New Year Animals

“I’m sorry, this is completely off-topic…”

-Then why did you post this comment under this post? The discussion policy of this site states that off-topic comments will be deleted. I’ll make an exception in this case because you happened to post it while I was away for two days and many readers have probably read it and want to see me respond.

….I’m just completely amazed at how many times race comes up in your posts. I read the “About Us” page, and it states that you have no political agenda, or ulterior motives, but you seem to be perpetuating a lot of stereotypes.

The further I go back in your archives the further I am convinced that you “About Us” statement is a crock of shit.

“The content of this site does not necessarily reflect our personal opinions. Our goal is to create a site that allows users to read interesting things about Japan.”

I’m a foreigner in Japan and so are all of the contributors to this site, so it’s only natural that relations between Japanese and foreigners is a major topic of this site. I tend to focus a lot on how the Japanese media portrays foreigners and foreign countries. In some cases I have opinions on the articles or videos I post about and share them, but in most cases I like to simply post the story/video and let the readers of this site discuss the issue at hand.

I put that statement about how the content of this site “does not necessarily reflect our personal opinions” because I was tired of getting dozens of comments accusing me of being anti-XYZ or racist against XYZ-ians every time I posted about news reports from a source that gave, in the mind of the accuser, a negative view of XYZ country. Your accusations against this site are pretty vague in this comment, but I’ve addressed the one specific quote you took offense at.

“I’m sure you recognize this quote, however so many of your choice posts are about products that you find inferior to Japanese products.”

-Could you elaborate on this? I don’t know if I’ve written many product reviews on this site, but I often find Japanese news reports about counterfeit brand goods copyright infringement to be interesting. I think I may have made one or two posts about the Japanese cars as well. Is that what you’re referring to?

“Are you serious. How offensive is that? Minstrel shows were shows were White people, or Black people would perform skit in blackface. It was very offensive to Black people. If you are an American I would suggest studying your country’s history.”

-I stand by my old comment about Bobby Ologun, and I don’t see anything particularly wrong with my use of the term “minstrel performer.” As an American, I am well aware that minstrel shows were original whites in blackface, and in writing about Bobby I referring to how the character he has created is so similar to the stereotypes of clownish blacks found in those minstrel performances. I put the word “African” before “minstrel performer” to clarify that he is not a white man in blackface.

I personally don’t think that Bobby is following the instructions of Japanese television studios in the way that the African Americans who played Amos & Andy on American TV did. I prefer to think that he just acts clownish and rude because he found that audiences react well to such a persona, and he’ll continue it as long as it keeps the money rolling in. I respect his ability to create clever puns in Japanese, but I’m no fan of his act.

[Edit: Labeling Bobby as such was my own original idea, as Wikipedia's Bobby Ologun entry states: "His character also uses traits akin to the infamous minstrel shows such as acting ignorant, mentally slow, and overbearingly energetic for no reason. This brand of comedy he has exhibited has been seen as offensive and self-denigrating to non-Japanese."]