ハーフ (Hafu): On the Fetishization and Mistranslation of a Biracial Identity
Hafu carries insinuations of otherness; of not belonging, but being fetishized. How do I carry this name and this history at once?
This isMistranslate, a monthly column by
Nina Li Coomes is a Japanese and American writer, currently living in Boston, MA. Her writing has appeared in EATER, The Collapsar, and RHINO Poetry among other places. Her debut chapbook haircut poems was published by Dancing Girl Press in 2017.
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More by this author
On Mary’s Virginity and the How the Purity Myth Harms Women
While I understood why theft or murder was wrong, this aspect didn’t make sense to me. What did sex and my body have to do with God?
On Martha and the Harm in “Perfect” Womanhood
In the etiquette class, everything had a proper place and use—even me.
If You’re Waiting for a Sign
April says the people at church don’t talk to us because they’re motherfuckers.
More in this series
大事 (Daiji): On Living Between Two Cultures and Learning What Is Most Important
To me, ‘daiji’ embodies the struggle to prioritize two languages, homes, and selves.
切ない (Setsunai): When You Need a Word to Hold Both Sorrow and Joy
‘Setsunai’ implies something once bright, now faded. It is the painful twinge at the edge of a memory, the joy in the knowledge that everything is temporary.
愛してる (Aishiteru): How to Say “I Love You” When the Language Doesn’t Exist
When he asked me how to say “I love you” in Japanese, I translated linguistically, but mistranslated culturally.