The Meaning of “Nisei” | With Sierra Schlag

My mother moved to America from Tokyo to attend college. She wound up staying and met my American dad while working in New York City. I’m lucky that I have been traveling to Japan since I was born. Literally — once I was ready to fly, my family hopped on a plane to Japan so my grandparents could meet me for the first time. From then on, we went to Japan every few years to visit family, explore the country, and connect and learn more about our Japanese culture. As I reached adulthood and started traveling without my family to Japan, I realized that it has slowly become a home away from my home in Aspen, Colorado.

Nisei, by definition, is a person born in North America whose parent(s) immigrated from Japan. I first wrote the narration for the film, NISEI, in 2019 while I was visiting my grandma in Kobe, Japan. I came to the realization that when I am in Japan I’m seen as white, but when I’m in America I am seen as generically Asian. In this film I wanted to work through the confusion I felt with not fitting into both cultures I am tied to. Luckily, Japan and America have some of the best skiing I have ever experienced - so it felt right using skiing as a way to bring this story to life. I brought the idea to cinematographer, Iz La Motte and photographer, Bianca Germain, both who I met through Advice for Girls, and we started pitching the project to brands.

We wanted this film to compare and contrast my identities - to showcase what Japan and America, mainly Aspen, look like to me. We found moments like the Japanese lifties brushing snow from the chairlift, lit-up lanterns, neon signage, and of course the non-stop snow to give some place setting. While in Aspen, we turned to the more “wild west” attributes you see around town, from the Ashcroft ghost town and the Skier Chalet structures, to the classic pine trees that cover the surrounding mountains. Our film crew also found moments of overlap between the stark differences in each culture - like the resemblance of separating wooden chopsticks to chopping firewood to warm a 10th Mountain Division Hut. These moments, coupled with some artistic elements, elevated the film to provide a more complete and complex picture in conjunction with my narration around my identity.

Growing up it felt like the Japanese part of me had to stay separate from the American part of me in order to fit in with my peers. Through this film, I’ve realized how much overlap there actually is between both cultures, while still honoring those differences. NISEI is all about my journey to self-discovery and peeling back the layers of my racial identity. When I first came up with the idea for the film, I had no idea how to end it because I wasn’t sure what I really made of my own identity. Traveling to Japan with La Motte and Germain allowed me to dive deeper into the Japanese side of my identity than I ever had before. And through that exploration, I came to the realization that my identity is only mine to interpret. I was so worried about how others viewed me, that it became all-consuming that I wasn’t good enough for Japan or America.

Changing my perspective on how I perceive my own self, changed my relationship with my identity to love my whole self, not just halves or pieces of me.

My hope is for other multiracial humans and skiers to see themselves in NISEI, while also telling a story of a Japan that we don’t typically see when we sit down for all the amazing ski films in
the fall.

You’ll be able to see NISEI at the Evo All-Women’s Film Festival this November and online to screen for free in January.