Who is Hideo Asano?
It seems that quite a lot of you out there have encountered Hideo Asano, the “racist” guy Fatblueman posted about yesterday. I had actually met Asano in Ueno Park a few years ago, but I never realized how many countries he had visited and how many foreigners this guy has chatted with. Since he seems like a very interesting person, I have made this post to combine some of the stories I’ve read about him.
Through your comments on the last post and a search of blogs mentioning Asano, I have managed to piece together the following information [note- I am only repeating what has been written on other sites. I cannot confirm this information.]:
- He was born in North Korea and grew up in South Korea. He spent some time in California, possibly studying at USC. He later lived in Pakistan/Afghanistan during the civil war and the fight against the Soviet army in the 1980′s. He’s also said he lived in Latin America. His travels have also taken him to Singapore, France, Germany, and Canada.
- He was once married to a Japanese woman, but they divorced after two years. He had a Korean name (Kim), but at some point he naturalized and took a Japanese name. He has expressed a desire to change his name again. Recently, he’s taken to calling himself Maxwell Kimmerson.
- He used to work as a journalist, but now he is a wandering author/poet. He spent all of his savings to publish a few books, and is now homeless because publishing companies are greedy and “no one in Japan respects artists.”
- He enjoys talking to foreigners, and his English is excellent. Some have said he also speaks German, French, Korean, and Japanese. Sometimes he uses the conversations as an opportunity to sell copies of his books.
- He seems to be well-read and a fan of political and philosophical discussion. He also knows a lot of trivia about other countries.
- He hates Japan and its current culture, and thinks Japanese people are robot-like and dishonest. On more than on occasion he has told foreigners that they are like “Mickey Mouse” to Japanese people.
- Some have written about how he is admirable and thoughtful, while others have found him to be full of generalizations about race and culture.
- Many who wrote about meeting him said their encounters took place in Ueno Park or Shibuya, but Asano has also been known to venture to other popular tourist destinations such as Nara.
- He has an official homepage, a blog, and he’s on Myspace.
Readers: If you’ve met Mr. Asano in the course of your travels, please share your stories in the comments section of this post! Also, please respond to the poll at the bottom of this post, since it will be interesting to see just how many people out there have shared the experience of meeting this eccentric individual!
[Thanks to Jordan for the photo used in this post!]
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