing hostess to a foreign culture
July 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment
TURNING JAPANESE: A GRAPHIC MEMOIR Written and illustrated by MariNaomi (Minneapolis, Minn.: 2dcloud, 2016, 228 pp., $24.95, hard cover) MariNaomi shares her own journey of self-discovery of her ethnic roots in “Turning Japanese.” Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she illustrates her time spent as a hostess in a restaurant and bar in San […]
Raising hope and awareness for mixed-race bone marrow matches
March 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment
As a multiracial American (Japanese-Okinawan, Mexican, and German), I’ve always thought of my mixed-ness as a unique part of my identity. Recently though, I’ve learned that this attribute is a possible health concern if I were ever to be diagnosed with a blood or bone disease. More than 50,000 multiracial patients a year search for […]
THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: The life and writings of hapa poet Ambrose Amadeus Uchiyamada
September 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This week’s column traces some of the history of a hapa poet and journalist with the magnificent name Ambrose Amadeus Uchiyamada, who grew up under rather unusual circumstances. His father Thomas Morkiyo Uchiyamada, a university-trained engineer from Japan who came to the United States for further schooling in the first years of the 20th century, […]
A lesson in embracing one’s identity
July 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Favorite Daughter Written and illustrated by Allen Say (New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2013, $17.99, 32 pp., hardcover) I love Allen Say. This book, with its watercolor illustrations, has a gentle quality that makes me want to sit right down in a quiet corner to savor it. In Say’s latest book, “The Favorite […]
FIGHT FOR MIKE: 19-year-old Michael Sakata’s battle against leukemia
July 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Despite the scorching 100-degree weather, Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes and former Sacramento Kings point guard Bobby Jackson joined about 45 other people to play in a golf tournament at the Woodcreek Golf Club in Roseville, Calif. on June 30 to raise money for 19-year-old leukemia patient Michael Sakata. Barnes, who […]
Multiracial, multiethnic patients struggle to find marrow matches
July 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Because Michael Sakata is of Japanese and Mexican ancestry, the need for new donors to register is crucial. Unlike blood donations, bone marrow matches depend more on the ethnicity of the individual donating their marrow and the individual receiving the transplant. According to Carol Gillespie, Asian American Donor Program’s executive director, it will be difficult […]
Film to highlight need for multiethnic donors
March 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The award-winning team behind “Mixed Match,” a feature-length documentary about the difficulties multiethnic patients with deadly blood diseases face when searching for bone marrow donors, has launched an online fundraising campaign to raise $25,000 to support its production and post-production work. Jeff Chiba Stearns is the director and executive producer of […]
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