The 1985 holiday issue: Interracial Families

Vol. 101, No. 25, December 20, 1985. 136 pages. View this issue

The Pacific Citizen closed 1985 with a 136-page holiday issue built around one subject: interracial families. A special pullout section gathers essays, reporting and short fiction on outmarriage, hapa identity and growing up of mixed heritage. Writers include Jane B. Kaihatsu, Christine C. Iijima Hall, Velina Hasu Houston and David Mas Masumoto, along with four psychotherapists who wrote together on interracial couples and children. Sylvia Watanabe’s story “Colors” and Hisaye Yamamoto’s “Miyoko O’Brien” appear among the fiction.

Also in this issue: a speech by Yuki Moore Laurenti at a New York fundraiser for Gordon Hirabayashi, which recalls her mother’s incarceration at Minidoka, and Jiro Saito’s short story of a family’s forced removal to an incarceration camp. About 100 of the pages carry season’s greetings, with San Diego, San Jose, Seattle and Orange County among the places named.

What’s in this issue

Commentary

• Tribute to Our Past, by Yuki Moore Laurenti, page 4. A speech delivered at a July 1985 New York fundraiser for Gordon Hirabayashi, in which Laurenti reflects on growing up as a Sansei of mixed descent and the lasting impact of her mother’s internment at Minidoka. She draws on family stories and her own experiences with racial discrimination to honor Hirabayashi’s wartime resistance and courage.
• On Being Hapa, by Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, page 26. Hirabayashi responds to a controversy in Hokubei Mainichi over use of the term ‘hapa,’ arguing that critics who were not themselves biracial sought to deny mixed-race people the right to define their own experience. He insists on the importance of insider perspectives and his own right to self-determination in naming his identity.
• Sansei in Love and Marriage, by Robert Shimabukuro, page 26. Shimabukuro continues a column exploring male/female relationships among Sansei, responding to reader reactions about comments on Asian American men and women’s dating patterns. He argues that rejecting one’s parents as romantic role models is not the same as rejecting one’s cultural heritage, and that children should be free to fall in love with whomever they choose.
• Sam and Bruce: Interracial Gay Couple, by Sam Shimabukuro, page 26. Shimabukuro describes his relationship with his partner Bruce MacDonald, a white man, reflecting on how his Japanese American upbringing shaped his reserved personal style and his delayed disclosure of his sexuality to his family. He discusses how family members on both sides have responded with support, and how living away from family in Seattle allows the couple freedom to be together.
• The Naming of Names, by J.K. Yamamoto, page 27. Yamamoto explains the Japanese-language terms used to describe mixed-race people—ai no ko, konketsuji, and hafu—detailing their literal meanings and negative connotations in Japan. He also discusses the Hawaiian-derived term ‘hapa’ and notes that no single label is universally accepted among interracial people themselves.
• Proud of Being Hapa, by Mira Chieko Shimabukuro, page 46. A teenager of mixed Japanese and other heritage reflects on growing up hapa, describing incidents of teasing from peers as well as moments of pride in her dual heritage. She concludes that despite some challenges, she is proud to be hapa and finds her mixed background makes her life more interesting.

In-Depth

• Asian Americans and Outmarriage, by Jane B. Kaihatsu, page 8. This article examines the rising rate of intermarriage among Japanese, Chinese and Korean Americans and the cultural, family and community tensions that result. Therapists and counselors discuss generational differences, biracial children’s identity development, and community resistance to interracial dating.
• Interracial? Wakarimasen, by George Kitahara Kich, Mary Ann Leff, Grace Wakamatsu Fleming, Steve Shigematsu-Murphy, page 9. Four psychotherapists present a paper examining interracial couples, families and the identity development of interracial children within the Japanese American community. They argue that the community must make space for interracial families and support children in developing a positive, self-defined interracial identity.
• Denial of Dual Ethnicity Unwarranted, by Christine C. Iijima Hall, page 9. Hall, the daughter of a Japanese war bride and a Black American serviceman, describes the discrimination faced by Japanese war brides and their Black husbands after World War II, and her own personal journey toward accepting a multiracial Black-Japanese identity. She argues that society and the Census Bureau need to better accommodate multiracial individuals who do not fit into single ethnic categories.
• Amerasians in Japan, by Christine C. Iijima Hall, page 10. Hall examines the discrimination faced by mixed-race children in Japan born to Japanese mothers and American servicemen after World War II, discussing issues of citizenship, employment, marriage prospects and social stigma. She explains how prejudice is often worse for half-Black Amerasians than half-White Amerasians due to Japan’s caste-like attitudes about skin color and perceived morality of mothers.
• History of Interracial Families in Hawaii, by Allan Beekman, page 19. Beekman traces the history of interracial mating in Hawaii from Captain Cook’s 1778 arrival through plantation-era immigration of Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and other laborers, and the social forces that both encouraged and discouraged intermarriage. He describes how World War II and the rise of Nikkei political power broke down barriers to interracial marriage, noting many prominent Hawaii politicians today have interracial marriages.
• Cultural Delivery, by David Mas Masumoto, page 45. Masumoto recounts the hours-long labor and delivery of his daughter Nikiko Rose, interweaving the physical ordeal with reflections on blending his Japanese American Buddhist heritage with his wife Marcy’s Wisconsin German Lutheran background. The essay explores questions of naming, religion, and cultural identity that the interracial couple confronted as new parents.

Arts & Entertainment

• Making Osushi, by Alice Nash, page 9. A short story in which a grandmother teaches her grandchildren Ronnie and the narrator the lengthy, multi-step process of preparing bara-sushi, sharing memories of her own immigration to America along the way. The story captures both the culinary instruction and the intergenerational bonding that occurs during the hours-long cooking process.
• Colors, by Sylvia Watanabe, page 17. This short story, winner of the 1985 American Japanese National Literary Award, follows a family in Hawaii grappling with a grandfather’s dementia and a grandmother’s secret quilt made from stolen laundry during the annual Obon Festival of the Dead. The narrative weaves together themes of memory, aging, cultural tradition and family reconciliation.
• The Red Tricycle, by Jiro Saito, page 25. A short story depicting a Japanese American family’s forced removal to an internment camp during World War II, focusing on a young boy’s attachment to his tricycle as the family is loaded onto an army truck. The story closes with a soldier retrieving the boy’s tricycle at the last moment before the family departs for the camps.
• ‘Free to Be Me’, by Robert Shimabukuro, page 27. Profile of singer/actress Deborah Nishimura, who grew up in Stockton as the daughter of a Japanese American father and Mexican American mother, and who turned down a CBS recording contract because she found the material too sexually exploitative. She discusses her path into acting and theater, including her performance at a recent Asian American benefit concert.
• From This Day Forward, by Ferris Takahashi, page 27. A short story about Ailene Ishii, a Japanese American college student, who falls in love with Don Cosgrieves, a wealthy young man left unable to speak after a skiing accident and dismissed by his family as mentally damaged. Despite parental objections on both sides, the couple commits to each other as Don seeks surgery to restore his speech and begins an independent life.
• From This Day Forward (Mixed Japanese reflections by Velina Hasu Houston), by Velina Hasu Houston, page 33. Playwright and poet Velina Hasu Houston describes her experiences being repeatedly misidentified as various ethnicities while traveling in Japan and the United States due to her mixed Japanese, Black and Indian heritage. She discusses her family background, her plays exploring her parents’ interracial marriage, and the challenges of being accepted by both Japanese and American communities.
• Miyoko O’Brien (or Everybody’s Turning Japanese), by Hisaye Yamamoto, page 118. Yamamoto recalls humorous memories of intermarriage among her Nisei friends after the war, including an invented name used as a joke that has since become reality for many Nisei women who married outside their race. She shares anecdotes about encounters involving interracial couples and mistaken assumptions about ethnicity.

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