Welcome to 'The Republic of Wasia'
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.7 • 9.2K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2026
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Actor Hudson Williams (Heated Rivalry) and Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu recently became household names very quickly. And people are talking about the rising stars beyond just their talents: they’re talking about Liu’s and Williams’ race. Both are half-Asian, half-white, also known as “Wasian” – and some have dubbed this past season “Wasian winter.” But why are Wasians a topic of conversation now, and what does this discussion say about how attitudes around some mixed race identities have changed?
Brittany is joined by Mika Ellison, intern for It’s Been a Minute and Life Kit, to get into the geopolitical and cultural forces around the “Wasian fixation.”
(00:00) Unpacking the 'Wasian Fixation'
(04:38) Geopolitical forces behind Wasians in culture
(09:53) From 'Hapa' to 'Wasian'
(13:38) What does a Wasian story look like?
(19:53) The evolution of mixed discourse
(23:04) Is 'Wasian' a good term?
For more on Heated Rivalry, check out: What's so hot about Heated Rivalry?
For more on identity and the internet, check out: Think you have ADHD? Here's why so many of us are saying yes.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I was interviewing current undergraduate students, and I asked them about how they identified themselves racially. |
| 0:07.5 | And one student, they said, I am a citizen of Asia, and I had never heard that. |
| 0:15.8 | And I was like, tell me more, tell me more. |
| 0:18.8 | I don't know about you, but when Alyssa Liu was doing her thing on that Olympic ice to MacArthur Park by Donna Summer, I couldn't escape the videos. |
| 0:30.0 | I didn't want to escape the videos. |
| 0:36.3 | And I still see her performance to stateside by Pink Panther's and Zara Larson go viral. |
| 0:45.9 | She is such a phenomenon. |
| 0:48.7 | Or as Chapel Rhone puts it, a feminine ominon. |
| 0:53.6 | You're absolutely right. Mika Ellison, welcome to it's been aina. You're absolutely right. |
| 0:55.3 | Mika Ellison, welcome to It's Been a Minute. |
| 0:57.5 | Hi, Brittany. |
| 0:58.7 | So Mika is actually in its Been a Minute and Life Kit intern. |
| 1:02.9 | Mika, are you in Lissa Liu stand too? |
| 1:05.2 | Oh my God. |
| 1:05.8 | Yes, absolutely. |
| 1:07.6 | I feel like she's really ushering in this new, more joyful era in figure skating. |
| 1:12.0 | And she's also just kind of the people's princess, you know? |
| 1:14.7 | 100%. But one thing about her sudden establishment is this household name that was really |
| 1:20.1 | interesting to me was that after she won the gold medal, I kept seeing all this discourse about her |
| 1:25.0 | that didn't really have anything to do with her skating. |
| 1:35.2 | I am so happy that Gen Z has such great wazian representation with Alyssa Liu being the prime example from the Olympics. Everybody knows this is a year of abundance for wazians. |
| 1:40.6 | We're already seeing it with Alyssa Lou and Eileen goo at the Olympics. |
... |
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