Documentary "Being Japanese" by Canadian Videographer
＊This article was posted on August 5th.
My friend Greg is a YouTuber who introduces Japan to the world in English.
He has 1.46million subscribers as of July, 2021.
From the casual video where his adorable kids introduce Japanese breakfast,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRIDcCLxdRI
to serious ones about homeless people in Japan, he makes very interesting videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK--oCVP18A
He receives many orders to make promotional videos for foreign tourists from the local bureau.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B37THlDrosw
Greg spent 3 years making the long documentary “Being Japanese.” It will be released on Vimeo on July 16th.The price is US$20. Rental is available from August 13.
Greg is married to Japanese woman and has two kids. In Japanese, they are known as "HAFU", meaning “half”, because one half of them are Japanese. Does it mean they are not fully Japanese? What makes a Japanese person Japanese? He started to make a documentary to find these answers.
He interviewed many people, including those whose roots are Ainu, Okinawa, Japan, Korea and HAFU, returnees, refugees, and naturalized people.
My niece is Japanese, but she was born in Chile due to her father’s work and grew up there and in California. She is now studying at college in France. She only lived in Japan for 4 years between the ages of 3 and 7. She has both a Japanese passport and a Chilean passport.
She feels she is a “foreigner” in Chile, the US and France. She speaks Spanish and English fluently, and she is OK with daily conversation in French, but language is not the issue for her.
There has been a big increase in Asian hate crime since Covid-19. When she came back to Japan during her semester break, she was relieved, saying, “I can walk without caring about my looks, at least in Japan.” However, she doesn’t feel quite right even in Japan. No wonder she feels it because she lived in Japan for only a few years though she is Japanese.
There are few immigrants in Japan. Parents, grandparents and great grandparents of most people are Japanese. We don’t have the opportunity to know the thoughts, frustrations, and suffering of people who have Japanese roots, are Japanese though they don’t look Japanese, and don't feel right though they are Japanese like my niece.
Greg really wants general Japanese people to watch this documentary.
You will find that Japan is not a monoethnic state. This is a really interesting documentary.
I hope you enjoy watching this.