Friday, December 22, 2017

Movie Review: "Hafu"



Japan is diversifying.  In Japan, 1 in 49 marriages are international marriages.  If you look further at the data, you can find a significant number of marriages between Japanese and Chinese, Japanese and Filipino(a), Japanese and Korean, and more.  Whatever the roots, the children who come from these international marriages are known as “haafu” (although some prefer the term “double” to emphasize the presence of two different cultures).

This documentary movie follows the lives of several individuals whose parents are of different cultural backgrounds.  They each struggle with their own individual circumstances and come out with their own personal accomplishments, and this is where this movie shines.  The interviewees come alive through their own individual stories.  One cannot help but cheer on David as we see him connecting with his immediate Japanese community to build a school in his mother’s country.  One cannot help feeling for Alex, the older son of the Oi family, who experiences adjustment difficulties at school because of bullying.  These are individuals who we truly can empathize with, and it is likely that one finds oneself relating to one of their stories.



Taking a wider perspective, this movie encourages us to think of the big picture, as well.  If we were in their shoes, how would we navigate our own background with that of the larger society?  How can we foster greater inclusion in our own society? 

I highly recommend Haafu.  The film challenges certain assumptions of Japanese society and thereby forces us to think more critically about modern-day challenges.  Rather than painting Japan in a simplistic light, we are shown up close through the five interviewees the rich value that can come with diversity.

The language is both in Japanese with English subtitles and English in Japanese subtitles (depending on what the speaker is comfortable with).  The movie length is 85 minutes.


Related videos and links:

“Haafu” movie trailer:

Japan is Diversifying (also appears at end of movie):

Haafu website:
http://hafufilm.com/en/about/resources/ (official site provides list of resources)

Miss Japan debate:



Discussion questions for the classroom and beyond:

-What is your own cultural background?  How strongly do you identify with different aspects of your background?  How do you think it influences your perspective in society?

-Provide students with some data on international marriages (Hint: Okayama University’s survey results can easily be used in the language classroom by showing students its tables: http://ousar.lib.okayama-u.ac.jp/files/public/5/53309/20160528121303965789/hss_039_037_056.pdf).  What can we observe from this data?

-What do you think it means to be “Japanese”?

-In response to the first video above which describes Japan as diversifying, one person says:  “Japan is disappearing.”  Do you agree or disagree?  How would you respond to this comment?

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