David Yano

David Yano

David's story is chronicled in the 2013 movie "Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan". David is a Ghanian and Japanese hafu. David was born in a small village in Ghana, to a Ghanaian mother and a Japanese father. His father, an architect, was in Ghana to build the Noguchi Hideo Memorial when he met David’s mother. After spending 6 years in Ghana, they moved to Tokyo. However due to difficulty of adjusting to their new life in Japan, his parents filed for divorce when he was 10. The next 8 years were spent in an orphanage school in Japan with his two brothers. There he discovered his greatest passion: music and performance. He started modeling when he was a university student and now works as a multi-talented TV presenter. Due to his dark complexion, David is regarded by default as a gaijin (foreigner) when people meet him for the first time. However, having spent much of his life in Japan, he feels he acts and identifies as Japanese more than anything else. Despite this claim David, has returned to Ghana once a year since the age of 20. Seeing the dramatic difference between the two countries, David felt the call to use his talents to benefit the people of Ghana. He has set an ambitious goal of raising $30,000 over the course of 8 months in order to build kindergarten back in Ghana.

On February 21st, we filmed David as he visited his childhood playground- Koganei Koen. For David, this park and neighbor contains many of his childhood memories. The orphanage where he grew up in is not too far away. The middle school he attended is around the corner. On the way to the park he pointed at the restaurant his father would often take him to on the weekends. We the conducted our first interview with him in that park, asking many basic questions about his background, his identity and the work that he is doing with his npo ENJIE (welcome in Ghanian).

Source: hafufilm.wordpress.com/category/david-yano/page/3/