I had the privilege of interviewing Megumi Nishikura, former ICU Rotary Peace Fellow (MA, ’08), and producer and director of Hafu – the mixed-race experience in Japan, a documentary exploring the challenges and unique awareness of the multiracial experience in Japan. Driven by her time spent studying peace at ICU and her own life experiences as a “Hafu” having grown up and lived in Japan, Megumi created Hafu. The film documents the lives of a diverse group of five ‘hafu’ in a time when globalization is altering conceptions of identity, nationality, and multiculturalism in a once more homogenous nation. Megumi spoke to me about the film’s messages of an inherent human identity that underlies deceptive exterior differences, how it relates to peace and conflict, and what the hafu experience says about Japan today. As a former student at ICU and also a hafu in Japan at the time, hearing about her insights and deeper understandings of the hafu experience were enlightening and inspiring.

Milena Naitoh: What led you to study at ICU?

Megumi Nishikura:  I grew up in Tokyo on and off for eight years until the age of 15. From 15, I moved to Hawaii and attended Punahou School and then went to the Tisch School of Arts to study film and television production at New York University. Right around when I graduated, the Iraq War was beginning and I started to video documenting the peace movement. As a result, I became interested in understanding the core truths around what causes conflict and how to create peace and decided to pursue a masters in peace and conflict studies. I was accepted as a Rotary World Peace Fellow and returned to Japan to attend ICU when I was 26.

Q: What did you study within the field of Peace, and how did your experience at ICU impact you?

Megumi:

My focus was on the role that media plays in peace-building. So I examined how media can be used both as a tool of war to create conflict and also as a medium of peace by connecting people and creating deeper understanding.

I enjoyed many of the courses that ICU offered but one especially memorable  course was about minorities in Japan. Through that course I really began to understand the complex histories of different ethnic minorities and came to feel a certain level of kinship with these groups. What became clear to me is that many minorities face a similar struggle of wanting to be heard and accepted by the majority.

Q: What were some experiences you had as a Hafu in Japan?

Megumi:  When I started working in Japan people were often confused because I when would give them my business card, my name would read “Megumi Nishikura,” but I didn’t look like their idea of a Japanese person. So their first reaction would usually be,  “Are you married to a Japanese?” or “You don’t look like a Megumi,” which I found quite insensitive, because it is the name I was given at birth and thus I strongly identify with it.  I encountered this kind of situation on a weekly basis.  And while I do believe no one meant any deliberate disrespect or harm, these reactions essentially tell me I am different from the majority Japanese and that I don’t “belong” in their eyes.

Q: What was your biggest challenge or experience as a hafu in Japan?

Megumi: I was never bullied as a child, but from a young age I was keenly aware that there was a difference between myself and other children. One memory I have is being sent to the vegetable stand to pick up produce when I was a child, and I remember the woman at the stand telling me my Japanese was so good! It made me aware that even though I was going to a Japanese school, fluent in Japanese, I was seen as “different.” I feel that because there is so little understanding or knowledge of the hafu experience in Japan, most people only pick up on my foreign traits and thus see me as a foreigner. I often wish they that would at least recognize me as being hafu.

Q: What led you to create Hafu?

Megumi:  With such experiences living in Japan, I started to explore my own identity by attending hafu gatherings.  This lead me to meet Lara Perez Takagi, the co-director of the film, and the rest of the production team.

I quickly realized how diverse the hafu experience is. Nationality, where you grew up, which parent is Japanese etc all played a factor into one’s identity. However, despite all the differences in experiences,  I found that there was an underlying commonality that we all shared. And that was the desire to be who we are in our entirety without having to conform to society’s idea about how we have to be. This became a message I wanted to share through the film.

Q: What is the perception of hafu in Japan?

Megumi:  There are a growing number of hafu celebrities on television. As in any country, there is a gap between celebrities and the average individual. In the case of hafus, the media portrays us to be half-caucasian, model-beautiful, bilingual and affluent. Thus an overly positive ideal of the hafu has been constructed.  The majority of hafus are not half-caucasian nor model beautiful. And for those who are monolingual, they are often met with disappointment when asked to speak their “other” language. One of the film’s goals is actually to raise this awareness and to show that there is no one hafu experience.

Q: What is or are some of the messages you try to convey with the film?

Megumi: With regard to peace, I have learned that conflict essentially exists because we believe that we are different from each other. We then magnify this difference to such a degree that we become capable of doing harm to others because we can no longer see similarity or a connection with them. At its core,  my hope is the message of “Hafu” is to remind us of that connection. Through the platform of Japan, I hope that the film will remind us that hafu are not so different form the rest of those in Japan and that they are part of Japan.

With the number of hafus growing each year, another goal is to simply create awareness and understanding of what it means to be mixed in Japan.

Q: Why have these numbers grown so much in recent years?

Megumi:  We have seen these numbers increase simply because of globalization and the economic boom in Japan since the ‘70s. Today, more and more people are studying abroad or coming to Japan to teach English. So as a result there is lot more opportunity for cultures to mix.  Today, one in about fifty births are babies born of parents of different nationalities. If you start to imagine how the numbers will multiply in the coming years, being hafu will no longer be so unusual.

Q: Are you working on any new projects currently?

Megumi: “Hafu” has been released for about a year now, and the response has been really positive, with large turnouts at each screening. Last week it screened in Melbourne, Australia and San Francisco. There have been screenings throughout Japan and the United States, and in many other parts of the world.  These days, I have been busy attending screenings to participate in post-screening discussions and I Skype in when my schedule doesn’t allow for travel.   In the future, I hope to continue to explore stories of a similar theme — about both the positive and challenging aspects of being multicultural at this time in our increasingly global world.

Note: You can see the official trailer for the film here.