Interviews

1. What Nikkei means to her

2. Fitting in to both sides of her family

3. Hapa Haole

4. Daughters want to identify with their cultures

5. Culture is an important part of one's identity

6. Writing a novel on the 442nd

7. Not many Japanese Jews

Francesca Yukari Biller

Jewish Japanese American journalist

Fitting in to both sides of her family

I became Zelig, which is basically a term from a Woody Allen movie where he becomes whoever he's with, like a chameleon. Like I would go and visit my grandparents in Hawai'i, and my grandmother mostly spoke just Japanese, and I became like a pure Japanese girl when I was at her house. All of a sudden I just acted Japanese. I wanted her to love me. … And then when I'd go and visit my Jewish side, in Beverly Hills on my dad's side. All of a sudden I was a total Jew. Like my hair would frizz up immediately when I walked in the house, got a jewfro. And I'm like "hey, how ya doin' huh?" (laughs). I just become wherever I am, because you can't help it. Because they love you and you want to make them happy and they want to see you as whoever they are. And it’s just nice.

California hapa Japanese Jews Nikkei racially mixed people United States

Date: April 4, 2013

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Patricia Wakida

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Francesca Biller was born in Hawai'i and raised in Southern California to a Jewish father and Japanese American mother.

She is an award winning investigative journalist, political satirist, author, and social commentator for print, radio, and television. With a background of Japanese and Jewish, she writes about her interesting background in both an introspective and humorous way and her work has been published for The Huffington Post, CNN, The Los Angeles Times, The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, and many other publications. Awards include The Edward R. Murrow award, two Golden Mike awards, and four Society of Professional Journalists awards for Excellence in Journalism.

Biller is currently writing three books, the first a novel about the 442nd Infantry set in Hawaii, the second a compilation of humorous essays about growing up as a Japanese Jew in Los Angeles during the 1970s, and the third a Lifestyle book about how a diet of Hawaiian, Japanese, and Jewish food keeps her family healthy and happy. She is also currently on a national radio tour discussing her humorous take on politics, pop culture, and families. (August 2013)

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