Splashy
I'm half third-generation Chinese and half fourth-generation Japanese. It's basically been a long time since any of my family were actually in Asia. Culturally I'm basically just American, and more Hawaiian local than Chinese and Japanese. I sort of speak the pidgin spoken among Hawaiian locals (note: locals, not native Hawaiian) though not as well as my parents, who grew up there and can fall into it while they're there or around people from the Hawaii. On the mainland not so much.
Again, we don't really celebrate any Chinese/Japanese events or such. My grandmother on my dad's (japanese) side used to send me little gifts for Girls' Day and for my sisters as well, but the meaning was never quite there for me. I'm more New Yorker than anything else. In the words of some people from high school I'm a twinkie/banana/etc. which basically means I'm Asian on the outside and white inside. I don't think they ever realized how hurtful that could be sometimes. It's a weird situation. I'm not actually white so there was always a degree of separation among white friends but I wasn't Asian in the same way many of my Asian friends were in high school and that alienated me from them as well. It's something I'm still wrangling with especially due to the stereotypes.
the stereotypes. oh so many, many stereotypes. I'd go on a rant about it but I might save that for another time. Let's just say I've always had this weird thing of being proud of my not-asianness and defying the stereotypes but also realizing that that's not something to feel superior about and just asjdklasdhkajsd. basically this whole situation has been a confusing thing for a long time for me!