This document announces a 5-day festival celebrating mixed-race and mixed-roots Japanese people and culture. The festival includes musical performances, film screenings, literary panels, comedy acts, and scholarly conferences on issues related to multiracial identities and representations. It will feature various artists, writers, filmmakers, and academics discussing their work and experiences with mixed heritage. The events will take place in Los Angeles at venues like USC, The Japan Foundation LA, and the Japanese American National Museum.
1. A F E S T I VA L C E L E B R AT I N G M I X E D - R A C E A N D
M I X E D - R O O T S J A PA N E S E P E O P L E A N D C U L T U R E
Presented by the Hapa Japan Database Project and the USC Center for Japanese Religions and Culture
2. DAY 1 | TUESDAY, APRIL 2 USC BOVARD AUDITORIUM
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MIXING IT UP: [IDENTITY AND MUSIC] INNOVATION
A USC VISION AND VOICES EVENT
Performances by Kina Grannis, Justin Nozuka, and Gow
Crossing boundaries, taking risks, making music, and redefining identity –“Mixing It Up:
[Identity and Music] Innovation” showcases a broad range of diverse talent from mixed-race
7:30-9:30PM artists in an exciting evening concert. Musical performances from popular YouTube artist and
USC alum Kina Grannis, Japanese-Canadian singer-songwriter Justin Nozuka, and Gow
(from the Japan-based group Genez) will be integrated with interactive conversation with
USC’s Duncan Williams about their cultural roots and mixed identity, experimentation with
innovative technology and music making outlets, and the risks and challenges they have
faced in building their careers in inventive ways.
DAY 2 | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 JAPAN FOUNDATION LA 5700 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD, LA
7:00PM FILM SCREENINGS: A DOUBLE FEATURE
CO-SPONSORED BY THE JAPAN FOUNDATION, LOS ANGELES
Found in Translation (2005) and The Power of Two (2011)
A Post-Screening Discussion with Found in Translation director, Masahiko Fox, and The Power
of Two subjects, Anabel “Ana” Mariko Stenzel and Isabel “Isa” Stenzel Byrnes
DAY 3 | THURSDAY, APRIL 4 EAST WEST PLAYERS THEATER 120 JUDGE JOHN AISO STREET, LA
2:00-5:30PM BOOK FAIR
Featuring Asian American Literary Review, Kaya Press, Loving Day, Mixed Marrow,
Multiracial Americans of Southern California, and various Hapa Japanese authors
4:00-5:30PM LITERARY PANEL
CO-SPONSORED BY THE ASIAN AMERICAN LITERARY REVIEW AND KAYA PRESS
Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being, winner of the Kiriyama Prize for
My Year of Meats, and winner of the American Book Award for All Over Creation
Sesshu Foster, author of City Terrace Field Manual, winner of the Believer Book Award
for Atomik Aztex, winner of the American Book Award for World Ball Notebook
Velina Hasu Houston, USC Professor of Theater; playwright of Tea, Asa Ga Kimashita,
Calling Aphrodite, Messy Utopia, Calligraphy, The DNA Trail, and editor of The Politics of Life
and But Still, Like Air, I’ll Rise
Carlos Yushimito de Valle, author of El Mago, Las Islas, Madureira sabe, Equis. X, Lecciones
para un niño que llega tarde; selected by Granta as one of 22 best Spanish-language writers
under 35
8:00-9:30PM
COMEDY NIGHT
Performances by KT Tatara, Anna Suzuki, Samantha Chanse, and Daniel Nainan
3. DAY 4 | FRIDAY, APRIL 5 USC BOARD ROOM, DAVIDSON CONFERENCE CENTER
SCHOLARLY CONFERENCE
CO-SPONSORED BY THE MELLON FOUNDATION SAWAYER SEMINARS AT USC AND KYOTO UNIVERSITY
9:00-9:15AM WELCOME REMARKS BY CONFERENCE CONVENOR
Duncan Williams (USC)
9:15-10:30AM SESSION 1 - THE MULTIPLICITY OF IDENTITIES
“From Hapa to Haafu: Reconstructing Mixed Race Japanese Migrant Identities in Japan”
Jane H. Yamashiro (USC)
“Shima Haafu, Tokyo Haafu, American Half”
Akemi Johnson (writer)
Respondent: Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu (Stanford University)
10:30-10:45AM COFFEE BREAK
10:45AM-12:00PM SESSION 2 - YOUTH AND MIXED-RACE IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN
“Negotiating the Meanings of Being ‘Haafu’: The Case of Japanese-Pakistani Mixed Children”
Masako Kudo (Kyoto Women’s University)
“Mixed-ethnic ‘Haafu’ Teens in Japan Deconstructing Social Positions as ‘Marked’ and ‘Foreign’”
Laurel Kamada (Tohoku University)
Respondent: Jane H. Yamashiro (USC)
12:00-1:15PM LUNCH BREAK
1:15-2:15PM SESSION 3 - FROM KANSAI TO NEW ENGLAND:
A MULTIRACIAL MAN'S JOURNEY
“Using Mixed-Race Oral History to Understand the Post-World War II Period”
Lily Anne Yumi Welty (UCLA)
Interview of Karl Lippincott
2:15-2:30PM COFFEE BREAK
2:30-4:15PM SESSION 4 - A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION OF COMMUNITY-BASED
ORGANIZATIONS: HISTORY AND PROSPECTS
Athena Asklipiadis (Mixed Marrow), Natalie Mfaume (The Hafu Project),
Ed Sumoto (Mixed Roots Japan), Ken Tanabe (Loving Day)
Respondent: George Kich (Founder, I-Pride)
4:15-4:30PM CLOSING DISCUSSION
JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM 100 NORTH CENTRAL AVE, LA
L.A. PREMIERE OF HAFU: THE FILM
7:30PM CO-SPONSORED BY THE JAPAN FOUNDATION, LOS ANGELES
Hafu: The Film—A Documentary Film about the Experiences of Mixed-Japanese (2012) and a
Post-Screening Discussion with Hafu: The Film directors Lara Takagi Perez and Megumi Nishikura
4. DAY 5 | SATURDAY, APRIL 6 USC BOARD ROOM, DAVIDSON CONFERENCE CENTER
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SCHOLARLY CONFERENCE
CO-SPONSORED BY THE MELLON FOUNDATION SAWAYER SEMINARS AT USC AND KYOTO UNIVERSITY
9:00-10:15AM SESSION 5 - JAPANESE-BRAZILIAN MIXED-RACE REALITIES
“Lost in Japan: Representations of Japanese-Brazilian Children”
Zelideth María Rivas (Marshall University)
“Mestiça and/or Haafu: Japanese-Brazilian Women and Their Mixed-Race Bodies Questioned
in Brazil and Japan”
Tamaki Watarai (Aichi Prefectural University)
Discussant: Lily Anne Yumi Welty (UCLA)
10:15-10:30AM COFFEE BREAK
10:30-12:00PM SESSION 6 - FILM SCREENINGS
Trailer for Mixed Match (Director, Jeff Chiba Stearns; Associate Producer, Athena Asklipiadis)
Documentary – Neither Here Nor There (2011; Director, Ema Ryan Yamazaki)
Screenings followed by discussion with the filmmakers
12:00-1:15PM LUNCH BREAK
1:15-2:30PM SESSION 7 - HAPA JAPANESE VISUAL ARTS:
A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON ART AND IDENTITY
“Creative Identities: Transformative Hapa Japanese Artists”
Yasuko Takezawa (Kyoto University)
With Featured Artist Presentations by Laura Kina and Shizu Salamando
2:30-2:45PM COFFEE BREAK
2:45-4:15PM SESSION 8 - READING RACE:
REPRESENTATIONS OF MIXED-RACE JAPANESE
“Hapa Covers: Japanese Enka and Its Mixed-Race African American Star”
Christine Yano (University of Hawaii)
“America’s Forgotten Children: Representations of American-Japanese Mixed Race Children
in Post-WWII Japan”
Sayuri Arai (University of Illinois)
“Manga or Marvel?: Multiracial Japanese/American Visual Narrative in Indy Comics”
LeiLani Nishime (University of Washington)
Discussant: Cynthia Nakashima (co-editor of The Sum of Our Parts)
4:15-4:30PM CLOSING DISCUSSION
JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM 100 NORTH CENTRAL AVE, LA
OPENING RECEPTION FOR THE “VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE:
A HAPA JAPANESE AMERICAN HISTORY” EXHIBIT
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE HAPA JAPAN DATABASE PROJECT, THE USC CENTER FOR
7:30-9:00PM JAPANESE RELIGIONS AND CULTURE, AND THE JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM
Featuring a performance by singer/songwriter, Meiko
Co-curators: Cynthia Nakashima, Lily Anne Yumi Welty, Duncan Williams
Remarks by Greg Kimura (CEO/President, JANM) and Duncan Williams (USC)
MC: Emily Folick (Los Angeles Nisei Queen)
5. REGISTRATION OPENS MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2013
To register for the event, visit www.hapajapan.com
SPONSORS
Consulate General of Japan
Los Angeles
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation A Japan-based Global Study of Racial Representations
John E. Sawyer Seminars at USC (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S))
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS MEDIA SPONSOR
Asian American Literary Review East West Players The Hafu Project
Kaya Press Loving Day Mixed Marrow
Mixed Roots Japan Multiracial Americans of Southern California
For more information, contact the Hapa Japan team at hapafest@gmail.com.