i have a lot of thoughts and opinions on Shane Hollanderās being japanese and a lot of. not problems but letās say minor qualms. about how white (but really anyone who is not japanese canadian) fans are engaging with Shaneās race.
this is not a callout this is just like. a noticing of trends.
i have noticed lots of people, for lack of a better word, tokenizing his identity? idk if this is the right word but like.
you guys realize that Shane being japanese is not just fun flavouring to add to a character, right? ESPECIALLY in Canada!!!! Canada was extremely hostile to Japanese Canadians during the Second World War (and also before that but thatās another story lol) and the hostility, although lessened after ww2 ended, was still like. very much present.
i wish r.r. went further into this in canon but alas she did not.
anyways idk where i was going with this but i would appreciate anyone wanting to write hcs about Shane being Japanese would do a bit more research about Japanese canadian history before doing so lol
For real Iāve seen posts about how little Japanese culture seems to influence Shane and that why didnāt the show just make him Korean since Hudson Williams is Korean and I was like !!! Hmm!!! I do think! A lack of cultural connection for a Japanese character in Canada might be The Point??
Even if Yunaās parents probably almost definitely moved to Canada after WWII (because Japanese people!!! Were not allowed in!!! Until 1967!!! Because japanophobia!!!) like they would most likely feel the repercussions of the trauma of internment throughout the community. I donāt think we can talk about Yuna and Shaneās assimilation into white (hockey) culture without acknowledging the Context. I also think that itās definitely possible that it informs his relationship with the Media and being a Role Model and maybe also the closet.
I donāt really think Rachel Reid wrote with that intention necessarily, but like I do think itās part of the conversation.
yessssss you get me
the greater nikkei experience is also so relavent, i know itās not exactly the same but i do think thereās enough similarities and thank u for weighing in with ur experiences
in terms of when Yunaās parents immigrated, the only way i could really see them being here pre-ww2 is if they were children when they came to Canada otherwise you would be right that they would be adults navigating a post-internment environment in Canada.
Not that it would be any less hostile to them but they would have a different generational trauma situation going on lol
Either way i think the assimilation piece is very important!!
agree he would have a few Japanese words/phrases (even i do and I am so far removed from the generation of my family that spoke Japanese) and a few things (like cooking chopsticks) but i definitely dont think he would be even conversationally fluent in Japanese
then again, there are some sansei who are but especially him being mixed i just donāt think Yuna would feel like it was worth it to teach him (my grandma did not teach my mom or uncle any and theyāre both half japanese half white, iirc neither did any of her mixed cousins)
i have been scribbling a thing about Yuna reckoning with her own experiences of racism and japanese identity but idk if i will post it or nah
maybe if someone wants to see it or if i feel like itās good enough to post it will drop but until then thereās this!
!! Please share if you can!
I had a whole ass reply but tumblr Ate It so I'll try to remember what I said.
Honestly I forgot the Yuna's parents could have just... immigrated as children pre-WWII. Like fully forgot that was a feasible option. Maybe they emmigrated 1936-ish?? before the start of the conflict with China. In practice though this seems less likely bc of the quota system that was in place in the US & Canada in 1928. i've gotta think about this more.
I think most of the Japanese Shane knows he picks up from his grandparents and a few words from Yuna. So most words / slang he knows is kinda like formal or old fashioned or possibly baby talk. I imagine there's a home video with baby toddler Shane and he's like grasping his hand like babies do when they want something and maybe his like grandma is like "ochodai?" and makes Shane repeat it, and then she hands him the, idk car keys maybe, and then he's like "arigato!" and bows his head a little and nearly tips over and he does that again and Yuna has to stop the camera so her baby won't brain himself on the table. And Ilya obvs finds it adorable and maybe this is how they start talking about Shane's relationship w Japanese culture. tho we'd probably not get to how it influences his relationship w the closet lbr.
Re: Yunaās parents immigrating pre-ww2 would make maybe more sense timeline wise to me, my mom was born 1969 to a survivor of internment who was a child at the time, but her mom (my grandma) was born here and it was my great grandparents who immigrated.
The reason why I feel like the timeline would make more sense is because shane being born in 1991, Yuna and David struggling with fertility, Yuna likely having a degree before having shane, etc is just a lot to cram in if she was born in 1968 or later (assuming if her parents came to Canada 1967 right at the beginning of when they started allowing Japanese immigrants again, and that they did not travel while her mother was pregnant with Yuna). It definitely is possible and Yuna is a go-getter so maybe her parents were part of the first wave and she got shit done.
I am not sure how much Rachel Reid considered the timeline for this, or if she was thinking as in depth as me lol
Iām going to do some research and maybe put together a few timeline options. I will post those as well, maybe before my other thing so I can reference it.
