The Hapa Club was founded by yours truly after Tak Norris and I organized a few dinners with friends and friends of friends who were all hapas, i.e., people whose ethnic mix consists of Asian/Pacific Island and another. Initially the meetings were just dinners at places in Aoyama, Shibuya and Roppongi and the people who came were either Americans, Brasilians (famous model, Vivi, the Nambei pioneer!), a Dutch cutie (Emma, are you still in Amsterdam?), or people who had two nationalities which was hid from Japan's authorities - heh heh! It was cool because it was laid back, we all had some commonalities, i.e. our mixed ethnic background, yet there were some differences and something entirely different esp. the Brasilian flava, along with the unbalanced (JK yo!) hapas we knew who grew up in Tokyo!

I think Tak and I had mutual interests, initially, selfish and self-centered though they were, in organizing those things, and that was to meet some attractive hapa ladies, like Sonia "Prim" Couling (left)! But my idea to start an organization instead of just get-together w/ people we knew or had met, to broaden the parameters so to speak, for people like us grew because I knew there was people out there whom we didn't know or would not have had a chance to meet if we didn't progress beyond those initial small dinner parties. Officially the Hapa Club started in 1993 but really it started, unorganized, a few years before that, so I have to give Tak a lot of credit, although he mysteriously disappeared once it became the Hapa Club! = ) , for the club's existence.

Since the organization was started in Tokyo, the majority of people who were active were Japanese-hapa people, i.e., those who had a parent of Japanese ethnicity with the other parent of western ethnicity but we were blessed to have some Blackanese (Tak is Cablinasian), people who were half Japanese and Chinese, and Chinese hapas. There were members from almost all the continents, thanks to the large OZ contigency. The proudest thing for me was the Hc being able to raise funds for the AmerAsian School in Okinawa and the Amerasian Christian Academy in Korea. If you have the means, please consider supporting these worthwhile schools with a donation as they are self-supporting!

AmerAsian School in Okinawa
1-15-22 Shimashi
Ginowan City
Okinawa
Japan 901-2213
Tel:098.896.1966 / Int'l dialing: +81.98.896.1966
Fax:098.896.1967 / Int'l dialing: +81.98.896.1967
E-mail:aaschool@guitar.ocn.ne.jp oraaschool@nirai.ne.jp

So, what in the Sam Hill is a hapa? Hapa not a leaf (happa) was the old saying goes first propagandized by first president Brian Maeda, LOL! Happa means leaf in Japanese (and is also slang for marijuana so you can see the dilemma, Mary Jane Club, naw!!!) so don't misspell it! Originally hapa was a Hawaiian word to describe a person who was half white and half Hawaiian, a hapa haole, which were the first hapa people. I'm hapa kepani, meaning a person of mixed Japanese ethnicity (kepani=Jpnse). Some people think people like us who use that as a term to describe ourselves are guilty of cultural rip-off as authentic hapa people are supposed to be only those who are of partial Hawaiian ethnicity There is an ongoing debate about usage of the term, some other terms used include Amerasian, Eurasian, Afroasian, Blasian, Blackanese, double, etc. Click here for more.

Dena Cali (right) is a hip hop singer of black, Chinese and Scandanavian (Swedish) ethnicities and 100% bee-u-tee-full, don't you think? To some Dena Cali is not hapa, she's Blasian (Black and Asian) or blackanese (black and Chinese + alpha), but I (and others) use a more liberal definition than some and put anyone, regardless of their skin tone into the Hapa category. By that I mean anyone who is of partial API (Asia Pacific Island) ethnicity. It's up to each individual whether they like the term Hapa. Personally I don't mind Amerasian.

Here's some related hapa links, (holla at me if you want to be included) which I will add to in due course:

Special websites
hapa izakaya - My homeskillet Justin Ault's izakaya (Japanese code for a restaurant/bar-type place which serves up delicious Japónaise food and drinks at reasonable prices) in Vancouver, Canada in beautiful BC.

Community sites
Emma's Eurasian Community - "Cutie Honey" Emma Chandra Patten's community website provides a wealth of links, fotos and more about and for the Eurasian community.
Eurasian Nation - Community site for Hapas, Amerasian, Eurasians and the like
Halvsie.com - A nice community site of half-Japanese peeps from all over the globe.
Hapas.com - Ditto, great community site produced by Alvin Soltis.
Hapa Issues Forum
Hapa Solutions - Jim's flash site about and for hapas

Hapa Peeps - Strictly 4 My H.A.P.A.Z. (in alphabetical order [surname])
Andrew Butts - Student at Cornell
Jessica Cano - Sweet Outrage's Kool Site straight outta Oak Town
Jon Cockle - Yongfook's website mostly consisting of his travels and travails in Kumamoto, Japan
Andy Conlan - Site of the Kiwi hapa who juggles quite a few skillz
Homer Dulu - nikville's -Xanga site of one of my hapas.com "homerskillets," from down under AKA OZ.
Chris Erway - Established the Hapa Club at Cornell
Kip Fulbeck - Film producer and photographer
George Ison - An actor with a unique mix of Black, Native American, Mexican and Filipino
John Langan - Half Irish/Half Chinese dude from Stockton, CA
Guy Marshall - Kool Euro-Azn-Guy from Canuckville
Kevin Miller - Cool site about Kevin's Central Asian travels
Kalani Mondoy - Amazing site about Mondoy's Hawaiian hapa lineage, da brotha done did some serious homework!
PC Munoz - Musician/rapper based in San Fran
Alyssa Murphy - AKA Hapachan from Hawai'i
Lana Robbins - Lana-flavored ice cream from Hawai'i
Kimiko Schneider - Hapa Kimiko's personal site and her Xanga site.
Laura Shigihara - Aspiring singer
Emily Shin - Hapa Club president at UCLA
Peter Stuehmke - korean/german hapa straight outta NYC
Cheryl Tan - Official website of the Singapore-based Eurasian
Tim Tully - Xanga site of Slower Jamz AKA Hoss
Cole Walliser - Site of DJ Colione ASA Corleone! (DJ | Choreographer | Songwriter | Actor)
Alexander Wesler- New York Karate man w/ a chain belt in Kung Fu!
Justin Whang - Korean/German guitarist of the NY-based metal band, Severed
IL Williamson - Straight outta Big D by way of Guam

Unknown surnames:
Jim - Toronto homeskillet's website before Hapa Solutions
Ian - AKA Hapa Howly; lot of stuff about the running competitions w/ which he's involved
Hapacrap - Failing to meet all of your Hapa needs since October 2000
Nadine - Japanese & Scottish hapa from Cali
Sarah Ann - Hapa doll straight outta Singapore

I would appreciate it if you could provide me with a reciprocal link which will help you get a better search result on Google and the other major search engines.