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

Daughters want to identify with their cultures

One daughter wants to get Bat Mitzvahed, the twelve-year-old. She considers herself as a Jewish girl. And the fourteen-year old considered herself as a Japanese girl. They're just completely split and they're completely different. The one who thinks she's Japanese and she doesn't see herself as Jewish, actually looks pure Japanese. They look completely different. And the one that see herself as a Jew looks Jewish. It’s just more of the weirdness that keeps going on as the generations go on. But they want to identify with their culture, so I'm looking into how to help them do that. Even if it means not getting Bat Mitzvahed, and not becoming a full Buddhist it’s about I talk to them about it and let them explore it with me, and I tell that I support them in whatever they want to do. And we'll see how that goes.

hapa Japanese racially mixed people

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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