12. 02. 2025
Video
"NISEI" by Sierra Schlag
Words: Lily Krass Ritter
“The sound of small giggles and awkward fidgeting echoed around the room of my grandmother’s nursing home. Silence had never felt so loud as my obaachan (Japanese for grandma) and I sat down for lunch with the other octa- and nonagenarians in Kobe, Japan. I had just taken a series of bullet trains from Nagano after spending the last 10 days skiing powder, soaking in onsens and showing my film crew how special Japan is. The enormous weight of being unable to communicate with my own grandmother felt heavy on my shoulders,” writes Sierra Schlag in her story, “Finding Clarity in Hakuba” in TSKJ 18.4.
‘Nisei’ is a person born in North America whose parent(s) were immigrants from Japan. That’s the topic Schlag dives into in her short film, exploring her biracial identity and the two cultures she feels deeply connected to, while at the same time distant from.
As it turns out, skiing is the perfect avenue to link her two worlds, which Schlag and her crew, cinematographer Iz La Motte and photographer Bianca Germain, highlight in the 7-minute film “NISEI.”
Read the full story in 18.4, live now.
Sierra Schlag in Tokyo while filming for NISEI in 2024. Photo: Bianca Germain