End of discussion

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How can I subscribe to your blog?…

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Green Tea For Dieting…

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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.

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“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.

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Japan should start trying to understand other cultures.

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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)

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Perhaps I am guilty of generalizing here but not stereotyping, sir.

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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.

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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”?

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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.

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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…

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I do not think that it is going unnoticed. The foreign press is picking up on the story:

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.

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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”?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The question to ask really is, is there any real genuine intent, then, will anyone feel they are being singled out as a target and then is there a possibility that it may reach an audience wider than expected, hence the expected demographics suddenly change.

A good point.
There are two points in my argument.
First
As a company, it may be that the company should have taken into consideration that this ad might reach Afro-American audience and hence might cause the misunderstanding. Still, I think Afro-American people take the ad into perspective. Japan is a country where Japanese kids play monkey, singing a monkey song and on TV Japanese TV tarento wears the same clothes as a monkey, Japanese women act monkey for E-mobile and people enjoy them.
Why is it that a monkey cannot be with black people on TV, or , supposing the monkey is a parody of Obama, there should be no monkey parody of obama while there can be monkey parody of koizumi, fukuda, Bush? Well, because in USA and some countries, people have associated and still associate a monkey with black people qua black people. (I am surprised many western people quickly associate the monkey in question with black people, few Japanese would come up with the idea.)In such countries it might be justified that there are monkey parody of a white person while there should be no monkey parody of a black person because of its history, but without such history I don’t see why it should be so in Japan. I don’t see why Japan should be imposed the western criteria on this matter.
Yes, this is a tough question. I am aware that some innocent products in western countries are removed because they are offensive to Muslims. But I really cannot understand why a monkey and the Japanese cannot imitate each other on TV in Japan, but not black people .

Secondly as a matter of tactics, I think pressuring the company from Afro-American perspective is not the best idea in promoting positive image of African descendants in Japan. With pressure from The team Obama, it is highly probable that the company stop the ads and issue an apology. it gets attention, people learn the stereotype–It is like telling Japanese people to stop calling black people “golliwog” few Japanese people know what golliwog in England and in USA means socially . I don’t think it is wise and necessary to introduce such discrimination albeit for educational purpose. (But I am not sure yet what is the best)

Without protest, it just goes unnoticed. People just view it as a parody of a presidential campaign in some country, some might come up with Obama, some MaCain, others none. People just enjoy it just as people enjoyed the Japanese women in a monkey costume.

Again what I hope is for Black people to make a fresh start and to promote positive image of African descendants like Jero. The Japanese have welcomed Naomi Campbell, Billy’s Boot Camp、a black K1 fighters etc. ( In passing notice no Japanese called racial name when a black people were fighting during a match, as far as I know. Compare it with football game in Europe.)

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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.

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“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.”

The “yahoo” in the US and E-Mobile are not the same in their methods but the end result is what’s important. One method was very direct and bIatant, the other was attempting to fly under the radar (knowingly or unknowingly). There are enough NJ at the E-Mobile corporate level that should have known better. At the end of the day, the consumer will be able to relate both to Senator Obama. Well, unless you feel that they are not smart enough to compare the CM with the Obama campaign.

I really do not care if E-Mobile used a monkey in the past. It was not in this context. They should have used common sense when using a monkey to represent Obama (or his campaign). Stop using the excuse of this is a problem for US Blacks that relate the experiences of racism in the USA as a yardstick to measure the meaning of the CM. Some people even believe that this is a result of emotional baggage in Japan. Refer to some of the references listed here: http://blacktokyo.com/?p=158 if you “need” additional information on the issue of race and class in Japan. Things are not so cut and dry when it comes to dealing with people, image, and the power of “visual” messages. You know, there is literature (in Japanese) that equates Blacks with monkeys and other “animals.” The monkey and the Black Other has been used more often than not. The CM just adds to the list.

Oh yeah, I also consider Japan as my country/culture. I will caveat that I will never give up my US passport as I would never expect my wife to give up her Japanese passport. I am not and do not want to become Japanese! Believe it or not, there are Blacks that live and work in Japan. Some, like me, are married to Japanese Nationals and have children. We own business and provide jobs in Japan. This has been a norm for quite some time. Has this news flash been off your radar since it did not concern you? Did you think that we were all tourists and would be oblivious to the little things that add up? “Things” Black provide economic stimulus in Japan directly and indirectly. Just open your eyes and ears if when you travel around the country to learn what I mean.

In Japan, as in the US, I have a right to question, complain, or even make a demand. E-Mobile has the right to make their offensive commercial. You can let it slide, I will not! Maybe you do not understand how honne-tatemae or cognitive dissonance can be used as an excuse for some of those that walk around with selective reasoning.

My bottom line is If Japan wants to be a part of the international multicultural community, companies like E-Mobile should think a little more out of the box. They could have just as easily hired Jero to portray Obama, oops, play the role of a candidate calling for change. Maybe Kimutaku since he’s in practive. Maybe E-Mobile should have consulted their outside (FOREIGN) Directors. Maybe that requires too much thinking or money. Maybe when the newspapers or TV news teams use the word “Gaijin” to describe some yogisha or hannin that committed a crime against a Japanese National, it is fine to you. Apples and oranges? Would that jump on your radar? Am I “thinking” too much into it?

“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.”

I say that you should strive to learn more about their (and the Ainu) situation. Zainichi, like the underclass, have tried to blend in still have a difficult time in employment, marriage, housing, and education. Some have pro-DPRK leanings and some do not. You need to throw into the equation.

Should European, Hispanic or Asian expats give up their cultural “norms” if they decide to live in Japan? Maybe the Japanese should close all of the non-Japanese restaurants and go back to wearing non-Western clothing. Maybe just play the koto and listen to enka, oops, Jero is in the mix.

Assimilation takes many forms. I can easily assimilate in Japan when I use my legal Japanese name in some situations as long as I do not show my face to certain people, institutions, or businesses. On a smaller extreme, I can assimilate while living in Japan as NJ because I understand many faucets of things Japanese. BTW, cultural “baggage” is not something that I carry around. I don’t think that my cultural norm has baggage. What I carry around is experience and the knowledge that everything is not what it seems. I learned to question and become part of a solution when a problem or issue presents itself.

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.

I checked out the comments on a few Japanese (and French) blogs. What this particular Japanese poster failed to understand is that I am not asking for “Japan” to take any responsibility for anyone’s racism or actions. I called out a corporation with NJ a.k.a. gaijin at the upper-corporate level making a very questionable CM. If the poster better understood his country’s history, he would know that Japan has a long track record on racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination at home and abroad. Of course, they are not alone. I can find the same in many other countries. But I am not in the other countries and maybe he was reading the old, I mean new, wait old, school books.

“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.

Yep! Well, I have work to do. Thanks for the replies!

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One more time: if an image or gesture is racist or unacceptable within a given culture, then using it within that culture is racist and unacceptable. But if another culture uses the same or similar image and it is considered acceptable within that culture, then there is no problem. Using a monkey to represent a person, any person, is not considered “racist” in Japan. The link between “monkey” “black person” and “racism” is an American/European construct, not a Japanese one.

Americans referring to Japanese as “slitty eyed yellow nips”, as Debito has done in the past, would never be acceptable because Americans themselves have determined that such an expression is racist. It is offensive within the culture that produced it.

“Nigger” is an English racist epithet. There is no alternative translation or meaning in Japanese.

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My own personal reaction to the ad was that it was really distasteful.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 .

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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