Welcome to 'The Republic of Wasia'

April 1, 2026·28 min·2 clips

Professor Leilani Nishimi reveals how laws and wars created hidden generations of mixed-race Asians.

Alyssa Liu is the spark. Brittany opens with figure skating fandom, the joy around Liu's performance, and Mika Ellison's full stan-level enthusiasm. Then the label starts doing heavier work. The conversation shifts from public figure obsession into the messier question of how mixed Asian people name themselves. Hapa has baggage. One speaker remembers Hapa Issues Forum as empowering, then sits with the fact that the indigenous Hawaiian term was probably appropriated. The episode does not try to sand that down. That is part of what makes it work. A label can open a door, and it can also bring a history people did not fully understand when they used it. Waysian lands differently now. Rebecca says people love the hashtag because it helps them find others who look or feel familiar. Mika adds a useful wrinkle: she has been around Waysians her whole life, so the mix itself is not the surprise. The stories are. What feels new is the visibility around lives that used to be harder to describe. Brittany keeps the talk loose enough to breathe, with excitement, awkwardness, and a royal-family-tree joke near the end. The stakes stay personal. A word can be a mirror, a shortcut, a community signal, and a problem all at once. The episode leaves Waysian less settled than alive, like a conversation people are still naming together.

As heard by us

A warm, clear look at Waysian identity, Alysa Liu discourse, and what labels can and cannot do.

It's Been a Minute uses the Waysian conversation as a smart entry point into mixed Asian identity, starting with Alysa Liu's Olympic spotlight and the online discourse that followed.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

For when Alyssa Liu's viral glow turns into a sharper talk about mixed identity.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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