Our two panel members were Lihi Kimura, a half-Israeli half Japanese teacher residing in Tel Aviv, and Noa Kume, a lifestyle blogger and photographer based in Osaka, who is also half-Israeli half Japanese.

After a brief introduction by Lihi and Noa, we explained that although people with one Japanese and one non-Japanese parent are referred to as “Hafu”, or “Half” for obvious reasons, we at IJ-WIN choose to ignore that label, since it implies an absence of something, while in fact, they are so much more than half - They are double!

 

Noa and Lihi answered various questions regarding their personal experiences as “double”, such as which language they learned to speak first, whether they felt different during childhood, where they chose to spend their adult life, and why, etc.

 

Our webinar turned out to be interesting enough to last almost 2 hours, in the end of which Lihi and Noa beautifully advised their younger selves, in a truly moving speech made by each one.