Somewhere between the staid features of futsu (normal) Japanese and the dizzying varieties of face, hair and body types seen in Westerners lie what many Nihonjin consider to be the perfect blending of the two, and I’ve always enjoyed analyzing the special status given to haafu (half） in the normally homogenous, in-group-or-out-group Japanese society.

There’s a sizeable segment of half-Japanese, half-Western singers, actors and other popular “talents,” from actress/model Becky to TV commercial idol Emily Nakayama to half-Japanese, half-German American heartthrob Eiji Wentz, who make use of their “otherness” to create a strong niche with fans. Anime characters are sometimes created with mixed ancestry to add new dimensions to them as well, with the best example being the fiery Asuka Soryu Langley from Evangelion. You find this tendency to blend Japan and the West in other places too. Takara’s Licca-chan is Japan’s #1 fashion doll, sold since 1967, and this doll that’s been idolized by so many Japanese girls over the years turns out to be half-Japanese and half-French.

The ideal of haafu, it seems, blends all the mystique found in the West with all that’s good and familiar in Japan, and thus serves as a bridge between the two. When my daughter was small, we got her ears pierced in the U.S., a custom that doesn’t exist in Japan, where girls must wait til they graduate from high school before they’re allowed to take such a “grown up” step.

Once I was shopping with my daughter here and we were suddenly encircled by high school girls who were admiring my daughter and her pierced ears, clearly envious of this special child who was born with the best of both worlds, which presumably included American facial features, the ability to speak English and no need to follow all the meaningless rules they faced every day.