E-mobile monkey imitates Obama in commercial
I’ve received several e-mails over the last week regarding an E-mobile commercial running on Japanese TV that has a monkey campaigning for their service using “Change” signs:
Is this “the ugly head of racism” in Japan, as sites like Black Tokyo have written? I don’t think so.
The commercial clearly is a parody of Barack Obama’s campaign, which has received a lot of positive media coverage in Japan, but I don’t feel that it reflects racist ideas about black people and monkeys. E-mobile has used this cute Japanese macaque as their mascot in commercials before this one (in the last one the monkey listened to headphones while using a PC), so it would be hard to claim that they just pulled this monkey out of nowhere so they could make a racist joke (this is not the same as Mandom’s ad). The monkey’s previous commercials had him acting like a human, so it was already established that E-mobile’s mascot is a cute monkey that mimics people. With this latest ad, they were probably trying to make a cute commercial that brings attention to the benefits of changing to E-mobile’s service, and a parody of Obama’s “Change” slogan was most likely included without a thought of race issues. I doubt that most Japanese people would even understand how a pink-faced grey monkey native to Japan could be equated to African people.
Taken completely out of context by foreigners, this commercial will appear racist. I expect that e-mobile will be getting letters of complaint and phone calls from angry people who assumed this commercial was making an offensive racial joke, and I wouldn’t be surprised if e-mobile reacts by pulling the ad. But if you ask me if this commercial is a racist jab at Barack Obama and black people, I’d have to tell you I don’t think it is.
E-mobile’s established mascot is a Japanese macaque that acts like humans in his commercials, and it just so happened to the latest commercial spoofed the campaign of an American presidential candidate who enjoys enormous popularity in Japan. That’s all there is to it.
Update: Here are a couple images of older e-mobile advertising campaigns involving the monkey.
Update 2: Perhaps I should clarify my view a bit more. In the original post, I wrote that the commercial is a “parody of Barack Obama’s campaign.” This does not mean that the monkey is meant to represent Obama. The monkey, who already the established mascot of E-mobile, is is running a campaign of “Change” against competitors such as Softbank, which also use cute animals in their commercials. Japanese people who watch the commercial will not think the monkey is meant to represent Obama, and I doubt the creators of the commercial intended for the monkey to be seen as Obama either.
As an American, I’m well aware of the long and hurtful history of using monkeys to depict Africans. However, this commercial doesn’t depict Obama as a monkey, nor does it depict a monkey as Obama. It just has a company’s mascot, which happens to be a monkey, running a campaign of change partially-inspired by Obama’s campaign of change. This is not about race – it’s about a cute animal mascot selling stuff.
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i really don`t think it is racist per se, it is just plain ignorance of cultural issues. japan had better get on the bandwagon with understanding different cultures, esp. as they plan to have health care workers from other countries soon. we have had enough of understanding japanese culture. let`s see them understand other cultures for a change.
It is not “ignorance” of anything, at least not from the Japanese side. The monkey is parodying a politician running on a campaign of “change”. Obama is running on a platform of “change”. Koizumi had a platform of “change”. The entire DPJ has a platform of “change”. Politicians trying to wrest power from those who currently hold it ALWAYS run on a platform of “change”.
Folks who say “Look, a monkey advocating change – this must be about Obama” are revealing a lot more about themselves than they are about Japan, Japanese and this commercial.
“we have had enough of understanding japanese culture”
I would say you have not had nearly enough.
“let`s see them understand other cultures for a change.”
In their own country? Why?
It’s quite arrogant to say that people in their own country don’t have to try to understand other cultures, don’t you think?
No. The pre-existing, indigineous culture of any country is under no obligation to understand other cultures, nor does it need to change to accept those new cultures. It should accommodate newcomers to the extent that doing so does not compromise the existing society’s core values, but that is all. Beyond that, the onus is on the newcomers to adapt to the local culture they placed themselves in.
Back to the case at hand: monkeys are not seen as caricatures of blacks in Japan. However, they are used to portray caricatures of people and have been trained and used that way for centuries. When a Japanese person sees a monkey in a suit, they do not think “black person”. They think “cute monkey being made to play ‘human’”. To barge into Japan as a foreigner and say “but where I am from that is racist!” is arrogant. The person who does that is using a cultural context that does not exist in Japan, and is stating that their foreign cultural idioms must take precedence. Cultural imperialism at its worst, if you ask me.
Whoops, pardon the above. Didn’t mean to shout, just forgot to close out an html tag when typing. My bad.
Excuse me? An indigenous culture has no obligation to understand other cultures? I said understand other cultures, not adopt them. In case you haven’t noticed, we live in a globalized world now.
Or maybe you want Japan to go back to the good old days of isolation and believing they were the world’s superior race, surrounded by Chinese barbarians (from whom the Japanese shamelessly borrowed much of their culture), Indian barbarians (from whom Buddhism originated), and Western barbarians (who destroyed Choshu and Satsuma and forced Japan to open up.)
And does this mean that we in the Philippines could say “we have no obligation to understand other cultures”. I’m sure it doesn’t. Now, there’s no reason the Philippines’ indigenous culture should be treated any differently from Japan’s, but I’m sure you’ll find one.
And Mongoloids do call blacks monkeys – completely hypocritical, since they don’t like it when whites call them monkeys. TIME magazine reported that Chinese working in Africa call the Africans monkeys, and a commenter on a blog (http://www.restall.org/2006/06/protecting-human-rights-is-dangerous.html) reported that “I’ve also had an english class of housewives, tell me that Nelson Mandela looked like a black monkey.” Well…Nelson Mandela, the man who brought down apartheid…well.
“And does this mean that we in the Philippines could say “we have no obligation to understand other cultures”.”
Yes! That is exactly right!
“Now, there’s no reason the Philippines’ indigenous culture should be treated any differently from Japan’s, but I’m sure you’ll find one.”
No, I agree. In the Philippines, Filipino culture rules. People who go there have to accept your rules, just as when Filipinos (or anyone, for that matter) go abroad they need to respect the local culture.
As for the housewives saying Nelson Mandela looked like a “black monkey”, I wasn’t in the room when that was said and so do not know the full context, however I will point out Japanese will comment on other Japanese “looking like a monkey”, or other Asians, or whites…
Do not confuse American and European biases that “black african = subhuman = closer to monkeys or otherwise less evolved than ‘human’ whites” with Japanese calling someone of any race or gender a “monkey” based on their appearance and/or mannerisms. These are two completely different phenomenon/mindsets.
Someone here enjoys flying off on weird tangents, I see…. Anyway, what LB said makes a lot more coherent sense.
Oh well, RYO’s comment isn’t even worth dignifying with a response. It’s so easy to just say “someone enjoys flying off on tangents”, and that what someone said makes more “coherent sense” than what someone else said, without even explaining why. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Of course I agree that a country’s culture should dominate in that country. What I mean is that everyone should try to understand everyone else’s cultural viewpoints. I thought this was the natural, even moral, way to act. Which is why I’m surprised that many people think differently. Maybe I’m the exception, and my attitude is just the result of a liberal-sociological perspective. But I prefer it to a conservative traditional perspective, which promotes intolerance and belief in cultural superiority.
It may be true that if the Japanese call people monkeys, they do so for different reasons than whites, but I personally would still find being called a monkey based on my appearance or mannerisms rude.
And yet, I got a response! Woo hoo! When you start bringing anecdotes that refer to Mandela and Chinese workers in Africa into this discussion, that’s a tangent. Not totally irrelevant, but a tangent nevertheless.
Poor guy, starved for attention. But really, what makes you think I was responding to you? It’s LB I was talking to.
And what’s your point, anyway? Since even you admit that what I said was relevant to the discussion, what are you trying to pull? If I’m going to claim that “yellow people” do refer to blacks as monkeys, then I’m going to have to give examples – examples other than the commercial itself, of course. So what part of this, really, do you not understand? If I hadn’t given any examples, you would probably have caught me out for that, too.
I think it’s really not nice to argue just for the sake of argument.
I was merely pointing out that the points of your argument, while not strictly irrelevant, carry relatively little weight and does not, at least to me, come close to actually convincing me that the ad in question is racist.
“Or maybe you want Japan to go back to the good old days of isolation and believing they were the world’s superior race, surrounded by Chinese barbarians (from whom the Japanese shamelessly borrowed much of their culture), Indian barbarians (from whom Buddhism originated), and Western barbarians (who destroyed Choshu and Satsuma and forced Japan to open up.)”
You don’t seem to understand the Japanese/Chinese culture at all. So, I find it’s especially arrogant that you call other nations racist when they don’t try hard to understand Philippines culture, American culture, etc.
Sweetwater, instead of making baseless generalizations, why don’t you tell me what I don’t understand about Japanese or Chinese culture? I understand that in the past, both Japan and China each believed themselves the preeminent culture, race, and civilization, expressed in terms like “The Middle Kingdom”. I flatter myself that I do, in fact, understand Japanese and Chinese culture. I would even hazard saying that it is you who seems not to understand Japanese or Chinese culture. You really mustn’t let your liking for Japan cloud your judgment.
RYO, I never did say that the commercial was racist, did I? If you actually bothered to read what I said instead of shooting your mouth off the moment you saw something that slighted your beloved Japan, you would see that I never once claimed that.
People here were saying that it would never even occur to a Japanese person to think of monkeys in a derogatory sense relating to blacks, so I was merely correcting that notion.
I wasn’t saying that this commercial refers to Obama in a racist sense, and in fact I don’t think so myself, although I believe it does refer to Obama, given the “Change” slogan.
“People here were saying that it would never even occur to a Japanese person to think of monkeys in a derogatory sense relating to blacks, so I was merely correcting that notion.”
Well, by that measure, you still didn’t do a very good job. All you did was demonstrate your superior knowledge of Japanese history, state that “Mongoloids” do call blacks monkeys, and insert an anecdote about Chinese workers in Africa.
Why doesn’t it? I didn’t just say that Japanese call blacks monkeys, I said that some Japanese said that Nelson Mandela looks like one. Now, it’s possible that they meant that in a positive sense. Maybe, in Japan, telling someone he looks like a monkey is a compliment. It’s possible. But really, do you think so?
As for the “anecdote about the Chinese”, I included that to show that other Mongoloid peoples (I use “Mongoloid” because it is the scientific name for the “yellow race” of peoples, although it has gotten an entirely undeserved derogatory connotation because of Down Syndrome, which has no more connection to this racial group than to any other.) are also guilty of the same. That was for the benefit of you Japan fans, so you can’t say I’m unfairly singling out the Japanese. Apparently, though, you found some other reason to take issue with it. So thank you. I will refrain from giving such a balanced assessment next time.
“Sweetwater, instead of making baseless generalizations, why don’t you tell me what I don’t understand about Japanese or Chinese culture?”
Concerned Filipino, I simply thought that you’re one of many people who couldn’t distinguish the Chinese culture from the Japanese, but I may be wrong… I will be happy to correct my previous judgment on you if you kindly answer the following questions of mine.
What are those Japanese terms you referred to as “Chinese barbarians”, “Indian barbarians”, and “Western barbarians”? Which Japanese politician, high ranking government officer, or anyone who was then influential in the Japanese society claimed the Japanese were the world’s superior race? In what sense, Japan borrowed much of its culture “shamelessly,” as you claim, from China? Can you be more specific? Finally, which of the Japanese governments ever called their country “The Middle Kingdom”?
Maybe you think you know a lot about Japanese culture. Which is why it’s so fascinating that you should be so naive about Japan’s well-known cultural arrogance. I fancy that I know quite a bit about Japan, more than some Westerner, anyway.
“What are those Japanese terms you referred to as “Chinese barbarians”, “Indian barbarians”, and “Western barbarians”?”
Try reading James Clavell’s “Shogun” next time. Japan’s attitude towards foreigners during the Azuchi-momoyama and Tokugawa eras is well known.
Related to earlier, the Japanese generally believed they were a superior racefeudal period (at least, those who had the social status to think about such matters at all). Besides, they’re not the only people in the world to have thought they’re the master race.
“In what sense, Japan borrowed much of its culture “shamelessly,” as you claim, from China? Can you be more specific?”
Um, kanji characters? Buddhism and Confucianism? Specific enough for you yet?
To my knowledge, no Japanese government ever called itself the Middle Kingdom. That was a Chinese name for their country. But you probably knew that already, meaning you’re just trying to look for something wrong in what I said. Unfortunately, nowhere in my remarks did I say that any Japanese government called Japan that. I really don’t know where you got this from, sorry.
First of all, it is China, not Japan, who refer to themselves as the “Middle Kingdom.” And that’s not just historically, they do it now. The Chinese word for China literally translates to “Middle Kingdom.”
Second of all, I’m not sure if I would refer to borrowing Buddhism, Confucianism, etc. as “shameless.” In the United States or most other Western cultures, we didn’t exactly invent the English language or its alphabet, nor is the English language itself much more than a modified version of other Germanic languages with a LOT of borrowing from various languages. Christianity did not originate in the United States OR the West. So, I’m not so sure I would call Japanese borrowing things from nearby cultures to be “shameless.”
Third, grouping “mongoloids” into one big group to say, “Hey, they do this!” Doesn’t exactly work well either. If you live in the phillipines, I would think it’s obvious that there are MAJOR cultural differences between each country in Asia, and the standards that govern what is appropriate and what is not appropriate differ immensely. Just because something is inappropriate in some random culture somewhere in the world, does globalization mean that we all have to accommodate for everybody? I don’t presume to know a lot about a lot of cultures, but I know enough to say that it is impossible to please everyone. Some cultures consider it extremely rude to burp during a meal, while others consider it a compliment to the chef. Which culture is right? The one that coincides with your personal views?
I know this comment is coming a little bit late, but the flaws in your logic were just too big.
VERY WELL PUT!!!
^Now that’s a point right there.
Once Upon a Time is right.
Japan should start trying to understand other cultures.
The commercial may not have the intention of being racist but the question is, if Obama is the next president, how will these kind of “culturally insensitive” commercials – and other expressions affect his administrations view of, and thus relationship with Japan? I don’t think it helps.
That’s very amusing. You think if Obama wins the presidency that he will consciously seek to strain relations with a major economical power because of a commercial which portrays him as a monkey? I’ll also add – He’s probably never seen and will never have the time to see the footage.
The Cm isn’t racist, Japan Obama to be president but this has nothing to do with Obama. It might have a small relation with the “change” signs, but this is most likely where the emobile people got the idea. The 気 and monkey is way too cute for this to be sad in that way.
The only people who find this racist are LOOKING for racism; butthurt gaijin who need to get a life.
Amen!
I have to agree. I’ve seen gaijin in Japan complain about racism when in fact their own brutish behavior has caused those around them to become uncomfortable and annoyed. Its a “me first” attitude that many Americans (at least) have that gets them strange looks and the scorn of many Japanese and expats alike.
I don’t think brutish behavior is limited to Americans; that may be ironic stereotyping on your part.
Agreed. Aussies do “brutish behavior” far better.
(donning asbestos suit)
As an American I can only speak from my experiences of living in Japan with other Americans, hence limiting my comments to Americans. I’ve met plenty of Europeans, Aussies and a couple Kiwis and they were always very well behaved. That is just my experience though.
Perhaps I am guilty of generalizing here but not stereotyping, sir.
the Japanese is always called monky.
I agree with the poster and commentators above. It may have been reckless, but if you think this is racist, you probably don’t know how the most Japanese perceive Japanese Macaque(monkeys). It was White people who used the term “yellow monkey” in racist terms against Japanese(or Asian). I don’t think the most Japanese don’t even imagine using monkeys as resist expressions.
As the poster said, the monkey has been used many times before this CM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zKWSZAiXZc
PS.
Softbank uses a talking dog, by the way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVibK2oj6mo
Gee – and I thought “Yellow Monkey” was just a passably good Japanese rock band…
Oops typo…
“I don’t think the most Japanese don’t even imagine using monkeys as resist expressions.”
That should be..
“I don’t think the most Japanese even imagine using monkeys as racist expressions.”
orz
I’ve seen people complain about the SoftBank CMs being racist as they show that blacks are the offspring of a Japanese woman and a dog.
Oh, and if instead of Obama it has been Hillary, would people have complained about it being sexist, or if it had been McCain would there have been cries of racism? I would put my money on there being less complaints.
No, no. Actually, the Softbank CM is sexist, racist, and a little perverse since it is suggesting that a Japanese woman would be willing to mate with a dog and their offspring are a black man and another Japanese woman. C’mon, that’s pretty f-ed up, don’t you think?… And the dog talks… I can’t even begin to interpret what devious culturally-insentitive implications that might have.
I think the monkey looks more like George Bush than Barack Obama…
Wait just a moment… There’s a drama called “Change” in which Kim-taku of the SMAP is suddenly elected prime minister of Japan and hilarity ensues (I admit, I’ve seen a few episodes…). Maybe they’re trying to depict that instead of the U.S. election. Tsk, tsk… e-mobile is being racist against SMAP…
Good call! I had forgotten about that (or was ignoring it, as I ignore all of Kimtaku’s annual dramas….). But hey – why would e-mobile parody a currently-broadcast weekly TV drama starring a very popular and bankable idol when they could instead enrage foreigners everywhere by a blatantly racist parody of the Obama campaign! I mean come on! Everyone knows that all cultural references start in America, right?
(typed tongue firmly in cheek)
And didn’t the big guy in SMAP once play a monkey character himself? Very intriguing…
The e-mobile site says the CM is officially called “Yes, we change.” That’s a very clear parody of Obama’s “Yes, we can” slogan.
http://www.emobile.jp/cgi-bin/press.cgi?id=545
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/mobile/articles/0805/29/news016.html
The Kimtaku drama also uses the word change, which makes the CM even better, but it’s still quite clear that it’s primarily an Obama parody.
Yeah, but where did the idea for THAT show come from….lol.
I don’t understand why Japan is using US politician on the Japanese comercial. Why a monkey?
“I don’t understand why Japan is using US politician on the Japanese comercial.”
They aren’t, although it is entirely possible e-mobile saw Obama’s “change you can believe in (if you’re stupid enough to believe anything a pol says…)” and ran with the imagery of a politician campaigning for “change”. But to be honest, while many Japanese know who Obama is, I seriously doubt they pay enough attention to his campaign to know his campaign slogan.
“Why a monkey?”
Because they are cute, and there is a long tradition of dressing monkeys up in human clothes and getting them to act like “people”. It is a way to point out “human foibles” without actually picking on a person, plus by seeking to paper over the gap between men and monkeys you actually accentuate them… one could go on and on about the deeper meanings, but the short of it is that monkey acts have a long, long history in Japan (and elsewhere) because they are “cute” and also a bit “scary”.
Anyone who has seen a Japanese person scratch their head in confusion knows where the real monkey comparison is.
The first thing I thought of was Obama, not in a racist way but in a lol way.
Webmaster,
Thank you for posting this! Many interesting comments. I posted my reply on Black Tokyo.
regards,
Zurui
Hi! Thank you for reading my comment and sharing it on your blog.
I’m not sure it is even “culturally insensitive”. What I want you to understand is that the image of the election is used in very positive way. You often see a beautiful people and places in CMs, right? It’s because CM producers want to associate the image of a beautiful thing with their product. In the same way, the CM producer used the image of the election and Obama because they knew Japanese see it positively. It is percieved as VERY GOOD. If you see it in this context and if you know this culture, you wouldn’t be offened. Monkey might be used in negative way in the U.S, but it ain’t no more. Now in Japan, “Yellow Monkey” is the very famous rock band’s name. What’s wrong with using it in positive way?
By the way, why everyone in the world call him black. His mother is white, right? Why not call him “white”. I mean, why do you even care?
Saw this sold in a mall outside of Tokyo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83844139@N00/2366958484/
I almost broke my PC. I was in a office drinking green tea. A mouth full of tea… Now it’s all over the keyboard… lol Thanks for the laugh.
I Like the commercial..the announcer is ok
@ JB: Your comment regarding “pre-existing, indigineous culture of any country is under no obligation to understand other cultures nor need to change to accept those new cultures nor compromise the existing society’s core values” is scary! How do you explain the Ainu, Zainichi, America, the problems in the EU in regards to immigrants being accepted in societies that yearn to keep “their” way of life. What should Japan do in their quest to bring in more international students and workers to make up for a decline in the work force?
Would your cry be the same as that those of your ilk that would promote leaving “your” land and “settling” into Africa or some Far Eastern or Asian land? Tame the natives, Christianize the savages? Jeesh! Should I yell, “Sono Joi” and run for the hills? If you are not Japanese, are you deemed Japanese or “equal” by proxy or is that a give me?
If the “onus is on the newcomers to adapt to the local culture they placed themselves in,” then you (especially if you are not Japanese) owe many a folk around the world an apology. MANY foreigners of all backgrounds assimilate but that does not mean that you have to accept behavior that is not appropriate. Would you like it if the Japanese police stopped you constantly and asked for your passport or other forms of identification. How about being refused a bank loan, permanent residence, mortgage, promotion, acceptance into a family due to “ethnic” make-up or status in society? Me, I am fortunate to not have those issues but that does not stop me from looking at the bigger picture and helping those that face hardship.
Japan has mainly been my home since 1981, so there is no “barging into Japan as a foreigner” for me. I do not play into new forms of gunboat diplomacy nor do I play into the assumptions of folks thinking that my comments are “racist” or arrogant.
Cultural imperialism is taking “your” norms and using them as a basis for how the non-Westerner thinks. Having folks adapting bad habits consciously or subconsciously in no excuse for ignorance. Ignorance knows no color!
I stand by my comment that most Japanese have a distorted perception of Africans and African Americans which is derived from ignorance about the race and ethnicity of Japanese monoracialism and the Eurocentrism based on a long European hegemony of the history. If you need “visual” clarification, pick up a magazine and look at the advertisements, visit a clothing store, hit up an eikaiwa, or ask a young Japanese female who their favorite actor is! I should also add that some of the ig’nant brothas and sistas that need to represent are not helping the cause for presenting the rest of the story.
If you would like to throw out your theories, please feel free to visit Black Tokyo and post a reply! The so-called cultural context that does not exist in Japan is probably buried beneath the ura-Nippon that you have yet to understand. The significance of Afrocentricity for people of non-African descent is something that you may need to understand in order to examine the importance of reconstructing harmful perceptions by distorted knowledge of people, especially from the countries that do not have African descendants and tend to yield to Eurocentrism.
Wow, so many questions. But if you are the one who was writing at blacktokyo that makes you a fellow ex-jarhead and therefore deserving of as many answers as I can provide.
The Ainu and Zainichi are totally different situations. The Ainu were here first, or at least here before most of the group that became “Japanese” arrived. All things being equal, their way of doing things should have been given priority, but they quickly got outnumbered and pushed off their land and thus became the minority. Still, they have a far better claim to demanding a right to live as they see fit than recent immigrants would.
The Zainichi should just assimilate and be done with it. for all intents and purposes they are Japanese anyway, but some of them choose to cling to a passport from a country they have never lived in and probably only occasionally been to.
Immigrants to America or the EU should do the same – my grandparents were immigrants, and there was an expectation that they would adjust and make an effort to blend in. That is a reasonable expectation.
Immigration is not a bad thing, in fact it can be a very good thing, but it needs to be managed. And the society accepting immigrants has every right to expect and demand that immigrants will adapt to local culture and societal norms. There was a situation last year where a muslim in Tokyo or Kanagawa, I forget where exactly, was threatening to sue the city to make them change the rules so that his daughter would not have to wear shorts or sweatpants in PE classes, as such clothing on a woman was “indecent” in his culture. Well, he is well within his rights to think that – in his culture. This is not his culture. He chose to come live here of his own free will, and he needs to accept that the society he lives in does not share his beliefs. Not the other way around.
I am not sure what to make of your second paragraph, to be honest, what I am saying is that we should not run off to other lands and “tame the natives”. If we choose to live in other lands far from where we were born, fine, but we need to adapt to the way of living we find when we get there. If we cannot, then we should go back from whence we came.
I am also not sure why you think I and others owe anyone an apology for advocating the obvious (when in Rome…). But I will agree with you that immigrants who assimilate do not need to accept behavior that is not appropriate within the culture they are living in. If, as a permanent resident or more especially a naturalized Japanese, I was denied loans, housing etc. due to ethnicity, social status, religion etc., I would not accept it. Japanese law and society does not accept it. Such discrimination is clearly unconstitutional.
However, just for the sake of argument, if I were to somehow end up trying to live somewhere where I was denied by law the ability to work in my chosen field, or live in certain areas, or whatever, solely on the basis of my ethnicity, then I have two choices as an immigrant: deal with it, or leave. Conform to the local culture, or go back to your own.
I also disagree with your definition of cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism is the thinking that ones own culture is infallible and takes precedence over everyone else’s. That just because using a monkey to represent a black person in America or Europe is automatically a reference to discredited theories of the hierarchy of the races and is therefore racist that using an established “image character” monkey in a setting that may or may not be a nod to Obama is equally racist. As Ponta pointed out, in Japan using a monkey to play a human is just that – using a monkey to play a human. The color of the person is not an issue. Far more Japanese political figures have been portrayed as monkeys than blacks, and in none of the cases is it “racist” just because a monkey is being used. That is not the context it is being done in, and to claim otherwise shows a remarkable lack of understanding of that difference. To demand that Japanese adopt “foreign sensitivities” and change their way of doing things within their own country just because you (generic “you”, not “Zurui” = “you”) find something offensive based on your own cultural baggage and not because what they are doing is objectively or calculatedly offensive is an unacceptable response in my book.
FWIW, YMMV, etc. Semper Fi.
This is an”interesting” problem.
I understand the original writer’s concern.
But it is not uncommon people compare people with monkey;I’ve seen Koizumi monkey and Fukuda monkey and Bush monkey.
It is not always, entirely wrong to link an individual with a monkey;it depends on the context.
On the other hand, it is wrong to link a monkey with a specific race. Is is wrong to link a specific person of the specific race with a monkey where the specific race is linked with a monkey.
But in Japan I don’t think people hold the stereotype that black people are monkeys.
Sure it might be culturally insensitive to broadcast this commercial when there are people from a culture where people used to wrongly call black people monkey, Asian yellow monkey, Irish White monkey. ; though, some people might say that the criticism that this is racism is itself culturally insensitive.
It is not a bad idea to pay attention to another culture, but how much should people in one culture pay attention to the stereotype of another culture, I think, is a complicated question.
I don’t know, for instance, what stereotype people in the United States, in Korea, in other nations, have toward Filipinos. In a way it might be good idea to learn it, but in another sense , I am not sure if it is necessary, if it is a good idea.
I am not really sure if it is really good idea to tell the Japanese that in the United State people hold these stereotypes about black people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_Blacks
and tell them that this is wrong, let’s not form the stereotype.(This is really sensitive and difficult problem, tell me if somebody has a good idea, please.)
I have no objection to the idea that we should be careful not to form a stereotype, that we should be critical of the program and the CMs that might facilitate a stereotype, that the media should be more sensitive to race, but in this particular instance, I am not sure if this commercial is worth blaming for racism and cultural insensitivity.
“It is not a bad idea to pay attention to another culture, but how much should people in one culture pay attention to the stereotype of another culture, I think, is a complicated question.”
Ponta,
You comment here struck me as very thoughtful. I would answer your question this way, let the market decide. So long as no one’s actions are coerced, then let those who want to express support do so, and let those who want to express disgust do so, and then let the company decide.
People are quick to accuse protesters as stymieing free expression, but this simply isn’t the case. So long as no coercion is involved on any one’s part, then let the company make a business decision based on how they feel the public is responding to the content of their ad. People can try influence the public’s opinion as they will.
What I’m saying is that while the question you ask can’t be answered definitively, it doesn’t need to be. What’s frustrating or even scary is when people think they can answer questions like this definitively and then start to push for laws governing free speech.
My own personal reaction to the ad was that it was really distasteful. I could careless about whether this was intentional or not. I don’t want to see Obama compared to a chimp. The ad offends me.
I find Japanese women above costumed in moneky style not distasteful.
I find Pakkun and Shimura in the same type of clothes not distasteful.
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2878
I would find a white tarento acting like the women above and shimura not distasteful.
Likewise most Japanese would find a black tarento acting like that not distasteful.
The reason seems obvious. The Japanese don’t have a history of accociating black people qua black with a monkey and dispising them as such.
However the people from a culture with such a history tend to find it distasteful.
You are right: western people in Japan have right to protest against it just as Muslims have right to protest against the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons
An average Japanese would find the protest against the latter difficult to understand, much more against the former.
The company might or might not stop the commercial. But in the process, the Japanese learn the prejudice of western people indirectly. I am not sure if it is a good thing.
In the process the Japanese might form a stereotype just as western people have formed a stereotype about Muslims due to the angry protest;here comes angry black people again!—I am not sure if it is a good thing.
Again I understand zurui’s concern, but I would rather prefer black people making a new attractive image of themselves here in Japan to telling the Japanese this is how it works in Europe and USA.
I
It’s wrong to compare an innocent monkey with a politician.
Quite possibly the mosy intelligent comment so far, my own included.
Why no comments on the cosplaying girls?
It’s surprising to me that no one in the production meetings for this CM said, “Hey, you know, maybe we shouldn’t use a monkey to parody a black man.” While I understand that the monkey has been used before to parody other non-black individuals, using it to parody a black man is quite different due to the historical context of portraying black men as apes as a means to degrade them and portray them as less than fully human.
Let’s try to do a reversal here. Let’s say there’s a cell phone company in the States that has a yellow puppet with large teeth and glasses as its mascot, and it is often used to parody white American politicians or other public figures. However, for one ad they use it to parody a Japanese prime minister. This would obviously be problematic given the history of racist images used to represent East Asians, particularly Japanese. During WWII, the American government and the media portrayed the Japanese as yellow creatures with large buck teeth and glasses in order propagate the idea that they were less than fully human. No doubt the Japanese embassy as well as Asian-Americans would be lodging complaints with the cell phone company regarding the CM, as they should.
In fact, there have been stereotypical and degrading portrayals of Japanese in CMs and other media in various countries, and the Japanese embassies in the respective nations have filed complaints. I don’t recall there being any accusations that the Japanese government was acting in an “imperialist” manner — they were rightly taking objection to how their people were being negatively portrayed.
The CM in question here is, at the very least, insensitive to the historical context of how black men have been portrayed as apes in order to humiliate and degrade them. At the very least, they should have taken this into account when they decided to parody a presidential candidate who happens to be a black man. And at the very least, they should take the example that Mandom set for their racially insensitive CM before — pull the ad, issue an apology, and vow to do better in the future.
I understand your comments but I think the context needs to be looked at.
In this case the ad is for local consumption in Japan where there hasn’t been the stereotyping of monkeys = blacks. For the example you gave, the location was in the US where the stereotyping you referred to has been prevalent.
Taking a local Japanese ad and judging it be standards from a totally separate country is questionable at best, in my opinion. Taking this to extremes would be to make every ad get approval from a world body such as the UN to ensure that it does not offend any country. No more homestyle cooking / food as it would not be correct for 99% of the countries.
“black men have been portrayed as apes” Really?? I knew that monkeys(or apes) were used to for Japanese in the historical context, but for black people as well? Oh boy… You know… you seriously should NOT expect world to know every single instances of “historical context” of the U.S. Seriously.
The fact that Americans used to like to use animal to disgrace other race DOES NOT mean others do the same.
We (westerns) might see this as racist. We’re educated to see racism in everything but I think the Japanese don’t see a “black” person, they just see a politician. Quite frankly, monkeys are often used for the politician metaphor. If a white presidential candidate would have made such on impact (due to effective publicity ) they would have still used a monkey.
I agree with that.
The commercial is stupid.
I can’t believe some of you expect the Japanese to research and know every stereotype of a race in the world and if they don’t, call it “ignorant” or “racist.” So next time Japan does a CM related to France it should research every possible stereotype in France?
You may have forgotten that there are many countries in this world. You might feel like your country is the world but it’s not.
So quit your pouting and turn on your TV. How many American movies or shows do you see that stereotype Asians and other cultures.
Brent
You miss the point son. just because there is wrongdoing on the part of American media doesnt justify wrongdoing on the part of Japanese media.
Clearly E-Mobile, being the 3rd rate, low-tier company they are, are trying to do something controversial to gain attention and hopefully resulting marketshare. This wont happen. Between the triumvirate of AU, Docomo, and Softbank This E-venture really isnt going anywhere, and all monies invested in it will be lost.
If there where any question of this before, a $200 iPhone hitting Japanese shores soon will certainly erase all doubt. To a man (and woman) the only talk Ive heard of new phones here is of the iPhone. When that thing breaks out over here it will spell very hard times for e-mobile.
As far as equating a monkey with a historic figure like Obama… Those who fail to see the correlation are simply “seeing no evil”. They choose not to “see” it even though they understand its there.
Kuroyama:
Japanese people who watch the commercial will not see anything controversial about it. Many probably won’t even know it has anything to do with Obama’s campaign slogans.
The commercial, like all the previous ones with the Japanese Macaque in it, is clearly meant to be cute. It’s e-mobile’s answer to Softbank’s very successful cute White Family Plan commercials.
Has the Emobile monkey ever mimicked a specific person before, the way he mimics Obama here?
I’d note:
1. No matter what is intended (racism or not) it is the result that counts.
2. The idea that Japanese can be let off the hook because they are Japanese (and thus naive in some sense) is simply untrue. People in Japan are just aware of these stereotypes as people in other countries.
Whatever one might want to say the ad is in poor taste.
“1. No matter what is intended (racism or not) it is the result that counts.”
Yes, within the culture that finds such an image racist or offensive. Zurui over on Black Tokyo is saying this ad is the same as the yahoo in the States who made a cartoon monkey named Obama. It is not.
In one situation, you have someone drawing a monkey and saying “this monkey is Obama”. This was done in a country where depicting a black man as a monkey is racist by definition. regardless of the intentions (which almost certainly were racist in any event), the cartoon cannot be objectively looked at as anything BUT racist.
In the other situation, you have a commercial that shows a monkey at what looks like an American-style campaign rally, with a slogan of “change”. The monkey is not identified as “Obama”, and although parallels clearly exist it is not clear whether this is intended as a parody of Obama or if the creator of the commercial was merely inspired by Obama’s campaign. In either case, within the culture that produced that commercial, using monkeys to portray people is normal and acceptable, and has been for a very very long time. The concept of “monkey = black person = racist imagery” does not exist. So there is no racist result within Japan.
As one of the Japanese blogs put it “why do we need to take responsibility within Japan for the racism of whites in Europe and America?” A very good question.
“2. The idea that Japanese can be let off the hook because they are Japanese (and thus naive in some sense) is simply untrue. People in Japan are just aware of these stereotypes as people in other countries.”
No, they are not. And even assuming they were, how does that affect what Japanese do at home? Since when do we start living our lives based on what others overseas find offensive? Do we stop making the “OK” sign by forming our index finger and thumb into a ring with the other three fingers extended just because that gesture is obscene in parts of South America? Do we stop giving the “thumbs up” sign because that gesture is obscene in parts of Africa? How about if India demands all countries stop running all ads for beef, as the commercials could end up on youtube and be seen in India, where cows are sacred? Or Jews and Muslims demand an end to ads for pork and bacon? Or perhaps Saudi Arabia should demand that no nation produce photographs of women in anything other than full-length long-sleeved black gowns and headscarves, on the grounds that such imagery might somehow find its way in the Kingdom?
This is the sort of intolerance of others associated on black tokyo’s site with “the nazis”, although ironically the poster there is advocating just this sort of cultural intolerance himself!
Do what you want within your country/culture. But you have no right to tell people living in another culture that they cannot do or say something just because it is offensive in yours. If e-mobile was trying to use this commercial to sell phones in the USA folks would have an argument. But it is not, and therefore there is no argument to be had.
“Do what you want within your country/culture. But you have no right to tell people living in another culture that they cannot do or say something just because it is offensive in yours.”
This is factually incorrect. Even foreigners are allowed to express their opinion in Japan. They do indeed have that right. Do you wish to set up legal barriers to prevent this?
As for as one’s country, I have just as much legal claim to live in Japan as you do. What do you intend to do about *that*? My suggestion is this. If you don’t like me here, then leave yourself, because I’m not going anywhere. In fact, I’m going to do my best to get others like me to come over here and keep me company. We can legally do that, and you can’t do anything about it. Nada. How do you feel about *that*?
Ready or not LB, fight it all you want, it’s one world now, and these images of Obama as a chimp are being shared all around the globe. It’s not just Japan watching the ad, it’s the whole world. And people from Poland to Canada can comment all they like about it. What are you going to do about *that*?
If enough people find it distasteful so they can exercise enough pressure within the limits of the law to stop the ad, then I say they should go for it. Of course, though, I want issues like this to be settled freely in the market place, not in court of law that gets to arbitrate what constitutes correct or incorrect opinion. Beyond that, if people want to protest this, then I say fantastic. Good on them for standing up for themselves.
If people don’t find the ad offensive, then fine. So? Are you saying the ad is of such artistic merit that it deserves to be saved? Fine, then switch to emobile and encourage others to do so. Start a campaign to teach people the merits of the ad, fine. Just don’t expect any support from me!
If all you want to say is that some people should shut up because you don’t respect their opinion … then … yeah … whatever … we’ve all heard that before. It’s practically a cliché .
“This is factually incorrect. Even foreigners are allowed to express their opinion in Japan. They do indeed have that right.”
Agreed – you can voice your opinion, and I can voice mine. But there’s a world of difference between “I wish you wouldn’t do that because it makes me uncomfortable” and “You must stop doing that because it is offensive in country X.”
“Ready or not LB, fight it all you want, it’s one world now, and these images of Obama as a chimp are being shared all around the globe. It’s not just Japan watching the ad, it’s the whole world. And people from Poland to Canada can comment all they like about it. What are you going to do about *that*?”
Well it always has only been one world, now hasn’t it? The difference is now people in one country can quickly and easily see what people in other countries are saying. This is both good and bad, the “bad” part being people who don’t know the history of the e-mobile monkey and don’t know squat about Japan are projecting their own cultural imagery onto what they see and drawing off-base conclusions. These same people are then able to spread the word, get equally ignorant people fired up and demand action. Meanwhile, there are probably some folks at e-mobile going “WTF?”
I hope they don’t back down. I hope they don’t do what Nintendo did when they pulled manji off of Japanese-edition Pocket Monsters cards because people overseas complained they were putting “swastikas” on the cards. Standing up for your own culture is never a bad thing.
“If enough people find it distasteful so they can exercise enough pressure within the limits of the law to stop the ad, then I say they should go for it. Of course, though, I want issues like this to be settled freely in the market place, not in court of law that gets to arbitrate what constitutes correct or incorrect opinion. Beyond that, if people want to protest this, then I say fantastic. Good on them for standing up for themselves.”
Agree completely with your second sentence. Legal arbitration should be kept out of it. Although, I have to say I would not mind seeing reverse arbitration in the form of companies protecting themselves from threats of boycotts etc. The recent Dunkin’ Donuts debacle comes to mind. By backing down, Dunkin’ Donuts showed Michelle Malkin and idiots like her that they could win.
My point is certain folks have a preformed perception that this ad is blatantly racist, because that is what their culture taught them. They are working form a standpoint of absolute reality – what is true in one place or one situation is true every place and in every situation. I in turn present the standpoint of contextual reality – similar things have very different meanings at different times and in different places. Your apparent sense of this ad being distasteful is not absolute. I will probably never convince you that sometimes a monkey is just a monkey, just as you would never convince me that this ad was a deliberate attempt to defame Obama.
But I may be able to convince others.
Maybe because of my training in biology, but I never thought of monkeys so negatively.. in fact they are delightful creatures, very cute, and can be even smarter than us in certain cases.
On another note, I highly doubt this ad is supposed to be racist. This is a promotion for Emobile. I think you guys are reading too much into it… and many politicians run promising “change”. I don’t think this really has anything to do with Obama, and I’m an Obama supporter. Sometimes people assume too much.
Nope. the point is that ANY given commercial can be found offensive/distasteful from at least one country/religious/ethnic group.
“seeing no evil”. What a witty summary, including elements of Monkeys, Evil (racism) and Seeing this or that issue. But I suggest that there are just as many people who fail to see this connection not because they choose not to see, but because it doesn’t even occur to them in the first place. Do you expect 100% of the viewers of this commercial to ponder all the heavy issues that are potentially attached to it?
While I sympathise with your position, I can’t help but feel you might be talking only from Afro-American perspective. Sure it might be that Afro-American people will be angry at the ad and pressure, company, listing to your explanation.
As you know, the Japanese have enjoyed acting out a monkey. You know songs for kids like AiAi osarusandayo (AiAI the moneky) and Osarun no kagoya.(a monkey’s cab) The Japanese kids play “monkey”, singing these songs.
Now I don’t see why a black kid can not play the role of a monkey in the kindergarten, singing these songs, because he/she is a black, because from Afro-American perspective, it is insulting.
It is as if you cut and picked up the part on the photo in which a black kid was playing a monkey and crying out this is insulting;though the truth is that a black kid and the Japanese kids were acting monkeys together.
To me, this kind of reaction seem oversensitive due to Afro-American perspective.
Probably what we need is to take Afro-Japanese perspective, relatively free from Afro-American/European perspective ,rather than to have the Japanese learn the prejudice in the US first and deny it.
But anyway I think this kind of discussion is significant and i appreciate you for raising a issue and I thank you for having the courage to listen to various opinions.
I do not think that it is going unnoticed. The foreign press is picking up on the story: http://blacktokyo.com/?p=161
Black people do not need to make a fresh start. Maybe this will help help you understand more of my last post: http://blacktokyo.com/?p=160
Riddle me this, Batman: Obama, Japan appeared out of the blue (Democratic blue and the sky) due to sharing the last name of Senator Barak Obama. The City of Obama understands the impact of association.
Suddenly there is a new TV drama that just happens to parallel Senator Obama’s campaign for change. We all know that Japanese dramas never borrow from U.S. television shows or movies.
And in the case of our current discussion, an upstart cell phone company trying to make a name for itself and a “change” in how the keitai business is ran in Japan “coincidentally” aired a CM that “seems” to parody Senator Obama’s campaign while using a monkey that does not represent anything but the same ol’ cute monkey that has “always” appeared in E-Mobile advertisements.
Circular logic. Okay, I guess that I am deemed Conspiracy Brotha.
What I meant was that the Japanese people didn’t think the monkey was insinuating the black people. The fact that people in some countries associate a monkey with black people is going unnoticed.
My first question is why you need to tell the Japanese that the black people have been wrongly thought to look like a monkey in some countries? Is it necessary? Is it not misdirected? Is it not a bad tactic to prevent the stereotype?
In Japan there has been a practice in which a monkey and a Japanese imitate each other for the entertainment.
Some individual Japanese such as gori(an entertainer), Hideyosi(a historical figure) are associated fixedly with a monkey.
Some Japanese people are sometimes described as looking like a monkey, positively or negatively or just for fun.
The Japanese do not associate a monkey with the Japanese in general, nor with the black in general.
Supposing that the monkey in question is a parody of Obama,
(But honestly I don’t think many Japanese viewers bother to associate the monkey with Obama, nor do I think some people associate the monkey with black people thorough the ad.)
My second question is why it is implausible for a black individual to be parodied as a monkey while it is plausible for a Japanese to be parodied as a monkey.
My belief is that it is plausible to parody an big shot as a monkey regardless of the race and it is somehow skewed that some race are exempt from it.
Now I understand in the country where you are from, there has been a long history in which black people have been degraded and wrongly described as a monkey. That is a wrong practice. Under the circumstance, it might be a plausible practice that a black person should be exempt from being parodied as a monkey. It is somehow skewed practice due to the skewed history. But it may be that the circumstance and history justify it, but Japan lacks the circumstance and the history.
My question is why Japan needs to adopt the skewed practice.
Practically speaking American pressure will work in Japan. Well, let’s Americanize. .I love USA.
Anyway it’s been a interesting dialogue. Thank you. Feel free to criticize.
Agreed. Due to certain historical and cultural circumstances, certain imagery is considered racist in certain parts of the world – but not all.
So rather than accept that different cultures have different views, some feel that their own view must be the only valid one everywhere. They set themselves up as the sole arbiter of what is, and is not, racist. “Intent” does not matter. “Context” does not matter. “Awareness” does not matter. Hell, some even say “The people using such (allegedly) racist images are not even aware they are racist images! So we must educate them!”
“Riddle me this, Batman”: if the people using the image are not trying to be racist, and in fact are not even aware the image is racist, then wouldn’t that mean…. they aren’t being racist? And wouldn’t “educating” people about “racism” they don’t know about actually be promoting racism? Do you really want to do that?
While it is an impossible dream to get all people to automatically accept everyone else as “the same as themselves” regardless of appearance, wouldn’t a world where people have forgotten or never learned racism be better than a world where they are being beaten over the head with “rules” about what is and is not racist, especially when those “rules” were made up by people from far away under entirely different circumstances?
Just my 2 yen, FWIW, YMMV – but no “Semper Fi” this time, wouldn’t want a certain someone with a blindingly huge chip on their shoulder to somehow twist that into “questioning their ‘faithfulness’”. Sheesh. Some people…
While that may be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, It looks on first glance to be a racist statement that even Americans are afraid to make. Obama=black=monkey?
But seriously, I don’t think there are any malicious intentions here.
E-Mobile is referencing Barack Obama——an American——so whether they like it or not, American culture is therefore in play here. End of story.
I find it much more likely that this is referencing the popular TV drama CHANGE than Obama’s campaign since the Japanese people have far more interest in that than American politics.
Am I the only one who would want to have sex with the 2 girls with their customes on? Does that make me a furry?
It’s racist, let’s face it, there are many xenophobes in Japan that like to poke fun at outsiders for whatever reason. I have many internationally minded friends in Japan but there are still a good number of Japanese citizens that are xenophobes so people need to stop painting Japan out to be some fairytale land where everyone has the innocence of a child…
Just because they had the monkey in previous commericals doesn’t mean anything. Things in Japan are done for shock value, just as in other countries, the only reason they got away with it is because it’s on the opposite side of the world from the U.S., the people who made this commerical knew what they were doing….and they knew it would be considered racist. No matter the intention, this kind of commercial would have never aired in the U.S. aside from in the news.
I am not painting Japan as a land without racism or xenophobia. There are many serious problems facing foreigners in Japan, but this commercial is not one of them.
Judging from my previous knowledge about Japanese perceptions of race, what I’ve read on the internet about this CM, and the numerous Japanese people I’ve talked to about the commercial, I have no reason to believe that this commercial was made for shock value – few were aware of this commercial’s connection to Obama, and nobody saw it as a racial thing.
Can you link to some Japanese language sources that interprets this commercial as shocking? Do you have evidence that the creators of this commercial “knew what they were doing”?
I belive that the commercial has nothing to do with racism.the african community is so used to using the race card.
Dear God,
Obama has to get over this race thing. People are just going on with their normal lives that don’t involve race issues, and b.o. is all about. “their making racial jokes” WAAAA. get real. you can tell this is a normal thing in Japan. Anyway, just another reason to vote for McCain.
Honest Man McCain. 08
Do you think Obama is behind this or something? He has absolutely nothing to do with it. It is really this simple: some people in Japan took offense to this and made it a bigger issue than it really is. Thats it.
Dragging Obama through the mud because of this is pretty pathetic given he has been advocating for racial reconcilliation. How this became, in your mind, a reason to vote for McCain is odd to me.
I’m Japanese, and let me say this. The monkey had nothing to do with Obama, and I know this for a FACT because the monkey is the mascot for this cell phone company. Honestly, Japan had no intention what so ever that this “looks” like Obama. Its Japanese humor, and the monkey is a very popular animal there. So if anyone thinks that this ad is “racist” or even thinks this had anything to do with Obama your ridiculous. Not everyone in the world is racist, its only the few very stupid and ignorant Americans who think everything has to do with the color of your skin.
There are too many people in America that know nothing about Japanese culture.
Fact is, the Japanese people respect monkeys (called, ’saru’
in Japanese). In fact, it is not uncommon for the Japanese
people to sit down at a table and eat with wild monkeys
that crawl on to their table and sometimes grab their lunch!
You know why?? They believe monkeys are a lucky.
Hillary used the word change in her campaign many times before Obama did.. Does that mean she is being likened to a monkey here too??
Rationalize people and read up on another culture before you jump up and down and freak out about it without gathering all the facts. That’s the problem in America right now.
People are being taught to react to things without looking at the big picture.
Jumping to conclusions about anther person’s ethnic views without researching their culture might as well be a racist reaction if you think about it.
sayonara (means goodbye in Japanese)
Actually, I change my mind, maybe the people that first pointed the connection out are racist??? lol.