Another post on the “Gaijin Nose”

“Amusing or racially insensitive and offensive? I’d like to know what you think!”

The Japanese don’t think it’s offensive, but we do. It’s funny how we don’t usually think mimicking others is bad until we become the ones being mimicked.

How can you really be offended even if its some japanese guy really over the top with them? There ought to be more of this stuff.

I’ve said it before but the way to determine if something is offensive is to switch sides. If you could buy a “Japanese” disguise in an American shop which included horn-rimmed glasses, buck-teeth, and yellowish makeup and eye make-up with instructions on making your eyes look “slanted”, would that be racist?

If the answer is “yes”, then this is racist as well.

The main problem with costumes like this is that the implication is that all foreigners are big-nosed and hairy. It’s a negative stereotype just like the buck-toothed “Jap” stereotype that you can see in old war-time cartoons. It also objectifies foreigners and frames them as being all the same and fundamentally different from the Japanese.

I’m not offended by this because what is behind it is a pathetic insecurity. Unfortunately, it can lead to very unfortunate side effects in the long run if it continues to pervade the culture. Kids will grow up doing things like John and James are talking about…and then getting their asses kicked for it.

It’s not so much the goofy glasses as the fact that they’re called a “外人さんセット.” That’s the part that makes the “all foreigners are the same and are funny” part clear. I agree with Shari’s take on it – the intent may not be to offend, but it bolsters ignorance and a wildly inaccurate worldview.
I’d even go so far as to say that, views of race and racism being what they are in the West, a horn-rimmed, bucktoothed, slanty-eyed set of “Jap” glasses would be less offensive as the irony, although in poor taste, would be clear. The irony of the 外人さんセット is not even implied.

something doesn’t become right just because someone else also did something wrong, there is no “share” of wrongdoing spread to groups of people. and i don’t see how making fun of hair styles compares to making fun of racial features. (this comment sounds more ‘outraged’ then it’s meant to)

It made me chuckle at first, I’ll admit.
Especially the context the “disguise” tries to put it in.

This reminds me of a recent episode of Arashi no Shukudai kun where one of the band members sports a similar novelty.

He also sported a blonde wig.

I barely resemble my parents and they’re considered foreigners by those standards.