Jewpanese Project

Follow the journey on Instagram @JewpaneseProject

Between May 2020 to November 2024, a community of Jewpanese people and Jewpanese families all over the world met virtually on the second Sunday of the month in celebration of Jewish and Asian Heritage Months. This community wanted to record their lived experiences and stories at the intersection of being Jewish and Japanese, which resulted in an oral history project conducted by Carmel Tanaka called the Jewpanese Project (formerly, the JEWPANESE Oral History Project).

With a foot in both the Japanese and Jewish worlds, communities traditionally closed to diversity and with a long history of emigration and expulsion, this project touches on the sensitive subject of whether Jewpanese people can really belong anywhere, touching on cultural identity, belonging, acceptance, and a future where Jewpanese no longer feel alone. These stories have not been told previously, outside of the Jewpanese community, and will add to the understanding of issues faced by the Jewpanese community inside the Jewish and Japanese communities and in the world at large.

According to UrbanDictionary, Jewpanese is defined as "an individual of mixed Japanese and Jewish ancestry. There are probably like seven of them". Not only are there more than seven of us, being Jewpanese is diverse. Whether you have one parent of each, or were adopted into, or are Jewpanese by choice, you are invited to participate in the oral history project.

Are you Jewpanese or have a Jewpanese family? SIGN UP to be interviewed. (Update: At this time, Carmel is only accepting written interviews for the Jewpanese Project. Thank you for your understanding!). Contact Carmel if you would like your email address to be added to a public Jewpanese listserv and to be added to our Jewpanese Whatsapp group!

The collection phase of this project was funded by Carmel Tanaka’s fellowship with the Anti-Defamation League Collaborative for Change Fellow (2022-2023), during which she collected 70+ in-person or virtual interviews across Canada, the U.S., Israel, Australia, and Japan.

As of June 2023, the Jewpanese Project became recipient of a Jews of Color Initiative research grant to aggregate data from the U.S. based interviews, and as of October 2023, also became a project under the U.S. fiscal sponsorship of Mission.Earth to help with grants and donations for future phases of the project. DONATE HERE: https://fundrazr.com/JewpaneseProject

Instagram | linktr.ee