Halvsie

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A halvsie is a person with half Japanese heritage.

The term was coined to replace the more general ‘hapa’. Halvsie was inspired by the Japanese ‘hafu’ used to describe the products of a mixed marriage, and derived from the English ‘halves’.

The Hawaiian Pidgin term ‘hapa’ meaning half, which in conjunction with ‘haole’, white or foreign, describes someone of mixed parentage, most usually native Hawaiian and a foreign culture, refers in most cases to half white Europeans living in Hawaii. An alternative to this is ‘hapa kepani’ or half Japanese. The word ‘hapa’ traditionally describes someone of mixed Hawaiian blood, and was originally derogatory. In recent years the term hapa has come to be used in the larger Asian American community to mean ‘half Asian’, as in “She is a hapa, her mother is Japanese.”

Halvsie was coined in deference to these Hawaiian roots, and the islands are the only location on earth in which the majority of its inhabitants are of mixed Japanese blood. Halvsie is also in deference to the more broadly applied Asian American use of the term hapa, and is specifically designed to stand alone as product of the Nikkei the west coast of the United States.

Concretized and refined on the web at halvsie.com, an online community of half Japanese, the term specifically describes what, at the present time, is the single fastest growing segment of the global Nikkei culture. The 2000 US census was the first opportunity for responders to choose more than one race, specifying combinations with amazingly detailed granularity, and resulting in new demographic communities. At present it is estimated that there are 275,000 halvsies currently living in the United States.

[edit] Famous Halvsies

Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

[edit] A

• Ai (Ai Uemura), singer, Japanese, Italian
• Angela Aki - singer, Japanese, Italian
• Namie Amuro -singer, Japanese, Italian
• Devon Aoki - model/actress, Japanese father, English and German mother
• Tadanobu Asano — actor (3/4 Japanese, 1/4 American White)
• Beni Arashiro - singer, Japanese, Spanish

[edit] B

• Becky - actress/singer (½ Japanese, ½ British)
• Miki Berenyi - singer (½ Japanese, ½ Hungarian)

[edit] C

• Asia Carrera — porn actress (½ Japanese, ½ German)
• Kyoko Chan Cox — kidnapping victim and daughter of Yoko Ono (1/2 Japanese, 1/2 White)
• Zheng Chenggong - a prominent leader of the anti-Qing movement opposing the Qing Dynasty, and a general who took Taiwan from the Dutch in 1662.
• Rina Chinen — singer-songwriter (½ Japanese, ½ White)
• Tina Chow — actress/model (½ Japanese, ½ German)
• Bryan Clay - won the silver medal in the 2004 decathlon and was the sport's 2005 world champion.
• Severn Cullis-Suzuki is an environmental activist, speaker, television host and author.
• Ella Bully-Cummings - Detroit's first female police chief. Her father was an African American serviceman raised in Detroit when he met her mother in Japan.
• Ann Curry - Newscaster on the Today Show is an American journalist and television personality. (1/2 Japanese, 1/2 White)

[edit] D

• Axel Didriksson Mexican-Japanese author and teacher
• Alisa Durbrow — Japanese actress, singer and model (½ Japanese, ½ English)

[edit] E

• Yvonne Elliman - singer, Japanese, white

[edit] F

• Ayako Fujitani actress (Japanese/American)

[edit] H

• Reika Hashimoto - Japanese actress, Japanese and Spanish
• Ann Hui - Hong Kong film director
• Pat Hurst - LPGA golfer; white father and Japanese mother

[edit] I

• Juliana Imai - Brazilian model (1/2 Japanese, 1/2 Portuguese)
• Carrie Ann Inaba - dancer, choreographer, actress, singer, and judge on Dancing with the Stars, Japanese, Chinese and Irish.
• Ilmari (Keisuke Ogihara) - member of the Japanese hip hop group Rip Slyme (1/2 Japanese, 1/2 Finnish)

[edit] J

• Jhene - R&B singer, African American, Japanese, Native American

[edit] K

• Stacy Kamano - actress, Japanese, German, Polish, and Russian
• Takeshi Kaneshiro - Taiwanese-Japanese actor in Asia.
• Paul Kariya - ice hockey star, Japanese father, Scottish-Canadian mother
• Steve Kariya - ice hockey star, Japanese father, Scottish-Canadian mother
• Kaela Kimura - singer, Japanese, British
• Sachio Kinugasa - baseball player. 1/2 African-American and 1/2 Japanese

[edit] L

• Karena Lam - Hong Kong actress
• Pablo Larios Mexican-Japanese goalkeeper
• Sean Lennon - musician; son of Beatle John Lennon (Welsh-Irish) and Yoko Ono (Japanese)
• Olivia Lufkin — singer (1/2 Japanese, 1/2 American white)

[edit] M

• Chad and Johnnie Morton - American football players. Johnnie James Morton, Jr. was the son of an African-American father and Japanese-American mother.
• Koji Murofushi - Hammer thrower. 2004 Athens Olympics gold medalist

[edit] N

• Issey Nakajima professional Canadian-Japanese soccer player
• Hikaru Nakamura - International Grandmaster, Japanese father and white American mother
• Aline Nakashima - model, Japanese father and Brazilian mother
• Isamu Noguchi - a prominent American artist and landscape architect
• George Nozuka Canadian-Japanese rapper

[edit] O

• Grazielle Oganna - an Australian-born Brazilian singer
• Sadaharu Oh - the all-time international home run king who hit 868 home runs playing in Japan
• Apolo Anton Ohno - short track speed skater, father Japanese, mother Italian
• Maria Ozawa - adult actress, French-Canadian and Japanese

[edit] R

• Douglas Robb - lead singer of the band Hoobastank, white (Scottish descent) father, Japanese mother
• Dave Roberts - professional baseball player
• Bianca Ryan — singer, America's Got Talent winner (Irish, Japanese)

[edit] S

• Minami Saori - Singer (half Filipino)
• Ninja Sarasalo - supermodel, half Japanese, half Finnish
• Tura (Yamaguchi) Satana- model, actress, Japanese, Scottish, Irish, Apache
• Sabrina Sato Model
• Erika Sawajiri — actress/model (1/2 Japanese and 1/2 Algerian-French)
• Lisa Marie Scott - Playboy Playmate, Swiss-German and Scottish father and Japanese mother
• Mike Shinoda - emcee for Linkin Park, white and Japanese
• Yuu Shirota — Japanese actor, singer and model (½ Japanese, ½ Spanish)
• Kimora Lee Simmons - Baby Phat CEO, Black father, Japanese mother
• Ricky Steamboat - professional wrestler, white American father and Japanese mother
• Seiji - Member of broken beat collective Bugz in the Attic (½ Japanese, ½ English)

[edit] T

• Cyril Takayama - illusionist, Japanese, French, Morroccan
• Nautica Thorn - pornstar, Japanese, Hawaiian, and Puerto Rican
• Anna Tsuchiya - singer, father Russian, mother Japanese

[edit] W

• Eiji Wentz - actor, entertainer, singer (½ German-American, ½ Japanese)
• Peter Westbrook - A six-time Olympian and 13-time U.S. national champion fencer
• Jon Weisberg - Musician (Japanese-American)

[edit] Y

• Rachael Yamagata - Singer, Japanese father and German/Italian mother
• Lindsey Yamasaki - WNBA professional basketball player, Japanese American father, white American mother
• Christine Yoshikawa Canadian-Japanese classical pianist

[edit] Fictional Halvsies

• Buckaroo Banzai is the lead character in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
• Aya Brea is a fictional character in the Parasite Eve video game series
• Sofie Fatale is a fictional character from Kill Bill Volume 1.
• Hitomi (Dead or Alive) is a fictional German/Japanese character from the Dead or Alive video game series.
• Arsène Lupin III is a fictional character in Kazuhiko Katō's (a.k.a. Monkey Punch) anime and manga series Lupin III.
• Edna "E" Mode is a principal character from the movie The Incredibles.
• Kanuka Clancy (香貫花・クランシー) is a main character in the anime series Mobile Police Patlabor.
• Yomiko Readman (読子・リードマン), also known as "The Paper," is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the Japanese novel series Read or Die
• Setsuka is a fictional character designed for Soul Calibur III.
• Hinako Shijou is a character in the King of Fighters series.
• Momiji Sohma (草摩 紅葉 Sōma Momiji) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series entitled Fruits Basket.
• Asuka Langley Soryu (惣流・アスカ・ラングレー, Sōryū Asuka Rangurē?) a fictional character from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion and The End of Evangelion movie.
• Urumi Kanzaki is a fictional character from GTO
• Reira Serizawa is a fictional character from Nana
• Jotaro Kujo of Stardust Crusaders - 1/2 Japanese 1/2 American, Josuke Higashikata of Diamond is Unbreakable - 1/2 Japanese 1/2 American, Giorno Giovanna (birth name Haruno Shiobana) of Golden Wind - 1/2 Japanese 1/2 British, and Jolyne Kujo of Stone Ocean - 1/4 Japanese 1/4 American 1/2 Italian, the main characters of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

[edit] See also

• Hapa
• Japanese American
• List of Blasians
• List of Eurasians
• List of people of mixed Chinese and Japanese descent
• List of people of mixed Japanese and Korean descent
• List of terms for multiraciality

[edit] References

November 29, 2006: Dwight Schrute mentioned halvsies in a list of cultural types during The Office episode called "The Convict".

[edit] External links

• Halvsie.com