When it comes to the 2018 U.S. Open, it seems like the only thing people want to talk about is the altercation between
Serena Williams and the umpire. "It's going to go down as one of the most controversial matches in tennis history." "I
was proud of Serena for making that stand." "Serena Williams was wrong. Somebody has to say it." And that's extremely
unfortunate because the tournament's winner, 20-year-old Naomi Osaka, surely deserves the spotlight too. "Well, it felt
like a dream. And I don't know, emotionally I was all over the place. I can't really pinpoint the exact emotion." She is the
first Japanese tennis player to ever win a Grand Slam and is of course becoming a big deal in her home country. But there's
one particular group of fans to whom she means the world: biracial Japanese or "hafu." The term comes from the English word
"half." "We love what she represents. And she's definitely breaking down barriers in terms of what it means to be Japanese,
and nationality, identity, and mold and ethnicity." Osaka was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father but
moved to Florida when she was 3. While she has Japanese and American citizenships, her father decided she would play
for Japan. And representing an island known for its racial homogeneity presents a great opportunity for her to challenge
what it means to be Japanese. "I could see many cultural traits in her speeches and mannerisms that remind me of
myself, because I also grew up with a Japanese mother." Like Osaka, Lara Perez Takagi was born in Japan but grew up
abroad. Her mother is Japanese, and her father is Spanish. As a young adult, Perez Takagi moved to Tokyo to study film where she
met and spent time with other "hafus." "I found such a massive community of people who I could relate to that it made
me very curious." Her curiosity led her to produce, with another "hafu" friend, a documentary portraying the lives
of biracial Japanese people from diverse backgrounds. "In Japan, there's a very superficial image of "hafus". It's mostly based
off of models and TV talents, and they're all mostly white and Japanese mixes. People will always ask you, 'So, where are
you from?' and 'Why do you speak Japanese so well?'
We had so many 'hafus' reaching out to us, telling us this was the film I
wish I had watched growing up, and the support was amazing." While Perez Takagi believes that Osaka is helping break
representation barriers, Japan Times columnist Baye McNeil says rooting for an athlete doesn't necessarily mean truly accepting
her as Japanese. "The definition of Japanese is very rigid, it's very strict. And she doesn't fit the typical picture
of a Japanese person that most people retain. So if she was walking down the street and she spoke Japanese, people will be
like, 'Wow, you speak Japanese?' And I don't think that a tennis player or a beauty pageant winner, is going to change that.
It's not going to change overnight, it's a slow process." "Ariana Miyamoto is the first mixed-race woman ever to win the
title of Miss Japan McNeil is originally from Brooklyn, but he has been living in Japan for 14 years and feels very much at
home there. "I really love this country, it's really a great country to live in. It's very clean, very safe and people are
very warm and welcoming for the most part." But he says it's about time the country and media pays attention to the growing
number of foreigners and mixed-race people living in Japan – and not just the famous ones. "I think Japan —
whether they embrace it or not — is headed towards a more diverse future, and if they take these opportunities to not just praise
Naomi but to tackle the difficult questions that need to be discussed and need to be addressed … This is a great
opportunity and it's a teachable moment and I hope that I'm Japan takes a takes a chance to sit down and learn it."