悪意のないことはわかりますが、黒人の方を真似ようとして、顔を黒く塗ることは、当の米国ではご本人にも、黒人の方にも極めて失礼なことと受け取られ、アメリカでこのようなことが起きたら全国から激しい非難が起きて政治的大問題になりかねないようなことなのです。 大統領に対する敬愛の気持はわかりますが、どうか、このようことは差し控えるようにお願いします。また、類似のことが起きないように小浜町ぐるみで周知徹底されることを望みます。このことがアメリカで報道されれば、不要な誤解をうけ国際問題にも発展しかねません。
日米友好のためにもよろしくお願いします。
Blackface is used in Japan for comedy all the time. In comedy shows and advertisements along with in performance groups. In Shibuya last year, I actually saw a bunch of Japanese girls who painted themselves black and wore braided wigs to go out clubbing. Reading other people’s websites about it, I read a variety of responses to the phenomenon. Some people think it’s just cultural illiteracy or ignorance. A few others take it as an expression of Japan’s admiration of black people and culture, albeit an insensitive one. (an innocent mistake) Other people are deeply offended.
Here and Here are two opinion blogs about the popularity of blackface in Japan. There are many, many more if you search for "Gosperats" or just "blackface Japan".
And another thing...
On Japanese trains, there are all sorts of ads for tabloid magazines and Maxim-type magazines hanging from the ceiling. Yesterday I saw one that I thought was totally offensive. It was a picture of Barack Obama’s face and the words, “Yes, we can!” as an ad for a hip-hop themed softcore porn magazine. There were pictures of all these lingerie-clad Japanese girls wearing big gold chains and cornrows. If I see it again, I’ll take a picture for you. Using Obama’s face and campaign slogan for that cheese was disrespectful and in terrible taste.
11 comments:
"Bignorance" sucks!!! Unfortunately it's not unusual even in the ethnically diverse San Francisco Bay Area where I live. But for it to be allowed in advertising on public transpo is really irresponsible. Perhaps because Japan is a rather homogenous society such things are tolerated, but they should certainly know better. Well, if it's any consolation...there's a major downtown street in SF called Bush and on inauguration day some people covered a number of Bush street signs with a well-done replica saying "Obama".
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=63&entry_id=34984
It's not "shoe-polish black" it's "Wesley Snipes black."
As for those racist Japanese, what can you do? Those bastard Americans already nuked them twice and Japan's still ass backwards, fuck, they think every whitie on the island is an American for Allah's sake!
Radiation poisoning, it goes right for the medulla oblongata, as does all that mercury contaminated fish.
if you paint obama's face, how do you paint?
That's funny, Tim!! Thanks for the SF information. Awesome.
It's an island witha really unique culture. They can't be expected to know everything about the cultural nuances of every other country. They can be expected to know instinctively whether or not they're going to horribly offend people, though. Even if you don't know what blackface is and you don't know much about history, how could the man in the picture not guess that his hideous paint job could possibly offend others?
@ the anon comment
Are you 11 years old?
One night in Japan my roommate Emily and I were riding our bikes back from the gym and we passed a few Japanese guys riding their bikes as well. One of them pointed at us and yelled "gaijin" and then the whole group started laughing hysterically. We ignored them.
My Japanese friend Tacchan came over later that night and I explained what had happened and said that I was really insulted. Tacchan told me that I should forgive the guys because they were ignorant and didn't know that they were offending me. I'm sorry but how can you not know that you're offending someone when you scream "gaijin" at her and then laugh?? There's a line between ignorance and idiotic insensitivity. Those guys must have known they they were being jerks, but maybe due to not coming in contact with many foreigners they didn't realize to the full extent how offensive they were being.
I guess my point is that in terms of blackface I think that the Japanese individuals who are doing it know to an extent that it's wrong(how could you not?) but due to never having experienced or come in contact with racism (I would guess) they don't know how wrong and offensive it is.
@Sarah
Don't take offense at that. Most of us grew up in a multicultural environment, but they haven't. Think of some really woodsy, rural area of Poland or Slovenia. I imagine that if a Japanese person were suddenly riding their bike around town, people might make dumb comments at them, too. Some people don't know any better. Most Japanese people don't make dumb comments like that, though. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.
xox
Man, in college (in the US) I knew this guy from Taiwan. A couple Octobers ago he cheerfully told me he planned to dress up as "A BLACK DUDE" for Halloween. He had already bought the afro wig and was going to paint his face dark brown and wear baggy clothes and huge gold chains and walk around going YO WADDUP!
Of course I told him it was the dumbest idea ever and made him promise he wouldn't ever, ever, ever do that. A long, difficult conversation followed where I tried to explain racism and stereotypes and blackface, and it ended with him pouting and promising to dress up as a nerd instead. Then he was like, "Hey, America's so stupid, dude. How come it's offensive if I dress up as a black person but it's okay if I dress up as a NERD?"
I'm sure there's something to be learned here but all I really remember is that in general he was a complete idiot.
Anyway the worst thing about these blackface incidents in Japan is there are always so many apologists insisting that IT'S JAPAN and IT'S A DIFFERENT CULTURE so IT'S NOT RACIST. Like we shouldn't even try to communicate because the Japanese, in all their wondrous purity and innocence, are incapable of understanding how a sloppy caricature might offend someone? Ugh.
In a recent Eddie Murphy movie, Murphy wore "yellowface" and played his character's supposedly Japanese step-father, speaking in a "funny" accent where he pronounced words like "brack people".
Few people seemed to think anything was wrong with this.
So don't think the USA is so enlightened.
It seems that some kinds of racism are forbidden, while other kinds are widely accepted.
I know in America, painting your face in black is a taboo. But to think it's a universal standard is simply wrong. In Europe there are countries where it'd done. I know in France there's a theater or movie in which it's done of late. France doesn't have, I think, such a bad record for treatment of black people compared to the US, though.
At the time of the Olympics, Spaniards were criticized by some because they posed for photo shots by doing chinky eyes. That also shows a taboo in North America is not always so in other cultures.
Quite often, Anglosaxon peole in Japan think the Japanese way is backwards, wrongly thinking theirs's universal. If you don't like something someone does you, then you should tell him so. He should know your feelings.
Therefore, it should be said to Japanese that an act offends Americans or Blacks but making the argument by saying it's not done anywhere else is just simplistic and above all is contrary to fact.
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