ARCHIVES
In chronological order, below are 35 oral history interviews of ‘Jewpanese’ people and families based in the U.S. collected between May 2022 and April 2025 by Carmel Tanaka for the Jewpanese Project, an international multi-phase community project at the intersection of being Jewish and Japanese.
Each profile contains: picture, name, place and date of interview, Jewpanese connection, birthplace, link to short video/written paragraph on being Jewpanese, link to full audio/written interview, link to Instagram writeup with pictures, and archive notes. Transcripts are available at links.
The collection phase of interviews was funded by Carmel’s fellowship with the Anti-Defamation League Collaborative for Change Fellow (2022-2023). The aggregation of data from the U.S. based interviews was funded by a Jews of Color Initiative research grant (June 2023). Included below in this “soft launch” of the Jewpanese Project Archives are some findings from this selection of interviews from the U.S.
The original project proposal was to collect 20 interviews across Canada, U.S., Israel and Japan. The response to participate was bountiful with 230+ Jewpanese contacts collected worldwide, resulting in a total of 80+ interviews! Carmel will continue to seek donations and apply for funding to process all the remaining interviews with the intention of adding them to the archives. She was not expecting this project to increase x4 times in size!
Please note: Each interviewee provided Carmel consent to film and/or share the content from their interview. It is important to Carmel that everyone feels comfortable with their profile. With a project of this size (akin to a PhD), the Covid pandemic, and the ongoing mental health impact of extremely polarizing global politics, there have been significant delays in processing interviews and a number of interviews are still pending processing and/or participatory review and will be added upon final approval. Furthermore, advancement in editing software was discovered only at a later stage, which is why earlier interviews have yet to be processed. Carmel is no longer accepting video/audio interviews; however, she will continue to welcome written interviews. Please contact her for more details!
JEWPANESE+
When it comes to identity, it’s complicated! Like many mixed identities, people who are both Jewish and Japanese do not fit neatly into one ethnic or racial category. In absence of an appropriate category, some have been creative in using portmanteaus (word-blending) to find a more encompassing term. Carmel first heard the term Jewpanese from a Jewish friend in Tel Aviv in 2005, who was originally from San Diego and had heard it being used there by someone else. Today, Jewpanese is a popular term used by Jewish and Japanese people in the English-speaking world. One of the Jewpanese community members, originally from the Bay Area, takes claim for coining the term, while others came up with Japajew (Japanese + Jewish) and Jewbu or Jubu (Jewish + Buddhist). These are informal terms of endearment, and by no means “official”. In fact, the struggle is real for Jewpanese people when the only options to select from are: Asian, Caucasian, Japanese (if that). They’re lucky if there is a box for Jewish or Mixed, and if multiple selection is enabled. Further, many Jewpanese view their Jewish identity as “White”, while some do not, adding another layer of complexity to the U.S. interviews, as this question on race is not nearly as prevalent or magnified across the international interviews. The following interviews highlight such diversity of the Jewpanese niche experience within Jewish and Japanese communities, and various cultural and social communities in and out of the U.S. over many decades—covering an age range of 6 to 69, not including a newborn and the eldest account of a Jewpanese person, Nina Uchida Z”L (1924-2016).
Michellanne Haruka Li
Washington, DC
May 8, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese from Tokyo. Paternal side is Jewish via Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
Birthplace: Bakersfield, CA
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Marian Haru & Alex Russo
Brooklyn, NY
May 29, 2022
Marian is Jewish via Ukraine & Japanese via Constantinople. Alex is all that plus Italian.
Birthplaces: New York, NY
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
The Golin Family
Brooklyn, NY
May 30, 2022
Yurika is Japanese from Tokyo. Paul is Brooklyn Jewish via Poland and Ukraine.
Birthplaces: Tokyo, JAPAN + Staten Island, NY
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Kayla Miharu
Washington, DC
June 15, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese from Kobe. Paternal side is Jewish via Russia and Poland.
Birthplace: Chicago, IL
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Stephanie Rosenberg
Valhalla, NY
June 12, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese from Hokkaido. Paternal side is Jewish via Poland and Russia.
Birthplace: Bronxville, NY
Chika & Paul
Chicago, IL
June 23, 2022
Chika is Japanese from Kobe. Paul is Detroit Jewish via Russia & Poland.
Birthplaces: Kobe, JAPAN + Detroit, MI
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
OMEDETOV
A delightful, elderly Jewpanese couple jokingly made an observation on our walk to the Tokyo metro, “this project is frankly because Jewish and Japanese people got frisky”. While that is true, there are also many ways to be Jewpanese, and Carmel’s definition of the term has certainly expanded with the interviews conducted outside of North America. For the U.S. interviews though, in terms of parental/couples combinations: 20 have a Japanese mother and a Jewish father; 10 have a Jewish mother and a Japanese father; and 6 are Japanese and Jews-By-Choice. In the U.S., the top ways Jewpanese couples met are: 1) on campus; 2) through friends; and 3) on the dance floor. LA-based Jewpanese comedian Dylan Adler jokes that UC Berkeley is “where Jews and Asians procreate to make kids”, which now is backed up with statistical accuracy! Not everyone had Jewpanese weddings complete with Jewish-in-laws clad in kimono and Japanese-in-laws lifted up in hora chairs (intermarriage in the U.S. was not legalized until 1967, and intermarriage in some progressive Jewish synagogues is still new); some had civil marriages down at City Hall or on military bases, while others just had a fleeting romance. One reaction that came up pretty consistently before any interviewing started was this fear that one is not “Jewish enough” or “Japanese enough” to participate in this project, which was then typically followed by a laundry list of heavy admissions. It’s time to unpack that! What better way than with San Francisco-based Jewpanese educator Yumi Tomsha’s brilliant and life-affirming musing, “I am not ‘half-Japanese’ and ‘half Lithuanian Jewish’. When I’m singing a Japanese folk song, I don’t sing with half my voice but with my whole voice (…) I am complete and I embody layers of identities that belong together. I am made of layers, not fractions.” Being Jewpanese falls on a spectrum, like everything else in this world, and there is great beauty in that.
The Ohiso Family
Seattle, WA
June 28, 2022
Ellie is Brooklyn Jewish via Hungary, Poland, Romania & Germany. Akira is Brooklyn Jewpanese via Mitaka & Latvia.
Birthplaces: Freehold, NJ + Queens, NY
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Leola Lapides & Bob Katz
Aptos, CA
July 2, 2022
Leola is Japanese from Nagoya & Russian Jewish. Bob is Ashkenazi Jewish.
Birthplaces: Nagoya, JAPAN + New York, NY
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Kristin Eriko & Bryan Posner
San Mateo, CA
July 5, 2022
Kristin is Japanese via LA & Hawaii, and a Jew-By-Choice. Bryan is a secular Jew.
Birthplaces: Englewood, CA + San Jose, CA
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Mariko Kawaguchi
Redwood City, CA
July 6, 2022
Mariko is Japanese from Nagoya & California, and is a Jew-By-Choice.
Birthplace: Nagoya, JAPAN
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Jordan “Jordy” Hannah Pascual
San Jose, CA
July 8, 2022
Maternal side is Ashkenazi Jewish. Paternal side is Japanese, Filipino, Irish & Portuguese.
Birthplace: Woodland Hills, CA
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Ray Levy-Uyeda
Oakland, CA
July 9, 2022
Maternal side is Ashkenazi Jewish via Belarus. Paternal side is Icelandic Japanese American.
Birthplace: Mountain View, CA
Archive Note: Contains coarse language
SOY VEY
When it comes to the devastating impact of WWII, many of the U.S. interviewees had immediate family experience the Holocaust and Imperial Japan (i.e. Manchuria); some had immediate family experience Japanese American incarceration; and several had immediate family on both sides of the family serve in the U.S. military, a few of whom were in the “Go For Broke” battalion. The stories collected from these interviews document the trauma of war on mind, body and soul, and include accounts of Japanese and Jewish grandparents, who fought on opposite sides of war, becoming brothers, and Japanese war brides leaving home to marry Jewish American soldiers and begin life in a strange new world. In response to past historical traumas, many of the Japanese side of interviewee families do uphold a seemingly passive shikatta ganai (it cannot be helped) kind of attitude, whereas their Jewish counterparts believe that it is possible to take social justice action by repairing the world, tikkun olam. The mutual exclusivity of these attitudes was also put into question—silence can happen on both sides. Apply that to the U.S. of today, many Jewpanese stand in solidarity with BIPOC communities and are engaged in a spectrum of activist spaces. Many Jewpanese chose to self-censor their answers on how they are navigating the Israel and Palestine conflict (often in post-production), as some of their answers have changed since their interview in light of October 7th and are no longer reflective of where they are at now, and others no longer feel safe to share their opinion publicly. As Vancouver-based Jewpanese Niki Kihira so wisely stated, “being Jewpanese is both a blessing and a curse”.
Sarah Irene Weiner
San Francisco, CA
July 10, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese from Shizuoka & British Columbia. Paternal side is Jewish via Belarus, Lithuania & Poland with a stint in Tokyo.
Birthplace: New York, NY
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Ava Sayaka Rosen
Oakland, CA
July 12, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese from Tokyo. Paternal side is Jewish American via Russia & Poland.
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Archive Note: Contains one coarse word
The Raskin Yokoyama Family
El Cerrito, CA
July 12, 2022
Kayoko is Japanese via Tokyo & Chicago. Daniel is Brooklyn Jewish via Russia & Poland.
Birthplaces: Tokyo, JAPAN + New York, NY
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
The Chester-Iwata Family
Long Beach, CA
July 15, 2022
Maternal side is Jewish via France, Russia & Romanian. Paternal side is Japanese via Mexico.
Birthplaces: Tustin & LA, CA + Lincoln, NE
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Matt Cole & Scott Weisbly
Orange, CA
July 16, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese via Hawaii. Paternal side is Jewish via Russia, Germany & Britain.
Birthplaces: Tarzana, CA + Long Beach, CA
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Anonymous
Los Angeles, CA
July 19, 2022
Anonymous is Japanese & White via Los Angeles, and a Jew-By-Choice.
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
JEWSHI + MATSURUKKAH
If this entire project could be just about Jewish and Japanese foods, not a single Jewpanese person would have minded that—we are foodies! Matzo ball soup is a fan favourite among interviewees, and team “floaters” won by a landslide (sorry, “sinkers”). Other Jewish delights include latkes and brisket. The list for favourite Japanese food is longer than the space provided in this section; it’s safe to say, Jewpanese people ❤️ Japanese food! Not everyone subscribes to Jewpanese fusion cuisine (many prefer to keep dishes separate because tradition! Tradition! TRADITION!), though you might see wasabi on the seder plate or teriyaki salmon come holiday time. But for those who like to marry flavours, some of the offerings include: matzo ball ramen, jewshi, kabochallah, and konomi-latke. The tug and pull between merging or keeping Jewish and Japanese traditions separate is also reflected in how one decorates their home, partakes in celebrations and rituals. It was beautiful to see the offerings of butsudan or kamidana shrines and the tchotchkes that are meaningful to each Jewpanese person. There are a few givens though… no matter the ratio of everything bagel seasoning to furikake in the pantry or ukiyo-e to Judaica on the walls and shelves, most Jewpanese homes will have you take off your shoes at the front door, have a chanukkiah somewhere inside (either proudly on display or hidden in a drawer), and a kitchen complete with Japanese aesthetic, knives, bowls and hashi (IYKYK!). How couples navigated merging families and raising children in a Jewpanese household could be its own project. While some Jewpanese couples had to deal with overt pushback from one or both sides of their families, many Jewpanese couples were either warmly welcomed immediately or eventually gained acceptance over time, especially with the birth of grandchildren. There appears to be a generational shift in parenting styles, whereby older generations of Jewpanese were encouraged to assimilate into American culture (resulting in loss of language), while many younger generations today are enrolled in a myriad of afterschool nihongo, ivrit, karate, torah classes (to name a few), much to their chagrin!
Sara Keiko Sarasohn
Berkeley, CA
July 25, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese American. Paternal side is Polish/Russian/Ukrainian Jewish via Palestine and Alabama.
Birthplace: Sacramento, CA
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Rachel Hana Kulakofsky
Philadelphia, PA
September 6, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese (Jewish conversion). Paternal side is Lithuanian Jewish via Nebraska.
Birthplace: Los Gatos, CA
Sara Sakura Leith Goodie
Austin, TX
September 13, 2022
Maternal side is Okinawan. Paternal side is Jewish American via Russia & Poland.
Birthplace: Athens, GA
Sela Sachiko Podell Masaki
St. Louis, MO
September 15, 2022
Maternal side is Jewish via Russia, Poland, Germany & Portugal. Paternal side is Japanese via Hawaii. Birthplace: St. Louis, MO
Jerome “Jerry” Masato Lehrman
Irvine, CA
September 16, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese from Nara. Paternal side is Brooklyn Jewish via Belarus.
Birthplace: New York, NY
Dylan Akira Adler
Los Angeles, CA
October 29, 2022
Maternal side is Japanese American via Tokyo. Paternal side is Polish & Ukrainian Jewish.
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Archive Note: Contains coarse language
YALLAMASHOU
Having a bar/bat/bnei mitzvah or a seijin-shiki ceremony or traveling with family to visit ancestral homelands are all examples of privilege, requiring access to community spaces, language knowledge and familiarity with religious/cultural traditions. Many Jewpanese people in the U.S. grow up unaffiliated with either community and don’t know their ancestral languages, and often need to wait for more financial stability to embark on their own ancestral trips as adults. Some do not know which specific shtetl or machi their family hails from due to silence, gaps in family history, or even gatekeeping by family members, impacting mental health and relationships. This project is already inspiring more Jewpanese in the diasporas to obtain their koseki from Japan and to dig through Jewish genealogy archives. This yearning to know “Where do I come from?” is in part a result of being asked since childhood, “Where are you really from?”, a painful reminder to those whose access has been cut off. This “discover your roots” is a foreign concept and rarely shows up for interviewees in Israel and Japan, where at least one side of their family belongs to the dominant society. The North American Jewpanese experience is ultra-niche in that both sides of the family belong to minority groups, and are subject to model minority myths, as well as the objectification/fetishization of Asian women, especially “half-Asian girls”, and the emasculation of both Asian and Jewish men, who—Carmel observed—were the interviewee subjects most likely to string along the scheduling of interviews dates, participate in the project anonymously, or withdraw their participation afterward.
Miya Ellyn Kitahara
Richmond, CA
November 16, 2022
Maternal side is Jewish American via Austria & Russia. Paternal side is Japanese via Manchuria.
Birthplace: Kawasaki, JAPAN
Rachel Akie Hisada
Mountain View, CA
November 19, 2022
Maternal side is Russian, Polish, Austrian Jewish. Paternal side is Irish & Japanese via Bolivia. Birthplace: Redlands, CA
Abbie Miyabi Yamamoto
Portland, ME
January 5, 2023
Maternal side is New England Jewish via Russia & Austria. Paternal side is Japanese via Manchuria.
Birthplace: Tokyo, JAPAN
Photo credit: @ArtByJoniConner
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Celeste Claire Makoff
New York, NY
January 16, 2023
Maternal side is Tokyo Japanese & Irish. Paternal side is Jewish via Ukraine, Poland & Palestine.
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Photo credit: Sophia Schrank
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Charlie Michiko Iwato-Nichols
Sheboygan, WI
January 27, 2023
Maternal side is cryptic Jewish German & English. Paternal side is Japanese & French.
Birthplace: Marshfield, WI
Archive Note: Contains graphic description of war from 16:06-17:16
Monica Kelsi Katz LaBoskey
Oakland, CA
May 10, 2023
Maternal side is Jewpanese via Nagoya & Russia. Paternal side is Ashkenazi Jewish.
Birthplace: Santa Cruz, CA
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
TODARIGATO!
Thank you to all the Jewpanese (and mixed people) who came before us—paving the path in a world that historically has been hostile towards intermarriage, so that one day, a project like this one could share our stories collectively, loud and proud. Like me, many interviewees grew up thinking it was just them and their Jewpanese siblings out there. Little did they know that there is a whole world full of Jewpanese. A highlight for me was receiving this DM from Berkeley-based Jewpanese Sara Sarahson: “I am 52 years old, and for a very long time I thought that I would never meet another Japanese Jewish queer person in my lifetime. I have spent so much time thinking about what it means to be mixed race, what Jewish tradition and culture teaches about nonwhite Jews, and why my queerness is informed by my Judaism, but not my Japanese family. Which is all to say, I am totally behind your project!” That’s when I knew the only direction was forward. I was hoping to have more interviews processed by now, but this is what I’ve got so far! I can’t wait to finish all 80+ interviews. Gratitude for your patience and kindness. This project operates on a shoestring budget, and is truly a group effort. Thank you to all the Jewpanese people and families who welcomed me into their homes around the world and let me ask them deeply personal questions! Your hospitality and vulnerability will not be forgotten. Thank you to the Jewpanese Family Zoom callers for input on the interview questions. Thank you Tema Smith for the idea to do this oral history project and the ADL’s Collaborative for Change Fellowship funding opportunity! Thank you to John Endo Greenaway and Ellie Ohiso for their early design work on the Jewpanese Project logo. Thank you to Nina Elkin for the final logo design and branding of the Jewpanese Project. Thank you to Martin Green for advice on storage and safely backing up all the interviews because you never know. Thank you to Alex Richler and Tom Einhorn for your advice and help on academic coding interviews. Thank you to Michael Ross for the brilliant and time-saving tip to use Descript for processing the interviews. Thank you to Ben Cowin for uploading all the U.S. interviews into Descript, designing a mock video layout, and teaching me how use the programme. Thank you to the JOCI team for the second funding opportunity to take a closer look at the lived experiences of Jewpanese people and families in the U.S. Thank you to Daniel J. Wajsman for helping with Squarespace formatting. Thank you to Leola Lapides and Bob Katz for your generous encouragement to practice self-care. If I have missed anyone to thank or even a profile interviewee (hopefully not!), please reach out to let me know, and I will add you ASAP!
Emunah Yuka Edinburgh
San Francisco, CA
December 5, 2023
Maternal side is Ashkenazi Jewish.
Paternal side is Japanese from Hokkaido.
Birthplace: Nobi, JAPAN
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Jordan Miller Antonio
Honolulu, HI
April 3, 2024
Maternal side is Brooklyn Jewish via Poland. Paternal side is Filipino & Japanese via Hawaii.
Birthplace: Arizona
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Allison Nemenyi Shiozaki
Honolulu, HI
April 4, 2024
Maternal side is Bronx Jewish via Hungary & Russia. Paternal side is Japanese via Chicago.
Birthplace: Berkeley, CA
INTERVIEW COMING SOON!
Emi Watanabe Cohen
Boston, MA
March 10, 2025
Maternal side is Japanese via Hokkaido. Paternal side is Jewish American via Pale of Settlement.
Birthplace: Boston, MA
Jordan Miles Hamanaka Kaplowitz
Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
April 15, 2025
Maternal side is Japanese via Hawaii. Paternal side is Jewish American via Minsk, USSR.
Birthplace: Santa Monica, CA
MAZAL TOFU
You have made it to the end of the U.S. interviews of the Jewpanese Project Archives. Thank you for visiting!
Stay tuned for more interviews from across the U.S., Canada, Israel, Japan, Australia and Europe!
Follow the Jewpanese Project on Instagram @JewpaneseProject for updates :)
During May 2025, 3-inch Jewpanese Project pins are available for $18USD on Jewpanese artist Dr.LucasH’s Etsy page!
If you are in a position to make a financial contribution to the project, your donation will receive a tax receipt through our project’s fiscal sponsor, Mission.Earth, towards processing the remaining interviews!