DJ Ozma and Tunnels dress up as black women
September 28th, 2008 by James
The image above is taken from the official site of Lotte’s new Splash gum. It shows comedy group Tunnels (the guys behind “human tetris”) and musician DJ Ozma (the “bounce with me” dude) dressed up as Yajima Beauty Salon, a new comedic musical group. Yajima Beauty Salon consists of a three “American” characters, the mother Margaret and her two daughters Strawberry and Naomi. According to the backstory on the group’s homepage on Avex, the Margaret character is a former nude dancer from Las Vegas, and she has brought her daughters to Japan to search for their father, a Japanese beautician named Yajima. The mother apparently has the dancing nickname “black bolt.”
I’ve only seen them in the Lotte commercial so far, so I’m not entirely sure how far they take the fake American comedy act. I did, however, find this YouTube video of them performing:
The song begins with an announcement that they came from Nevada, and the lyrics include phrases such as, “Is Kaminarimon nearby?” (a popular tourist site) and “Where can I meet a samurai?” and “There are no Kabuki theaters in Kabukicho” (Tokyo’s entertainment/red light district). It seems like they are attempting to entertain audiences from a cute faux foreigner’s perspective.
They may not be covering their faces with dark black shoe polish, but some foreigners seeing this will no doubt be reminded of blackface minstrel shows. Its members are likely totally unaware of the fact that their act could offend anyone, and there doesn’t seem to have malicious intent. However, seeing entertainers put on make-up and afro wigs to look like a different race for comedic reasons always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. DJ Ozma and Tunnels have made some really funny stuff in the past, but this act is quite lame.
[via TokyoGraph]
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Hard to believe that this country was once home to Ozu, Kon, Kurosawa, Mizogucki etc. etc.
Modern Japan is sure hell bent on making everyone the dumbest consumers.
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You still have Kitano, Miyzaki, or Oshii.
Modern Japan is sure hell bent on making everyone the dumbest consumers.
That’s absolutely true, but then again, Japan has been like that for ages. We just tend to forget how crappy 1960s TV shows were.
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If you believe this kind of silliness is new to Japan you have yet to read Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige. Frankly, I don’t entirely believe Japanese television to be the end all be all of contemporary Japanese culture, so I find your view of Modern Japan to be rather dim.
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I have to echo Jordan’s sentiments–it’s easy to make comments about the stupidity of Japanese entertainment when you compare something as low-brow as this to a cherry-picked selection of some of the nation’s finest directors. Not only is it a bit unfair, but comparing comedians to film directors isn’t exactly apples-to-apples. Anyway, I have no doubt that there was plenty of comic material equally stupid back in the time of Ozu and MizogucHi, it’s just that nearly all of it has been forgotten (and rightfully so). I imagine the same will happen to this act and a vast majority of the shows you see on television today.
So I totally agree with you that a large portion of Japanese entertainment is rather stupid and forgettable (as it is in any nation) but I think your comment lacks perspective.
Oh, and I don’t know if it was a slip of the fingers, but Kon Satoshi (who I assume you’re referring to) is still alive and well.
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He was clearly referring to Kon Ichikawa, though you might have been mixed up since he doesn’t use Kon’s surname in the context of the other directors. Ichikawa, incidentally, just passed away earlier this year.
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Ahh, you’re absolutely correct. LOD’s response must have gotten my brain thinking about anime directors.
Still can’t believe I didn’t think of Kon Ichikawa… Thanks for the correction anyway!
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Yeah, Burmese Harp, fire on the Plain, but I did still get it wrong. Thanks for the correction1
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So it’s ok for a men to dress like a women of the same race, it’s also ok for a someone to dress like a Nazi (last year in JapanProbe), but not for a men to dress like a black women if he is not black.
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Japanese guys look great in dress (he-he-he)
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Shou should get back to Kishidan already. At least it was real music.
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I for one think that this unit is offensive.
Why the hell does the black mother played by DJ OZMA must be set up as an old former nude dancer?
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The first thing i thought when i saw them perform was Thai Cross dressers, and there are acts of singing cross dressers who do things like this in order to make people laugh. I don’t particularily thing it’s that offensive
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I can see this is gonna start a whole firestorm of comments about how this is racist towards black women. I’m a black woman and I didn’t find anything offensive about this at all. I’m just glad they didn’t put on black shoe polish and act completely stupid. Compared to the skit SMAP just did when they made the Jennifer Hudson character from sex and the city look absolutely stupid, this is NOTHING to get offended over.
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I worked with the Tunnels twice in the late 90’s. Their current comedy to me is mediocre at best. The comedic duo are known for pushing the envelope or being over-the-top when it comes to stereotypes.
To see DJ Ozma come out of retirement to do this gig is disappointing. I have been a fan of his since he was a leading the band Kishidan.
Now unlike the Gosperats, no black face is involved in this current CM but what I find extremely distasteful is the description of the faux black women, the implied teenage pregnancy and the husband that left the US (his family and his business) to return to Japan. What’s up with that?!
“Some” black women may find the video cute but when you read between the lines, the same ol’ lame azz stereotypical song about sistas keeps on playing!”
http://www.blacktokyo.com/2008/09/29/yajima-biyoshitsu/
[trackback to Japan Probe]
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I can see where your coming from and I understand why it is a bit racist, but I’ve seen a lot worse in the US…not saying that it should be accepted, but I just don’t find it as racist as some of the other things I’ve seen.
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is it just me, i sometimes watch “desperate housewives 2″ on nhk1 and i find it pretty racist.
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racist or not… this is one of the greatest things I’ve seen in a while. Songs catchy as hell too.
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not racist but definitely stupid, silly and an example of japanese tv at its worst. so sad, there are just too many of these examples. glad i have satellite.
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Why do Japanese ‘comedians’ always have to dress up like women?
Why are they so blissfully unaware that they could be offensive to other races?
Why is Japanese popular culture so irritating?
Answers on a postcard to:
Four Unique Seasons of Chumpery A-304
Gormless-machi, 2-10-17
Happy Incestuous Family-shi
Japan
Or call: 0800-FOUR-SEASONS now!
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If your offended by them dressing up as such, then you have some serious issues that you need working out.
I mean when someone dresses up like a red neck sitting on the couch watching wrestling, I don’t get offended.
I think the world needs to lighten up a bit.
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reminds me of what frat boys might do for a talent show performance
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Racism (to oversimplify for the sake of brevity) is about saying or implying that the other race is somehow inferior, even less than human.
This is a parody. Not an especially funny one, IMHO, but not because they are dressed up like black women.
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Considering this is a comedic act where they’re not (purposely) trying to offend anyone, I can’t consider this racist whatsoever.
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No rational person would. Humour isn’t necessarily politically correct. A tip for estimating the offensiveness of these kind of acts; look at the performance from the mindset of the intended audience. You can’t please every culture on this planet. As long as you don’t blatantly insult one of the ethnicities in the country you intend to broadcast the thing in, who cares?
Do you think that sounds blunt? If so, you might want to consider purchasing a bunch of holy books (Qur’an, Bible, that Jewish thing) and invest in a study of Anthropology before you ever make another joke.
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Yeah, how dare they! Japanese people are NOT allowed to pretend to be black!
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As a black woman, it makes me uncomfortable and frustrated to see that we are always made fun of and made out to be stereotyped so much. Cause you know there’s a bunch of idiots out there that will think, ‘oh, so all black women are like ____________’. And then when they see you are not they’re all surprised and crap.
It’s like you have to actually ‘educate’ people, because society in general and skits like this (however unintentional) seek to put people in these neat little boxes, however unattractive they may be. It gets burdensome and irritating to deal with the ignorant person who really honestly thinks that all black women are some really rank loud ghetto oversexed, babymaking broads, then when they meet a black woman, who’s not like that (and no, we are not the exceptions) go into culture shock, because it’s not what they saw ‘on the tv.’ or ‘what they heard’. You get over that hurdle and then your co-worker comes up to you and makes some rank comment and you sigh and think (here we frackin’ go again) It may not seem a big deal to non-blacks, but then again, you don’t have to be confronted with this type ignorance in the form of attitudes and comments in your everyday life.(work, school, etc.) It can make you want to scream, sometimes, because it just seems soooo hard for a lot of people to grasp that black people are not just some black monolithic blob that you can attribute certain things to all of us. We are surprise, surprise, shock and gasp INDIVIDUALS. We act different, think different, don’t all live the same way, don’t all like the same things, and no, we all don’t live in the ‘ghetto’, no, you may NOT touch my hair, please PLEASE stop calling me ’sistagirl’. Be yourself and speak the way you normally would, and NO, I don’t know ‘what black people think/feel about ________’, because I’m not all black people, I’m ONE black person so quit asking me that dumb question! (yes,I’ve been asked/confronted with this crap and I’m bloody sick of it) etc. (you may say ignore those people, but you can’t when it’s your teacher, your boss…OMG, the corporate world is FULL of these attitudes…it’s a PURE MESS. I wonder, ‘have you ever bothered to venture outside of your 4-6 blocks???? You CAN’T be that sheltered…)
It also makes me wonder what’s the deal with dressing up like black women so often? What weird thrill derives from this? From the Japanese to the Bubble Sisters in Korea to that idiot who dresses up like ‘Shirley Q Liquor’ (who I believe really wants to be a black woman and hates himself for feeling that way. He spends more time as what he THINKS is a black woman than he does in his own white skin. Al Joelson would be oh so proud) in the States? That REALLY makes me uncomfortable and frankly it puzzles me. I’ve never had the impulse to dress up as another race for some laughs or whatever. What impulse says, ‘OOH! I’M GOING TO DRESS UP LIKE A BLACK WOMAN TODAY AND _______!’ I TRULY don’t get it.
Look, I have a hard enough time in this world dealing with ignorant (and downright stupid) preconceived stereotypes about black women from ignorant people.(let’s not even talk about the stereotypes about black women that permeate U.S. tv. ARRRGHHHH! *pulls hair*) This crap right here doesn’t help. Not one bit. As a matter of fact, it just piles onto the ignorance that’s already out there.
Sorry if it seems like I’m ranting. I just get sick of stupidity and wanted to share my view on it. That’s all.
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Thank you for posting your view!
[trackback]
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As a black female(scary to count three of us in one place actually) I do not find this offensive but I cannot actually find it funny either. This is not blackface, there are no “Tootsies” and “Jezebels” here (if you dont know that google them and learn) but overall it is not very funny either.
See the thing is you brought up the right point when you said “why would they this” because I am wondering that myself. If this happened after the movie “Dreamgirls” premiered in japan I can kind of see it as sort of spoof. Or its not like japan ever have an era of “90s” tv sitcoms like the USA did with nearly every comedy show having that one token black female that was loud, often saying “girlfriend” and full of ‘tude. ugh.
I found comedy to be all about timing or following whats the most popular way to get a cheap laugh but the use of drag and change of race to achieve that always came of as weird to me. Even when black comedians in the US did it too.
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ok, so you just don’t find it funny. maybe the japanese do, cultural differences in humor, so no big deal right? let the show go on!
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While I’m not all that offended at this, I don’t find it funny. It could’ve been written better. People costumed as blacks don’t bother me as long as the intent isn’t malicious and the humor isn’t based in ignorance.
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They are not making fun of black people at all. On the contrary they are praising their great music(especially the soul music and the style of 70’s, something the comedic duo appreciated so much in their teens) by doing parody, that’s all. Look how good they sing and dance. The Tunnels are not the proffesional musicians, but they always do try so hard because they respect music so much. Look how seriously they put their effort to make themselves look beautiful. They are not trying to be silly or stupid but funny and pretty.
What’s so bad about dressing up as women anyway? That’s so fundamental for comedy. Chaplin did, Keaton did, Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis did, Dustin Hofman did, but nobody says they were stupid.
By the way, DJ OZUMA is not Margaret the mother. He is supposed to be the 17-year-old shy, sweet and smart daughter according to their profile. Just for the record.
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Not nearly as bad as the Gosperats, but still pretty gross.
Do they not realize that kaiten-zushi is not unique to Japan?
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If you want to know what the song is all about go here:
http://gurakko.livejournal.com/91938.html
“BASICALLY this whole song is poking fun at stereotypically uninformed foreigners, e.g. those who think Japan is still swarming with samurais, knows nothing about the country beyond sushi and miso soup, etc. The italised words are originally in katakana; which implies that the speaker has a weird accent / only knows how to pronounce that word but not what it actually means / looks like.”
And come on most people are just that.(well the stupid ones)
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As a Black American woman, I can honestly say that I’m NOT offended by this group. When I first saw a video of thiers on youtube, I just thought that they were men in wigs & women’s clothing. Nothing more. I didn’t know they were supposed to be “Black” until I read this article!
REAL TALK: If any Black women (or men) are offended by Yajima Beauty Salon, then you should also find Tyler Perry’s “Madea” character offensive. The only difference is Tyler Perry is actually a Black man & these 3 are Japanese men.
STOP MAKING A BIG HAIRY DEAL ABOUT EVERYTHING. THE WORLD IS NOT OUT TO GET US.
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As a Black American woman, I can honestly say that I’m NOT offended by this group. When I first saw a video of thiers on youtube, I just thought that they were men in wigs & women’s clothing. Nothing more. I didn’t know they were supposed to be “Black” until I read this article!
REAL TALK: If any Black women (or men) are offended by Yajima Beauty Salon, then you should also find Tyler Perry’s “Madea” character offensive. The only difference is Tyler Perry is actually a Black man & these 3 are Japanese men.
STOP MAKING A BIG DEAL ABOUT EVERYTHING. THE WORLD IS NOT OUT TO GET US.
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This is a homage to the black music of late 60 to 70 AND,
the lyrics are actually criticism for modern Japanese politics,
peoples behaviors. Mom Margaret married to a Japanese Mr. Yajima who became a dead beat dad to her 2 daughters.
Their innocent comments and impression of Japan became unintentional but accurate criticisms to modern Japan.
Have you guys read and comprehend the lyrics well???
Despite all the hardship they went through, they sing they still love Japan. YOU guys think they are just stupid racist act,DON”T GET ALL THE POINTS? Japanese people are not stupid. The reason why they like Yazima beauty salon and songs are, indeed quite deep thing wrapped up by funny silly comedy package.
AND These comedians CAN SING AND DANCE.
Avex pour a tons of money to produce this project.
THIS IS NOT silly business, well executed comedy/parody.
MUCH nuch better than some crude American racist jokes picked on Asian or Japanese stereotypes.
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I’m a black women and I really don’t think they were trying to be racist and I don’t think the skit was racist- it just so happened that the best music from that era came from black people – I was a little disturbed that the mama had to be a prostitute with no father for her babies – we have enough of that in real life and its not fuuny! ….. on a side note – they didn’t have to use that much darkening make up – most japaneese skin is already full of color – no offense taken
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i love kishidan, ozma, and yazima. they’re all funny to me. each project has had a bit of shock, like when the ozma dancers wore nude suits, but it’s more of an innocent fun type of shocking that you can just laugh at and enjoy. i don’t think any of it is truly offensive, so i agree with the people who say lighten up. i just ordered cd’s from all his bands actually. i cant wait to get them.
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thank you rasta rasta. good points. take note everyone that author of the article only saw one commercial.
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