My Cultural Identity

What makes me, me? In my opinion culture is what makes me who I am and others. I am “Hapa” which is half Asian and part other race. My mother was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan and then there is my father, born in Atlanta, Georgia, but grew up in California. My cultural identity is shaped by the food I eat, the language I speak and my unique personal characteristic.

A characteristic I chose to use as an example to describe my cultural identity is food. I love to eat food. Especially what my mother and father makes. They are both completely different. Food is a big part of my life and culture. My mother makes Japanese food, and my father makes southern food. . Some examples of the food she makes are, Miso Soup, Soboro (with rice), and Nikujaga.

English isn't the only language I know, I know Japanese. Having a full Japanese mother is pretty cool; especially when I can learn a completely different language. I know how to speak, read, and write. It's great to be able to speak another language with my mom, grandparents, and all the friends I made in Japan while I was living there for two years. Being able to speak another language makes me feel special, I would be told how lucky I am to have my mother teach me the language. If I weren’t taught the language from a young age, I think I wouldn’t be able to know as much as I do now. Another thing is, that my parents put me in a hawaiian school since the second grade (before and after moving to Japan and moving back to Hawaii.) The school is a hawaiian imergine school named Ke Kula ‘O ‘Ehunuikaimalino. I have learned the hawaiian language. To the Hawaiians, language is a very important part of their culture and they have been struggling to keep the language alive. I am not Hawaiian, but going to this school made me realize that keeping your culture alive is a very important thing. During the two years I’ve lived in Japan, I would always get a confused or surprised reaction when I start to speak Japanese. This is because I don't look Asian and I can fluently speak the language. When I come back to Hawaii, I would alway be told “You look Asian...” This irritates and confuses me because I can never blend