Japanese TV Drama: Getting Mugged By Black Americans

Debito has posted this clip from the extremely popular Japanese TV drama Hana Yori Dango[skip the first 4 minutes to get to the interesting part]:

What’s wrong with this clip? Here’s Debito’s take:

But what gets me is not just the stereotypes of crime in NYC: It’s the fact that all the criminals are black (from the bag snatcher to the gang of four), using random profane jive talking, and assailing our heroine with a basketball (yes, a basketball, with added sound effect when it hits her).

It’s certainly a pretty ridiculous clip and is full of stereotypes. If you want to contact the network resposible for the show and complain, Debito has provided the contact information for TBS.

I’d like to say I was shocked or suprised by the clip, but I really wasn’t. Some of you out there are going to hate me for writing this, but I’ll write it anyway: almost all Japanese TV “doramas” are crap. Terrible acting, terrible production values, stupid plots, and oversimplified/stereotypical portrayals of just about everyone and everything. J-dramas just plain suck.

I’d also like to say that I think most American dramas suck too. However, American TV dramas that have the kind of popularity that Hana Yori Dango has in Japan probably wouldn’t include a clip as incredibly stupid as the one above. Seriously, since when are a badass gang of muggers going to run away from an effeminately-dressed boy band member who pulls a squirt gun [with an orange thing on its barrel identifying as a toy] on them?

74 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - July 25, 2007 at 2:31 pm

Categories: Discrimination, Japanese TV Tags:

kenji

Yeah I agree that part of the drama was ridiculous. That kind of stereotyping happens in a lot of J dramas though, not just HYD. It happens in K dramas too. But we all know asians attitudes towards foreigners so its not so surprising. The rest of HYD2 was pretty good though. haha
keith

oh man, that was really really funny. Its too stupid to complain about. Not that i would have to begin with.
fh

Oh come on, how else could they have had Hanazawa Rui show up?

I think the first NYC scene was less reasonable, with the completely unexpected reaction of the while male when Mao pieces together “I am bus!”. Anyway, it reminds me of season 4/5 of 24, where Keifer Sutherland preceeded the series with a PSA explaining how not all islamics are terrorists. If only such delicate and emotionally complex shows as HYD would pose a similar PSA… then maybe this wouldn’t be a concern….

(/sarcasm)
- http://doinkies.livejournal.com doinkies
  
  Let’s not forget the white guys who praise Doumyouji and call him “great”! That was a real moment 😛
http://doinkies.livejournal.com doinkies

I like J-dramas (which will probably earn me the wrath of James), but I do agree that that scene was rather stupid, especially since it didn’t happen that way in the original manga. In fact, in the original manga, there’s only one guy who assaults Tsukushi (and he’s white), and there are some friendly black characters who one of the characters becomes friends with (I forget which character, as it has been a while since I have last read the HYD manga). I think the HYD2 staff must have watched too many doinky movies/rap videos…:roll:

(for that matter, the HYD J-drama adaptation is pretty cheesy already. It’s definitely not my favorite J-drama even though I did like the manga…)
Haroon Piracha

You sir, have not watch CSI. The seamlessly addictive program that takes apart reality. Compared to that, HYD2 is a walk in the park!

No no, you just wait until the second season of Hero airs with the biggest stereo type of, what was that? the Japanese Princess?

hmmm….
RYO

Not really interested in watching this drama but it seems to me that the actors playing these muggers must have agreed to participate. While this scene does seem silly the way it’s described, it’s not like the actors were forced to perpetuate negative stereotypes in front of the camera. I don’t really see that this is an issue. (On a side note, I like how actors can use “authentic” cursing on Japanese TV as long as the cursing is done in English.)

On the other hand, I watched the animated version of GTO a while back and although I enjoyed it, I was rather stunned to see one scene in which a bunch of bikers gather wearing bandannas that prominently feature a swastika on the front (to show that they’re badasses, I suppose). And no, this was not the Buddhist swastika either.
- shazzb0t
  
  The swastika is a very common symbol among biker gangs. It doesn’t even have a racist connotation. The use of the symbol is meant to shock you. Its a big ‘f u’ to society in general. One particularly famous gang in New York is the Ching-a-ling Nomads displays the swastika very prominently in the gang symbol. Their members are racially diverse.
  - RYO
    
    Thanks for the info. Very illuminating.
Claytonian

I am bemused by how whenever Japanese people go to America in movies or Dramas, they meet people who:
A) automatically assume “Are you Japanese”? When most Americans ignorantly assume all Asians are Chinese (this ignorance is lingual too, as comments on youtube videos will no doubt attest (“stop speaking Chinese and speak English!”).
B) happen to be Japanese. Some of them even claim to be third generation Japanese Americans or such, yes speak in heavily accented English
C) Criminals that don’t like them, probably because the criminals are also an A) that hate all Japanese
D)ignore and don’t help other people.
E) People that just happen to be fluent in Japanese

An odd counter-example is the movie Wasabi, where everyone in Japan could speak French to Gerard Depardieu, even the yakuza boss.

These all go to show that to producers and writers, the details are less important that the sappy stories.
- __
  
  Well, I seem to remember Sharon stone was in some movie where she was supposed to speak perfect Japanese, and I bet she had an accent.
  
  I think that Renee Russo did, too (freejack)
  
  And Tia Carrere (rising sun).
annie

You will be surprise it’s not just the Japanese but all Asian countries–they have a negative view of Black American.
http://justincash.livejournal.com Piratemonkey

I’m usually the last to trash Jdoramas… but this is pretty absurd. Even further, I work close to where this was shot. Things can be rough at times in the city, and not everyone is as “tactfull” in their speech, but the language was WAY over the top. And the basketball! Hahahahahaha.

I’ll stick to the movies/dramas that stay away form streotyping us gaijin as animals.
Jim

Thats even for J doramas pretty bad… who is writing this shit? Pan-kun?
Steve

I liked HYD, but generally, I think J-dramas are really bad, but not as bad as american, pinoy and latin dramas. Korean dramas seem to be more entertaining, personally. I remember watching HYD S2 and seeing that opening clip, thought it was so stereotypical, to the rude New Yorker to the muggers/gang members. From the clip, it didn’t even “feel” like New York, even if it was shot in New York. It was just odd to watch. Made me think if the writers themselves lived in a bubble.
epicurus

Sorry to have to burst your bubble but who do you think commits most of the crimes in New York? Upper East Side Jews? The city publishes crime statistics by race (this is from a NY Times article):

“Of the suspects identified by victims, 60 percent were black, 28 percent were Hispanic, 8 percent were white and almost 3 percent were Asian.”

This show is really one of the worst on Japanese television. Not just because of this New York episode, but in general. It’s hard to believe it’s been through so many seasons.
http://aloha3.wordpress.com raindrop

Watched akihabara@deep in which an indian character is portrayed as a smuggler, a pathetic thief and a crack smocker, with of course the thickest accent to make him look more bizarre than the otaku heroes.
how’s that?
Syd

I agree with the lot of you, that was too stupid to even care about.

Anyone notice the girls “What!?!” comment was too natural for her playing a moron?

I can’t believe the Japanese have to act poorly on how to speak English poorly… is that what all my students are doing???
Evan

i saw this about a year ago on tv. why is it getting blogged on now?
dissapointing but not surprising in the least. american now comes in 2 flavours – wacky and violent. im glad that ignorance of my nationality and culture is so extensive that there are no stereotypes in japan to get pissed off about.
the worst ive seen was a kdrama, love story in harvard. the lead male was a certified wanker – obnoxious and frequently paranoid he was being persectued for his koreanness. somehow, that kind of personality must be appealing to a broad base of viewers in korea. adding to that, they chose actors who couldnt speak english for a drama set in an english speaking country.
RYO

These stereotypes are not formed in a vacuum. Blame Hollywood and MTV if you must. The scene in question, for example, reminds me of the one in which Bruce Willis’ character is saved from a harsh beating in Harlem by Samuel L. Jackson’s character. That scene even came complete with a basketball.
- madne0
  
  Like epicurus said, it isn’t exactly a stereotype is it? Truth is much of the crime in New York is committed by blacks.
  Sure, the dialogue was a bit hamfisted, but it’s par the course for these TV “dramas”, Japanese or otherwise.
shazzb0t

The basketball is pretty ridiculous, but perhaps Debito has never heard of ‘stick up kids’. Can’t really see the use in crying about such a stupid show. Did you see that gun? Haha. It had a IR scope on it.. Ridiculous.
Mike

RYO, in Die Hard with Vengence (the movie you are referring to) Bruce Willis is forced to wear a sandwich board that has the N word on it so he will be assaulted by black men in Harlem. I’m sorry but if someone wore that in a black community he most likely would be assaulted, and I think he should be. This show is quite different. I have no problem with portraying the criminals as black, god knows America is so PC that the treat blacks as complete angels and they are not because NO race is completley peaceful, the problem with this J-drama and others is that they consistently portray foreigners as animals.
…

I have to say, this debito is more BS than this drama whom I have disgust of.
http://www.forkullet.blogspot.com Daniel B

Oh wow…all the muggers are black? So what? God I am getting more and more tired of Debito and his PC-crusade. He should start collecting stamps or something.
Haroon Piracha

Whao whao! Has anyone lived in New York? Do you guys know how horrible Newyorkers are? Anyone?
Jim

By the way. Oooh Bradpit! … Madonna! … ALL LOOK THE SAME
RYO

Anyway, the point I wish to reiterate is that if the situation and roles were reversed – so that a bunch of Japanese guys were portrayed in a poor light that supposedly blatantly perpetuated stereotypes of Japanese people (I’m too lazy at the moment to actually come up with examples of what those might be) – I’d be far more inclined to rebuke the actors involved than the producers.

It’s too bad that in this day and age, the only safe (read: PC) villains are neo-Nazi skinheads.

In any case, this is all much ado about nothing, in my opinion.
- nobu
  
  Japanese in American Movies are;
  greedy economic animals
  wearing black frame glasses and cameras around their necks
  short
  always in a group
  speaking bad English without “R” and “TH” sound or strange Japanese
  somehow mixed with Chinese culture
  (Japanese roles are played by Chinese actors most of the time anyway)
  - Mike
    
    A Chinese actress playing the role of a japanese woman in “Memoirs of a Geisha” could be an all time low for Hollywood in the 21st century. As a caucasian male I was so embarrassed by that decision.
    - the overthinker
      
      How is this different from an Englishman playing a French captain? Or a Scots playing a Russian submarine commander?
Pingback: African Americans portrayed as criminals on Japanese TV()
http://itsbeyondme.net/ RokuSanNi

Al Sharpton to the rescue?
- http://tofusando.blogspot.com Akoua Doffou
  
  Al Sharpton’s not going to care.
Jaydee

i think they could have switch it up a bit. Maybe 2 white guys and 2 black guys. Yea maybe black people do commit the most crimes in New York and we could go into a whole Sociology lesson about it, but since this is TV, I still think they could have integrated a little bit.
- DNA
  
  In other words, you want them to present a completely unrealistic and fabricated version of reality.
  
  Why?
- Mike
  
  But that’s kinda silly. These muggers were obviously in a gang. You don’t find many multicultural gangs. That’s why I thought the scene in this clip to be kinda refreshing. It was realistic as opposed to a gang with one white, a black, a latino, an asian, and a someone in a wheelchair. That’s not real life. That’s the cast of Captain Planet.
- shazzb0t
  
  Yeah, it would have been better if there was a strong barely dressed black guy with a basketball, a tough and dirty white cowboy, a very studious and smart Asian male, and a stoic looking Native American man in full Chief regalia. That would have probably more accurate and acceptable to all.
  - DNA
    
    HAHAHAHAHAHA
Kantwon

I couldn’t even watch this long enough to get to the scene that you were talking about. It’s so cheesy and horrible. I’m more offended that people actually consider this bad acting and horrible script entertainment. But honestly, I think America is still worst when it comes to stereotyping black people and other races, hell America created it. Plus that’s New York city and that’s actually partially correct when it comes to crime. You can ask any other black person besides me that who commit the most crimes in New York.
Tom

^^^ America created stereotyping??? Where did you get that?
http://www.ghettocitiesclothing.com Ghettocities

I threw basketballs at Japanese girls three days ago, it’s not just the East Coast that does it.
Ishikawa Minoru

You make my day, Mr. David! At least you’re not trying to cash on this issue like yu did in the past…which is by itself an improvement, but nevertheless laughable.
kedi

Debito should sue Gangsta rap artists they are creating such a stereotype.
By the way, how much compensation is he going to demand this time?
Erika

Stereotypes and racism exist everywhere; Japanese people generally don’t think they’re doing anything bad by stereotyping though. The other day I was in Brazil and bumped into a Japanese guy from the inaka — he asked me (Japanese-American) if my boyfriend was Japanese, and I told him he was white. He laughed and said “oh well; at least he’s not black!”
Most are just not taught that saying those types of things are wrong.
- stereo
  
  “Japanese people generally don’t think they’re doing anything bad by stereotyping.” “Most are just not taught that saying those types of things are wrong. ”
  These sentences are very good examples of stereotype.
- from france
  
  A bigot is a bigot.
  Back in the days, in the US, people in the deep south did not think dressing up in white sheets and putting up blazing crosses on peoples lawns was bad…
  Doesn’t excuse their actions.
  Just because racism exists everywhere, it should be pushed under the rug? That is a weird statement..
  Pedophilia and murders exists everywhere, so let’s not talk about pedophilia and murders in Japan…
  Also, just because you are taught that saying “those” things is wrong does not mean you won’t have these thoughts. At least, when people voice their bigoted views, it can allow you to try to change their outlook, you can’t do that with closet bigots.
  The way to reduce racism is to have an honest discussion, not to push under rugs racist views so that we pretend they don’t exist.
John

Hm? What’s wrong with him saying it if he really believes it? Much better than the closet racists, at least you can converse on the issue is. Perhaps you should have asked him politely why he dating a black man was worse? Maybe you could have convinced him why it wasn’t bad…I think most problems are caused because people simply don’t open up and discuss the problem.
p7m13

Ermm.. how come nobody says anything when most of the time in COPS they have black guys getting arrested. Then when they have bad black guys in a J-drama all the guns are drawn? Don’t you feel that TV basically stereotypes black people as being bad or being rappers. And then the TV brands all middle eastern people as terrorists… So it’s not just J-dramas that stereotype.
thaKingRocka

when she put her bag down, i immediately thought, “this clip is unrealistic because that guy would have told her to keep her bag closer or, at least, in sight.” i was entirely unprepared for how much more ridiculous it would get.

who puts their passport and cash in their duffel bag? why are four guys hanging around the widest alley in ny with a basketball? who the hell throws a basketball as a means of terrorizing tourists? what thug uses syntax like “you mean to tell me you’re a friend of this domyouji”?

then…
able to hear the cries of a single japanese tourist in a city of millions, shroud in the slim whiteness of my ex-girlfriend’s coat, carried by some european guy’s shoes, wielding the ultimate toy gun sans bright orange markings, thereby making it illegal in america as opposed to genuine firearms … is ….

GACKT!
Evan

“Japanese in American Movies are;
greedy economic animals
wearing black frame glasses and cameras around their necks
short
always in a group
speaking bad English without “R” and “TH” sound or strange Japanese
somehow mixed with Chinese culture
(Japanese roles are played by Chinese actors most of the time anyway) ”
nobu,
greedy economic animals. true (though this applies to all first world)
glasses and camera. largely true. for what ever reason, asians tend to have worse eye sight. i have heard its related to spending too much time as a child in doors looking at things close to your face (books, tv etc) and not enough time outside focussing your eyes on distant things. anyway, looking around the office, there are a lot of oyaji here with with thick rimmed glasses. so what? japanese like taking photos. again. true and so what?
always in a group. group package tours are still the predominant travel method for jtourists. so what?
bad english. the problem here is acting. people with fluency have trouble faking it. but the stereotype still largely holdsup. the english that the average japanese speaks is too awful to put in a movie and directors are aiming for accent, not incoherency.
whats wrong with chinese actors. i think they are chosen for competency and race (asian. not j or c). whats wrong with that? would you object to ray feinnes (an englishman) playing a german? i think the actresses in Sayuri did a pretty good job. the movie was a flop in japan though because it showed a darker side to their culture (human trafficking and subservience of women is not cool) and the notion that anybody can “act” japanese offends their nationalistic mindset.
- nobu
  
  Evan
  I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just giving examples. Chinese playing Japanese roles is just fine, ’cause there’s no good Japanese actors who can draw as many audience as Sayuri’s actor did. I don’t think it’s a problem at all.
  
  Many Japanese wear glasses and like taking photos, many are shorter than Americans, many can’t speak proper English with beautiful accents. It’s true.
  
  But isn’t that stereotyping after all??
  
  Japanese are not offended by this kind of stereotyped portrays though. They rather enjoy them.
  
  Stereotyping is something stupid people do, so we should just laugh at it.
- stereo
  
  A person with stereotype tends to justify it by saying “it’s based on facts”.
  Such attitude is only greeted by another group of people with stereotype who say like “white Americans suck because of the facts that they are so and so.” A stupid cycle of hatred.
  
  Don’t make such general remarks like “Whites are…”, “Blacks are…” or “Japanese are…”, unless you want to show yourself like a racist.
DNA

Although the clip is obviously ridiculous in many ways—I like how she ran from Times Square to Bryant Park in 10 seconds—it’s not a “stereotype” that if she was mugged it would have been at the hands of African-Americans, it’s a statistical probability.

Though African-Americans are only 24% of NYC’s population, in 2006 they committed 68.5% of all murders, rapes, robberies and assaults. Any given violent crime in NYC is thirteen times more likely to have a black than a white perpetrator. Most black residents of NYC are not criminals, but most criminals in NYC are young black males.

The fact that this is an unpleasant reality does not make it a stereotype. And making her attackers white (or even more odd, 1/2 white and 1/2 black) would have made an already absurdly unrealistic scene even more unrealistic.
Ami

There is no connection between RACE and crime, there’s a connection between CULTURE and crime! A black child raised in the same setting as a white child has no more propensity toward violence than the white child.
- DNA
  
  I agree with you completely—but that doesn’t change the fact that in NYC, close to 70% of all violent crimes and robberies are perpetrated by young African-American males. That’s because the prevailing popular CULTURE among young urban African-American males is a glorification of criminality and a glamorization of a gangster and thug mentality and lifestyle.
  
  Add that to lower economic status, poverty, lack of opportunities and the breakdown of the family structure and you end up with an entire criminal subculture which just so happens to be largely African-American. Race has nothing inherently to do with it except to the extent that the criminal culture has become popularized within that race.
  
  The end result is that the chances are if a Japanese tourist got their purse snatched or harrassed by four thugs in NYC, the liklihood that they would be white or Asian is amazingly small. Portraying them as African-American males is simply realistic.
  - Ami
    
    Please show me your stat sheet for these numbers. I saw the article you quoted in your first comment and like I said no where in it does it show crime figures, or included stats of other races. VOID!!
    
    Until then your claims that it’s unlikely that she would be robbed by any other race in TIME SQUARE besides a black person means crap.
    - DNA
      
      “Until then your claims that it’s unlikely that she would be robbed by any other race in TIME SQUARE besides a black person means crap.”
      
      Uhm, it would only mean crap to someone completely divorced from reality. So what you’re saying is that it’s just as likely that she would have been mugged by a white, asian, or hispanic person? That when you break the criminal population in NYC down by race, an even percentage of each race is represented? OF COURSE NOT, because that would be absurd. Clearly, one race is going to be represented more … SOMEONE commits more of the crime in any given place (in some places, that happens to be white people).
      
      I mean, right below this in your other comment, you already acknowledged that nationally, “blacks commit a disproportionate amount of crime” to their percentage of the population. You’re right, of course: they make up 12.9% of the population, but according to the FBI Uniform Crime report, “concerning known murder offenders, 52.6 percent were black.”
      
      So are you denying then that in areas where African-Americans are concentrated in greater numbers—such as, say, New York City—the numbers wouldn’t be even higher? Are you joking?
      
      Should we also be upset that her attackers were portrayed as males? Is that also feeding into the “stereotype” that most criminals are males? OR IS IT JUST A FACT THAT MOST CRIMINALS ARE MALE? Of course they are. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous.
      
      Maybe you want to portray some bizarro imaginary world where criminals gangs are all multicultural with all the races equally represented, and where old Asian women commit violent crimes at the same rate as young black males. When you write a screenplay, you can do that. But that is not the world we live in.
    - from france
      
      Yes, it is stereotyping when people talk about crime rates of “black people”, because there is a huge disparity between the crime rates of African-American and African immigrants, who like other immigrants don’t commit much crime. “black” being a “racial” term.
      It is not black people who, in proportion to their population size in the US, commit the most crimes, but African-Americans.
      Also, I read that African-Americans are the most urbanized ethnic group. Crime is higher in urban areas and in all countries there is an increase in crime as people move from villages to cities, because of the social changes, the anonymity,
      actually the fact that in village everyone knows each other is regulating against crime, its easier to mug an unknown person than someone you know and who will badmouth you. Apparently when you adjust data and take similarly urbanized and very poor non African-American areas, you get similar crime rates.
Ami

And to really cut the BS. I guarantee that even if they filmed in another state they would have still done the same thing.
And DNA, that Times poll you quoted didn’t even include Hispanic statistics. So much for stone cold truth.

Do “Blacks” commit a majority of crime? The statistics say No, they do not.
Do “Blacks” commit a disproportionate amount of crime? The statistics say Yes, they do.
Source:FBI uniform crime report

Once again, they could have filmed this on the moon, I guarantee a Black guy would pop out of nowhere and rob her….and dribble a basketball at the same time….while rapping.
DNA

“Do “Blacks” commit a majority of crime? The statistics say No, they do not.”

I think you’re looking at nationwide statistics. In that respect, you’re right. But we’re not talking about the nation as a whole, we’re talking about New York City specifically. Obviously, the percentages are quite different in urban centers than in other areas of the country (and some cities have larger problems with Hispanic crime than African-American crime).

If they had filmed this in a different state—or on the moon—and the perpetrators were still black, you’d have a case to be made. But they didn’t, it’s set in NYC, so you don’t.

Not a single person I know who has been mugged or attacked in NYC—about 6 of my friends/co-workers over the last decade—has been victimized by a white person. No white person has ever tried to start a fight with me in NYC. Ever.

That being said, when I lived upstate about half the problems I had were with white kids. But this scene didn’t take place in Syracuse.
- Ami
  
  Can you honest sit here and say that this is a honest isolated Japanese mindset? No
  The average Japanese person sees something like this and it justifies all their racism towards ALL Blacks.
  
  Big Picture. Because honestly like someone said before, that whole part wasn’t even in the Manga.
  This was a cheap shot at Blacks to validate the Japanese stereotype that Black people are “scary law breaking beast”.
  Do you think anybody in Japan knows NY Crime statistics? Do you think they care?
  
  You can ride on the statement that this is a “NYC thing” to try make a point, but you & everybody else honestly knows the ideologies behind this scene.
  
  It’s also kinda sad to see that you also try an validate your own point by saying that “Not a single person I know who has been mugged or attacked in NYC—has been victimized by a white person”.
  Yes, because everyone you know pretty much makes up NYC’s populous.
  Anyone could come on here and post the exact opposite of what you said. So then, who would be vaild? Who would prove the “stats” ?
DNA

“Can you honest sit here and say that this is a honest isolated Japanese mindset?”

No, I certainly cannot, because I don’t know anything the Japanese mindset, I’ve only been to Japan once, for a week. I’m not an expert on Japan. I’m not talking about whether or not confirming the stereotypes or racism that the Japanese may or may not have is a good thing or not—I don’t see how it could be good for anyone.

However, I was born in Brooklyn and have lived in Queens and Manhattan over the last 11 years, so I know a *little bit* about NYC. My point, and my ONLY point here, is that portraying her attackers as African-Americans was about the only realistic part of the clip.

Whether or not you find that reality pleasant or whether it is a good thing for Japanese viewers to see is an entirely separate issue.

“Anyone could come on here and post the exact opposite of what you said. So then, who would be vaild? Who would prove the “stats” ?”

Neither. My anecdotal evidence was not meant to be “proof” of anything, it was just what it was: anecdotal evidence; personal experiences.
ames

Have you seen passions or days of our lives maybe they watch the same female victim stuff too entertain women during the day. You should remember Japan is not a ladies first society and that what was not a basketball
Bangaroo

Don’t like to be being called racist here, but blacks do commit more crimes than any other race.
- Mabel
  
  Who Brought down the Twin Towers? Who burned Black Wall Street? Who aided in the demise of Allensworth? Your comment is so typical. Who is responsible for the high rete you pay for your credit card? I hope that you will begin to understand that all people, when pushed to the fringes of society tend to exhibit the same types of behavior.
  - DNA
    
    Mabel, what does any of that have to do with anything we’re talking about? The issue is not what makes people commit crimes, the issue here is whether or not depicting her attackers as African-American is REALISTIC or not.
    
    I noted that among other things, the causes of crime are “lower economic status, poverty, lack of opportunities and the breakdown of the family structure” and said that “race has nothing inherently to do with it.”
    
    In other words, just what you said: when people are pushed to the fringes of society, their likelihood of commiting crimes is higher. But that does not refute Bangaroo’s statement at all. He didn’t say that blacks are genetically more prone to commit crimes, just that they do.
    
    Assign whatever causes to it that you want, it doesn’t change the end result.
- from france
  
  No, it is African-Americans, not black people. African immigrants are a mostly ignored community, but they don’t commit much crime,and they are the most educated immigrant group in the US.
  Not all black people in the US are African-Americans.
troy

Reminds me of Atlanta, minus the goofy hero.
amian

this drama wasn’t mean to win any awards or show some enlightening/captivating aspect of society. It is a childish teenage romance story and it’s gained so much popularity because the male actors are mostly famous for their looks. The Domyouji guy is from a boy band of Japan that has already been in the public’s eyes for 8 years–like w
ow– The scene only reinforced the stereotype that is held by almost everyone universally about black people, It is sad and disgusting but seriously to pick out this one thing from the scene which no one who watches the drama cares about it pointless

It is a teenage romance/cinderella…rich guy and poor girl story, type of drama and for girls mostly. Ridiculous to make such a big deal out of it…isn’t it?
Iya

Even though it is ridiculous to make a big deal over some teenage romance show, these stereotypes are being shown to young kids, who could be influenced to think “omg I might get robbed by some black guy if i go to new york”, so even though its on a really dumb teenage show it has an effect in what the japanese public think. but i do have to agree with amian, this was probably done to show the “superness” ( yeah, its not actually a word) of the “hot” actors playing the charaters. That said i still wish blacks were not thought of as animals, or portrayed as them in this show even if it is realistic……
thfunpolice

Since HYD and HYD2 were the first doramas I’d watched, this clip did surprise me. Did the Japanese really perceive America to be such a hostile, dangerous place? But that, I realized, was the crux of it – this show was written by members of a notoriously in-group oriented society who had likely never visited New York. It’s a drama, right? So there’s bound to be all manner of totally unrealistic drama packed into every plot twist. Regardless, it is pretty sad that blacks have such a negative reputation.
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Japanese TV Drama: Getting Mugged By Black Americans

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