INTRODUCTION
More and more people are crossing racial and ethnic lines to create new kinds of families. If the future of America is the multiracial and multiethnic family, Japanese America is already there. U.S. Census data indicates that in the very near future, more than half of all Japanese Americans will be racially or ethnically “mixed” or hapa.
From the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in the Americas nearly a hundred and fifty years ago, hapa Japanese and their families have represented both a clearly visible yet rarely acknowledged, or invisible, part of Japanese American history. These people, who expanded notions of belonging and identity, of family and community, challenge us to imagine new possibilities for the future.
We present here an overview of the exhibition. Come see it in person for a more detailed history, photographs, video, and interactives.
It is believed that by the 2020 U.S. Census, a majority of Japanese Americans will identify as multiracial. Explore the diverse and complex history of the mixed-race and mixed-roots Japanese American experience.
Visible & Invisible, curated by Cindy Nakashima, Lily Anne Yumi Welty, and Duncan Williams, reveals the long “mixed” history in the Japanese American community. Starting with the earliest days of immigration, over a century ago, multiracial and multiethnic families and individuals dared to forge unexpected communities and families, against all odds. The pioneers of Japanese American history took risks and crossed oceans, embraced new communities, and established roots in unfamiliar places. They created multiracial families and their children became the first Americans of Japanese ancestry. In doing so, they played a pivotal role in transforming the United States into a place where they—and others like and unlike them—can belong.
The exhibition also tackles the history of racial segregation and anti-miscegenation laws that prohibited or even criminalized marriages between White and non-White peoples. Laws that prohibited interracial marriage existed in many states as late as 1967, when they were finally outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia. Today, the Japanese American community continues to explore questions of belonging and identity as Hapa Japanese Americans expand notions of family and community, challenging us to imagine new possibilities for the future.
Visible & Invisible is a collaboration between the Hapa Japan Database Project, the USC Center for Japanese Religions and Culture, and the Japanese American National Museum. The opening of the exhibition is preceded by the five-day Hapa Japan Festival, April 2-6, 2013—a free festival featuring hapa musicians and artists, a comedy night, readings by award-winning authors, film screenings of great documentaries, and a two day academic conference at USC.
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It is believed that by the 2020 U.S. Census, a majority of Japanese Americans will identify as multiracial. Explore the diverse and complex history of the mixed-race and mixed-roots Japanese American experience.
Visible & Invisible, curated by Cindy Nakashima, Lily Anne Yumi Welty, and Duncan Williams, reveals the long “mixed” history in the Japanese American community. Starting with the earliest days of immigration, over a century ago, multiracial and multiethnic families and individuals dared to forge unexpected communities and families, against all odds. The pioneers of Japanese American history took risks and crossed oceans, embraced new communities, and established roots in unfamiliar places. They created multiracial families and their children became the first Americans of Japanese ancestry. In doing so, they played a pivotal role in transforming the United States into a place where they—and others like and unlike them—can belong.
The exhibition also tackles the history of racial segregation and anti-miscegenation laws that prohibited or even criminalized marriages between White and non-White peoples. Laws that prohibited interracial marriage existed in many states as late as 1967, when they were finally outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia. Today, the Japanese American community continues to explore questions of belonging and identity as Hapa Japanese Americans expand notions of family and community, challenging us to imagine new possibilities for the future.
Visible & Invisible is a collaboration between the Hapa Japan Database Project, the USC Center for Japanese Religions and Culture, and the Japanese American National Museum. The opening of the exhibition is preceded by the five-day Hapa Japan Festival, April 2-6, 2013—a free festival featuring hapa musicians and artists, a comedy night, readings by award-winning authors, film screenings of great documentaries, and a two day academic conference at USC.
Public Programs Sponsors:
Media Sponsors:
PIONEERS
The earliest immigrants from Japan took risks, crossed oceans, embraced new communities, and established roots in unfamiliar places. Their children became the first Americans of Japanese ancestry; many created multiracial and multiethnic families. Whether in the Territory of Hawai‘i or the contiguous U.S., these pioneers established the early foundation of Japanese America.
The exhibition explores early Japanese pioneers to Hawai‘i (Gannenmono), California (Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm), and Oregon (Orient).
Miya Iwakoshi with adopted Japanese daughter Tama Nitobe (on left), Orient, Oregon, ca. 1901. Courtesy of Oregon Historical Society (48922).
(IL)LEGAL
For most of this country’s history, laws supporting racial segregation were part of the American legal landscape. Anti-miscegenation laws, or state laws that outlawed marriages between Whites and non-Whites, were in place since the 1660s and continued to persist until the late 1960s. The Cable Act of 1922 went so far as to strip U.S. citizenship from American women who married Asian immigrant men.
Such laws contributed to a hostile and even dangerous environment for mixed-race families and people, who often found themselves stuck between the status of legal and illegal. In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court finally struck down the last of these laws in the Loving v. Virginia case. Today, the scope and meaning of marriage continues to be a topic of much debate in American politics.
The exhibition presents the story of Fusataro Nakaya and Edith Morton. Because interracial marriages were illegal in California, they were married in Tijuana, Mexico. Edith was stripped of her citizenship after marrying Fusataro.
Robert Nakaya-Morton in military uniform. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Gift of Robert Nakaya-Morton and Family (JANM 95.99.2).
ENEMIES
Questions around loyalty, citizenship, and belonging inevitably become magnified in times of war. During World War II, the United States government and military struggled to determine what to do with the hapa Japanese Americans who blurred the lines between us and them. The inconsistencies in policies towards mixed-race people—both in the U.S. and in Japan—highlighted the tenuous place of mixed-race Japanese in both societies.
The exhibition presents photos and artifacts from the Manzanar Children’s Village, an orphanage set up at the World War II concentration camp where about 20% of the children were multiracial, and the Elizabeth Saunders Home Orphanage for Mixed-Blood Children in Japan established during the American Occupation following World War II.
Dennis Tojo Bambauer War Relocation Authority Leave Clearance ID. Dennis Tojo was eight years old in 1943 when he was given clearance to leave camp and the Manzanar Children’s Village. Courtesy of Dennis Tojo Bambauer and the Manzanar National Historic Site.
BELONGING
The Japanese American community is on the cusp of becoming majority mixed. Does this mean the community will cease to exist? What does it mean to be Japanese American today?
Two prominent Japanese American community institutions that have helped to shape the way some people choose to answer these questions are the Japanese American basketball leagues and local Japanese American beauty pageants. Originally formed to provide Japanese American youth with opportunities to participate in activities denied to them by mainstream society, these leagues and pageants often offer up their own racial and ethnic eligibility rules. The controversies resulting from such rules have exposed some of the challenges and complexities of promoting spaces of belonging.
This section includes team jerseys and group photos from Japanese American basketball teams. There will also be photos and interviews with Hapa Japanese American Queens and Princesses.
Janet Barnes Cubak, 1982 Los Angeles Nisei Week Queen. Courtesy of Alan Miyatake (Toyo Miyatake Studios).
VOICES
The exhibition features six individuals—Fred Makino, Isamu Noguchi, Melba Yonemura Matsuura, Virgil Westdale, Velina Hasu Houston, and Jero.
Whether by choice or by circumstance, each of these six hapas became the visible face of Japanese America at one point or another. Their stories reflect the deep connections that exist between mixed-race individuals and key moments in Japanese American history. Their struggles to find a place for themselves in Japanese American society and in the broader U.S. reflect the ongoing challenges of becoming a diverse community.
Fred Makino and family. Fred Makino was born in Yokohama, Japan to a Japanese mother and British father. He immigrated to Honolulu in 1899 and became a prominent advocate for labor and immigration rights. He founded the Hawaii Hochi in 1912. His older brother Jo immigrated to Hawai‘i in the 1880s. Courtesy of Hawaii Hochi.
VISIBLE & INVISIBLE
PIONEERS - Gannenmono Matsugoro Kuwata with his Hawaiian wife Meleana and family, ca. 1899. The “Gannenmono”were a group of Japanese laborers who came to Hawai‘i in 1868. Most eventually returned to Japan, but the ones who remained became the first immigrants to Hawai‘i.
Courtesy of Bishop Museum (SCP 77130).
(IL)LEGAL - Robert Nakaya-Morton held by his mother Edith.
Gift of Robert Nakaya-Morton and Family (JANM 95.99.6).
ENEMIES - The Children of Manzanar Children’s Village.
Gift of Charles and Lois Ferguson (JANM 94.180.33).
BELONGING - Seena Akita, 2007 San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival First Princess.
Courtesy of Alan Miyatake (Toyo Miyatake Studios).
BELONGING - Emily Folick, 2012 Los Angeles Nisei Week Queen.
Courtesy of Alan Miyatake (Toyo Miyatake Studios).
VOICES - Isamu Noguchi in his New York City Studio, 1943. A pioneer of mid-century design, Isamu Noguchi was known for his iconic sculpture, furniture, public gardens, and stage sets, among other achievements.
Courtesy of The Noguchi Museum (03216).
VOICES - Tournament of Roses Japanese Central Association Court, 1941. On the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Melba Yonemura Matsuura graced the Japanese Central Association’s award-winning float in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.
Gift of Walter W. Matsuura (JANM 2003.119.6C).
VOICES - Virgil Westdale. Born Nishimura, he legally changed his name to Westdale—West(nishi) and dale (mura) and joined the Army Air Corps, but was demoted and forced to join the 44nd R.C.T. when it was discovered that he was part Japanese.
Courtesy of Virgil Westdale.
VOICES - Velina Hasu Houston is an internationally acclaimed playwright who has written over thirty plays. She is a Professor of Theatre at USC, a published poet and essayist, and writes opera, musical theatre, television, and film.
Courtesy of Velina Hasu Houston.
VOICES - Jero singing at the Kohaku Utagassen singing show, December 2008. Jerome (“Jero”) Charles White, Jr. is an enka singer in Japan. In 2008, his debut album won the Best New Artist Award at the Japan Record Awards and he performed on the popular New Year’s Eve music show, fulfilling a promise he had made to his Japanese grandmother.
Gallery Activities
“Where Do You Come From?” Interactive
Frequently, hapa families form when people from different countries fall in love and want to start a life together. Their children can trace their parents and grandparents to different countries in the world. Do you have a similar family story? Type the origin of your mother’s and your father’s families into the computer and see what great distances they traveled. Design and implementation by Jennifer Reynolds-Kaye and Alfred Kaye.
1001 Journals Project
In August, 2000, San Francisco-based artist Brian Singer sent 100 blank journals into the world. He left some in bathrooms, some in cafes, some in the kitchen of the office where he worked. The 100 journals turned into 1000 and has traveled to over 40 countries and to every state in the U.S.; there has been both a book and a documentary dedicated to its reach as an “ongoing collaborative experiment…to provide a method for interaction and shared creativity among friends and strangers.”
Recently the 1000 journals has become 1001 and counting with the 1001 journals project (www.1001journals.com). We welcome all visitors to contribute to one of our journals and join the conversation.
Videos
In addition to video interviews in the exhibition, you can also watch video trailers from Good Luck Soup (forthcoming), Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan (2013), Mixed Match (forthcoming), Neither Here Nor There (2011), and One Big Hapa Family (2010) in the Orientation Theater.