Who Speaks as a <i>Hāfu</i> on Social Media?: An Exploratory Content Analysis of <i>Hāfu-Aruaru</i> Videos on TikTok

<p>    Research on the relations between multiracial Japanese (commonly known as hāfu) and their media representation has been growing with the increasing ethnic and racial diversity in Japan. While past studies have focused on the racial inequalities in mass media image and identity politics in the name of hāfu on social media platforms, it remains unclear how multiracial people themselves participate in social media expression and how these opportunities are distributed. This study addresses this gap by investigating the characteristics of multiracial individuals expressing their experiences and identities as hāfu on TikTok, a social media platform for creating and sharing short-form mobile videos. By utilizing exploratory content analysis on TikTok videos with the hashtag Hāfu-Aruaru, this study examined the creators’ gender, race, and nationality and compared these values to those of the Japanese population. The findings revealed that the creators were more likely to be women than men. In terms of race, European, African, and Hispanic individuals were over-represented, while Asians were significantly under-represented. Regarding nationality, Asian individuals-, particularly East Asians-, were less likely to participate than other groups. These findings suggest that the gender, racial, and national inequalities that have been observed in mass media representations of hāfu may be reproduced in social media; in addition social media may provide multiracial people with alternative opportunities to express their racial identities and experience.</p>