About Hāfu2Hāfu

GIF
What is Hāfu?
Hāfu/haafu is the commonly used Japanese word to refer to somebody who is biracial. The label emerged in the 1970s and comes from the English word ‘half’, referring to the half foreign and half Japanese-ness. Hāfu is the widely accepted self-definition for half Japanese people and is frequently used in introductions.
ハーフとは?
ハーフとは、日本語で人種が異なる両親を持つ人を指してよく使われる言葉です。「半分」を表す英語の”half”から来ており、半分日本人、半分外国人の意味で1970年代から使われ始めました。ハーフの人達の間でも広く受け入れられており、自己紹介をする際などにもよく使われます。
About the Project
What does it mean to be hāfu, how do hāfu relate to Japan or the other country and how does being hāfu define their identity? Hāfu2Hāfu is a personal investigatory project by Tetsuro Miyazaki, a 38 year old half Japanse / half Belgian photographer living in the Netherlands. He wanted to know what defined the identity of hāfu, what they have in common and what separates them from each other? His ultimate question was another question: what would they want to ask each other. Hāfu2Hāfu is a series of photographic portraits and interviews of half Japanese. At the end of each interview and before the photo is taken, every hāfu has the opportunity to ask one question to the viewer (other hāfu, their families, friends). The portrayed hāfu is asked to think of this question whilst being photographed. Black and white portraits in combination with questions give a unique look into the hearts of half Japanese people and raise questions about advantages, privileges, opportunities, difficulties, belonging and wanting to belong to two different societies.
このプロジェクトについて
Hāfu2Hāfuは、世界中のハーフ(両親のどちらかが日本人)の人々の写真を撮り、彼らのアイデンティティや帰属感、あるいは二つの文化で育った事に関する、彼らにとって最も意義深い質問を共有するユニークなプロジェクトです。 Hāfu2Hāfu は、日本国内外のハーフの人々に声をかけ、絆を深め、アイデンティティの問題をより理解するために、彼らの仲間、家族、友人、同級生、そして同僚との間のオンライン会話を手助けすることを目的としています。 ハーフの人々の完全なイメージを伝えるために、Hāfu2Hāfuでは、年齢、性別、居住地が異なる日本人と他の192の国(世界には193の独立国があります)とのハーフのポートレートの撮影と、彼らからの質問をドキュメントしています。
Goals and ambitions
Hāfu from 192 countries – After having photographed mainly hāfu in the Netherlands, Hāfu2Hāfu will expand to the rest of the world. In order to present a complete image of being hāfu, I will try to document portraits and questions of hāfu of different ages, genders, places of residence and of all 192 combinations of nationalities with Japanese (there are 193 sovereign countries).

Go to Hāfu2Hāfu’s announcement to photograph 192 Hāfu from all over the world.

Go to List of countries covered so far.

Publish or expose – I hope this project results in more mutual understanding amongst hāfu, their parents and their (non) Japanese friends or colleagues. I would like to exhibit Hāfu2Hāfu, give presentations and debate about the outcomes of the interviews. Publishing these photos and questions would equally help me to get these stories told.

Expanding the project – I’d like to meet hāfu from other countries. Also, we could reverse the idea and photograph hāfu from various countries in one particular Japanese city, region or prefecture.

大いなる目標

192か国のハーフ オランダに住むハーフのポートレート撮影から始まったHāfu2Hāfuプロジェクトは、世界へ広がろうとしています。ハーフであることの全体像を示すため、様々な年齢、性別、居住国の、日本と192か国(日本を除く世界の主権国すべて)の組み合わせのハーフについて写真を撮り、質問を記録しようとしています。

詳細は以下のページをご参照下さい。

Hāfu2Hāfu’s announcement to photograph 192 Hāfu from all over the world.

出版、展示 このプロジェクトがハーフ同士や、その両親、日本人及び外国人の友人、同僚などの間の相互理解が深まるきっかけとなる事を願っています。その為Hāfu2Hāfuを展示、紹介し、インタビューの結果を議論したいと思います。またハーフの写真と質問を出版することにより、多くの人に伝える手段になるはずです。

更なる広がり 世界中のハーフに会いに行きたいと思います。またその逆に、日本の町、地域、または県のひとつに的を絞って、在住する様々な国とのハーフの写真を撮る事も考えられます。

How can you help?
  • Participants: Are you half Japanese, and would you like to participate in the project? Please send me a message via the form below or look for a participation form. Since I live in the Netherlands, that part of Europe as well as Tokyo would be the most logical places for me to work. But also if you live in a far away country, just send me a message, because who knows what happens in the future. Go to List of countries covered so far.
  • Translator: We want this project to reach as many people as possible. Both inside and outside of Japan. Unfortunately my written Japanese is not good enough to translate questions by hāfu and information about this project. If you are a native Japanese speaker and you want to contribute by translating part of this project, please contact me via the contact form below.
  • Partners: For the completion of this project, I am looking all kinds of partnerships with individuals, governmental and non governmental institutions, communities or companies that would benefit from having these stories shared and documented for the future.

Possible forms of partnerships include financial support, (photography) hardware, travel allowance, exposure and access to your network within the Japanese intercultural institutions.

このプロジェクトにご参画いただける方へ
  • 参加者として ご自身が日本人とのハーフで、プロジェクトに参加ご希望の方は、以下フォームで私宛てご連絡いただくか、申込用紙をお求め下さい。私がオランダ在住のため、オランダ近辺のヨーロッパ、もしくは東京にて作業をする事になります。もし遠くの国にお住まいの場合でも、まずは私にメッセージをお送りください。将来どの様な巡り合わせがあるかわかりませんからね。
  • 翻訳者として 日本国内外問わず、このプロジェクトが出来るだけ多くの人に届くことを望んでいます。残念ながら私の日本語では、ハーフからの質問やこのプロジェクトの内容を十分に日本語に翻訳することができません。日本語を母国語とする方で、和訳の手伝いをしてプロジェクトに協力してくれる方がいらっしゃれば、下記のフォームでご連絡ください。
  • パートナー このプロジェクトを遂行するため、個人,政府系もしくは民間の団体、コミュニティ、会社等を問わず、パートナーシップを広く募集しています。ハーフについて広め、また未来に向けて記録に残すことに興味をお持ちの方はぜひご参加ください。パートナーシップは資金援助のみならず、写真撮影等の機材提供、交通費補助、日本の異文化交流機関での発表の機会やネットワークへの参加等、様々な形でお願いしたいと思っております。
Partners

Duncan Williams – The Hapa Japan Project founder and Hapa Japan Festival organizer

The Hapa Japan Database Project at the University of Southern California’s Ito Center supports Hāfu2Hāfu’s new initiative to photograph mixed roots people of Japanese heritage from every nation in the world and create a dialogue between them. This ambitious project directed by Tetsuro Miyazaki will not only engage our social network in the process of its development, but we are looking forward to learning more about how questions of identity, belonging, and connecting are engaged by people from around the world. Going beyond the boundaries and walls of single nation states, the capturing global hafu representations is critical initiative in the increasingly multiethnic world of the 21st century.

Go to the announcement of Hapa Japan and Hāfu2Hāfu’s cooperation.


Fujifilm Original Photopaper has provided Hāfu2Hāfu with high quality prints on various occasions and has been very supportive of the project since the beginning. They will continue to support Hafu2Hafu with prints and share their knowledge about photo printing.

Mr.Richard van den Bergh, Sales & Marketing manager at Fujifilm, about the cooperation: “As an international photography company with Japanese roots, we are happy to support Miyazaki’s original and important work.”

Please read about our cooperation during the Camera Japan Festival here.

About Me | 私について
Tetsuro Self Portrait

In a nutshel:

FatherJapanese
MotherBelgian
Born inBelgium
Lived inBelgium, the Netherlands, Japan
Age39
SpeaksDutch, English, Japanese, French
Speaks Japanese⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪
Reading and Writing⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪

Contact

お問い合わせ

To get in touch, please use the contact form below.
Alternatively, you can send an email to tetsuromiyazaki@gmail.com