WEBVTT

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Based on the way I look,
where do you think I'm from?

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India?

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Mexico?

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How about Italy?

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What about Kyrgyzstan?

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These are some of the places
people think I'm from.

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What I actually am is half Japanese
and half Irish American.

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There is a term commonly used
to identify people like myself,

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and that is "hafu".

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In my day-to-day experience in Japan,

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people are often surprised
to learn that I am hafu.

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Strangers will come up to me and say,

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"Okuni wa doko desuka?" --

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What country are you from?

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When they learn
my last name is Nishikura,

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the next question usually is:
"Nihonjin to kekkon sarete masuka?" --

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Are you married to a Japanese?

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I often reply with:
No, my father is Japanese. --

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"Jitsuwa otousan ga Nihonjin desu."

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But what I really want to say is:
It's because I'm Japanese.

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I'm very fortunate, in that
I come from a loving family

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that had the means
to give me the opportunity

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to spend my summers
in the United States.

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So, I grew up
between two different worlds.

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In Japan, I remember going
to the local matsuris, the festivals,

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and trying my darnedest
to scoop up that goldfish

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with that paper scoop
but always failing.

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And, in America, I remember going to
the local shopping mall

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and being in awe of how the stores
just stretched out for miles.

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For a young girl, it was paradise.

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But wherever I went, once I was beyond
the comfort of my home or family,

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I always felt like I didn't quite fit in.

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I wanted to belong, which I think
is a natural human desire.

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In Japan, I wish my teachers
at my Japanese elementary school

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wouldn't single me out
for being able to speak English.

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And, in America,
I wish I had blonde pigtails

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like the girls in
my grandmother's neighborhood.

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While I was lucky
to have never been picked on in school,

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I know that there are
those of us who have.

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Simply, whether innocent
or malicious intent,

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simply by the way somebody
says something to us or looks at us,

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we are acutely reminded that
we are not like those around us,

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that we don't belong.

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And, sometimes, that desire
to belong is so great

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that we are willing to hide or change
that part of us that is different.

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But it's not as simple
as buying a new wardrobe

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to fit in with the cool kids.

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Denying who we are,
even one part of us,

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creates the suffocating feeling,
like we're not good enough.

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Even today, I catch
a glimpse of myself in the mirror

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of a restaurant where I'm eating
with my relatives,

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and I go, "Wow, I look so different.

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How is it that I am related?

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Do I even belong here?"

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But then a moment later, I am moved.

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Moved by the fact,
that despite their differences,

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both cultural and racial,

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my parents found love.

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And those differences
were once so great

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that my grandparents
were on opposite sides of a war.

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Knowing the value of respecting
and loving both cultures,

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my parents raised me to believe
that I was both Japanese and American.

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However, in Japan in particular,

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society has trouble
reflecting that back to me.

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People don't even often recognize me
as being half Japanese;

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they just see me as a foreigner.

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Now, some might say
this is understandable

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with only 2% of the population
in Japan being not Japanese,

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and there being
few ethic minorities here.

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But as somebody who has grown up here,
and is Japanese by birth,

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why is it so hard to be recognized as one?

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So, what does it mean to be Japanese?

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It seems like there's
this unspoken definition.

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One must look Japanese,
speak Japanese,

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and abide by all its customs
and traditions.

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And, if someone can't check off each box,
a hundred percent,

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then he or she is not Japanese.

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But people like me are becoming
more and more common every day.

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Today, 1 in 18 marriages
is an international union,

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and, as a result, 1 in 49 babies
are born between such couples.

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That is over 20,000 hafus a year.

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With such changing demographics,
I think the current understanding

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of what it means to be Japanese
needs to change.

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[A new definition of Japanese]

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The definition of Japanese
needs to expand to include hafus.

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"Konna kao demo Nihonjin
de arieru shakai ni nattehoshii." --

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Maybe you can look like me
and sound like me, and still be Japanese.

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As a film maker, exploring these questions
came naturally to me

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through the lens of a camera.

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So, it began in film school,
where I made short movies

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about my personal identity and my family,

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to upon graduating,
where I started producing videos

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for organizations
that fight racial prejudice

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and foster multi-cultural understanding.

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All of which leads to this moment now,

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where, through the hafu project,

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I met three young hafu women like myself,

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and together we came
to make a feature length film.

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Through five stories filmed over a year,
we asked these very questions:

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What does it mean to be hafu
and what does it mean to be Japanese?

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(Video) Woman: He was started
to be called names:

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"You are not Japanese,
you are Eigo-jin."

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Boy: I was bullied every day.

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[What does it mean to be
mixed-race in Japan?]

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Man: I stuck out wherever I was
and people treated me differently.

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I thought,
just treat me normally!

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Talk to me just as
you would to anyone else!

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Woman: I really believed I was Japanese.

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So suddenly I felt like
I didn't belong anywhere.

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When you're younger,
you don't want to be different,

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you want to be like everybody else.

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Man: I feel disconnected from Japan.

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[Each year over 20,000
half-Japanese babies are born]

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Woman: I feel like Japan is changing.

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Everyday, you see these little,
half-Japanese children running around.

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Man: I discovered that there were many
people that had similar backgrounds.

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Woman: He realized that he didn't
have to try to become someone

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that everybody else expects him to be.

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Man: There's prejudice
and racism wherever you go.

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I want to connect with
people who can see me for me.

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Woman: Instead of disliking
what's different

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if we embrace and learn from it

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then Japan will have
such a bright future.

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[SOPHIA
Australia x Japan]

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[EDWARD
Venezuela x Japan]

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[FUSAE
Korea x Japan]

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[OI FAMILY
Mexico x Japan]

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[DAVID
Ghana x Japan]

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[Japan is Changing]

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[HAFU]

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[Meet the new generation
of mixed Japanese]

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(Applause)

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MN: Since we began filming,
the response has been tremendous.

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Hafus and their families write to us
from all corners of the globe

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offering their support and encouragement.

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To me, this is a testament that the parts
of us that feels unrecognized

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wants our stories to be heard.

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The film was completed in April
and is now screening worldwide.

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None of us hafus chose
to be born this way.

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However, having come from two parents

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of different cultures
or different phenotypes,

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by our mere presence,

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we've been given an opportunity
to start this conversation

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about the labels that
society places on all of us.

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I believe these labels of separation

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are what leads to exclusion,
discrimination, conflict, and even war.

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Ultimately, I think it's not just about
being recognized as part of Japan,

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I think what we're really seeking

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is to be seen authentically
in our entirety,

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for the parts of us that is Japanese
and the parts of us that is not.

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What I have come to understand is that
it is up to each and every one of us

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to decide for ourselves
who we are

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and not to be confined by the boundaries
that seek to define us or exclude us.

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And, in that act of knowing
who we are and accepting it,

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we allow others to know it is okay
for us to be that way as well.

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My name is Nishikura Megumi.

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With this name and this face,
I am Japanese, American, and hafu.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)