Japanese media reports on Louisiana interracial marriage case
The story of a couple in Louisiana that was denied a marriage license because an official disapproved of interracial marriage has been picked up by the Japanese media. Here’s how on Asahi TV news program reported on the story:
NTV, CNN.co.jp, 47 News, the AFP, and MSN/Sankei have also reported on this case.
Over at 2channel, Japan’s largest online forum, hundreds of comments have been left in response to threads about this news story. Here are some translations of interesting comments from one such thread:
—
The Japanese, who sugarcoat international marriage by saying, “love has no boundaries,” should know the current situation in the United States.
It’s too late to realize that after they marry some American soldier and move to the states.
—
Louisiana’s that horrible state where a Japanese high school student was shot, but the shooter was sentenced not guilty, right? It’s the state where Caucasians are not guilty even if they shoot Asians.
—
I don’t think America has the qualifications to criticize racism in other countries.
—
Is it safe for Japanese people to visit the South?
Will stones be thrown at us?
—
That America’s pretty much a racist country. If you look at the bulletin boards, they repeatedly call us “JAPs.”
—
Response to the above comment: Oh, c’mon, there are tons of people who use terms like “Chon” (=discriminatory word for Chousen-jin, which means Koreans), “Chan” (=discriminatory word for the Chinese), and whatnot lol
It’s hard to bear it when a sweeping statement like “OO is a(n) XX country” is made, just because of certain lunatics online.
—
The racism in the deep south is hardcore.
This is where Golgo 13 (= Japanese anime character) comes back on the mound.
—
Caucasians are discriminated in Japan too, both in good ways and bad ways.
When I was a student, I’ve seen many half (mixed raced) kids around me and most of them were being bullied.
The ones who bully them again are nothing but the pathetic ones, though.
—
The golf superstar Tiger Woods married a beautiful Swedish Caucasian lady since he didn’t like black women, so doesn’t that make him guilty too?
The vast majority of the comments denounced the official in question and expressed shock and/or disgust at the news. A lot of 2channelers seemed to know that the southern part of the United States once had racist laws, but it was hard for them to believe that this could still take place in 2009.
Many other comments inquired about the legality of marriage to 2-D anime characters, a joke referencing some of the most extreme elements of Japanese otaku who use 2channel. One particular user expressed his disgust at the antiquated view of marriage held by the Louisiana official, quickly adding that he himself would like to marry a character from Lucky Star.
There were also quite a few comments discussing how races are viewed in the United States. Some weren’t sure how one would categorize mixed race children: would they be considered white or black? Others wondered how Japanese people were viewed, with at least one user erroneously claiming that Japanese were considered “white” in the United States.
[Hat tip to Rich Pav for coming up with the idea for this post.]
Disclaimer: Comments left on the internet by anonymous netizens should not be interpreted as representative of an entire nation.
[The Japanese news article translations in this post were provided by myGengo's simple human translation system.]
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“a couple in Louisiana that was denied a marriage license because an official disapproved of interracial marriage”
Isn’t this illegal??
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No, this is exactly what the original purpose of marriage licenses was invented for.
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Yes it is, and the guy got fired for it.
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I saw this story on CNN, the justice of the peace in this story had personal qualms with the idea, mostly in regards to the quality of life for their children: Bullying, etc… It is also stated that he referred them to a justice who would do it. Anyway, he’s being sued, although what he did was reprehensible, he didn’t bar them from being married, and was still helpful even without actually giving them a marriage license, I think bringing legal action is probably overkill. How about that balloon boy stuff?
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I agree, the justice is a moron but all he did is say HE wouldn’t marry them. Nothing about this issue speaks to US law, interracial marriages are legal, that hasn’t changed.
The question is if he’s required by law to marry anybody who asks. If he’s on his way to a tee time with his golf buddies, or flying to Bermuda and tells them to find another Justice would he be in the same boat he is now?
And if he IS required by law to marry people what happens when same sex couples make the same request?
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The judge is pretty weird. Apparently he was a lifelong Democrat until just this year, then switched to Republican. Speculation: He was unhappy his party got a half-black man elected?
And his type of “rational racism” where he claims it is the unaccepting society that is at fault, and he’s actually helping the victims avoid problems and not raise waves…well, sounds a lot like the excuses Japanese racists make, too.
But hey, it’s yet another case where we see that the victims have the option to sue the racist in the USA.
Is that option there in Japan?
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“But hey, it’s yet another case where we see that the victims have the option to sue the racist in the USA.
Is that option there in Japan?”
There has been no ban on interracial marriage in Japan in the first place.
Even Debito knows it.
debito.org/?p=1676
” Here’s an interesting article on two people who just did what they did, but with conviction and perseverance, and managed to overturn a horrible legal situation in the US which I would find hard to believe ever existed in post-Meiji Japan (from Lafcadio Hearn’s marriage on down, to our credit!)–
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I believe the comment is expressing that Japan has little legal structure that provides recourse against racism. For example, if a non-Japanese goes apartment hunting in Japan, they’ll quickly find out that a number of places won’t rent to them. This is illegal in Japan, but there is basically no way to challenge it. In the US, this can be legally challenged and I’ve seen it done.
It just doesn’t apply particularly well in this case, unless some local bureaucrat decided to reject a marriage application, which I’ve never heard of happening.
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”there is basically no way to challenge it. In the US, this can be legally challenged and I’ve seen it done.”
We’ve talked it before just recently.
http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/10/16/century-21-japan-cm/
I argued that it was false that there was no legal recourse in Japan . You want to counter-argue, please go ahead on a relevant post.
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Jeezus does this really need to be another Japan vs US post? Seriously why even post that? This incident does not relate to Japan in any possible way.
“Is that option there in Japan?”
Who cares if that is an option? Don’t you think if some racist acted this way in Japan that most people would react the same way people did in the US. Why is there a need to make some jab at Japan over this? Everything does not need to be a contest.
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I totally agree, but I understand the sentiment. If anyone’s country of origin or country of interest looks bad in the media, it’s human nature to ‘defend’ it by comparing it to other countries, in this case, Japan.
These people will say, yea, this is bad, but so what, it’s bad or even worse in Japan, etc. etc. etc.
I do that sometimes but as a reference point.
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HamachiMan
I do understand it. Sometimes I might even fall into that trap. I just feel like it’s the same back and forth every time here. But as far as being relevant to this story everyone agrees this guy is an idiot. If it happened in Japan then the guy would still be an idiot. The outcome is probably similar as well, Some other person would have to do this guys job because he was fired.
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I am from Louisiana and live just 120 miles from where Yoshihiro Hattori was shot and killed. It was a senseless loss of life and something that should never of happened. The man that shot him should have been held responsible for his horrible actions. Racism is all over the world and always will be be, but people must be held accountable for their actions. I too am embarrassed by that particular tragic incident and feel that an injustice was done to that Japanese family. The Japanese are very interesting and hard working people and I have the utmost respect for them wanting to come to our country. We should treat them as we would want to be treated when we go to their beautiful country with dignity and respect. I hope that one day I will be able to take my family to Japan and learn about their great culture and language.
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The judge will be in trouble. You can’t discriminate for marriage based on things like race, as per the Supreme Court and Justice Department. I don’t think the fact that he referred them to someone else will save him.
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I can only assume that this justice of the peace is not alone at all in his views on interracial relationships, not only in that particular area, but across the U.S. No matter what country you go to in the world, mixed race relationships will, unfortunately, have their fair share of dirty looks, dirty comments, and even worse. Sadly you will never eradicate such hate, even with the younger generation this will never ever go away. A friend of mine, an asian male, is married to a white lady (from the south). It’s sad to constantly read of the hate she receives from racists over their relationship (on her blog).
And it’s not even a ‘white thing’ either. People of all races can equally be hateful and disapproving of interracial relationships.
I guess it is rather shocking on the surface that this would happen in the U.S., in the same year a mixed race President was elected. But hardly unique or isolated.
I wonder though if anyone will criticize this Japanese media for reporting on this, with the usual “you Japanese have no right to highlight anything since you are all so racist yourselves” drivel.
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This guy really should have resigned before putting this couple through the hassle of having to find someone else to marry them. If he wants to be a racist that’s fine, but he will need to look for another line of work, that does not involve dealing with the public. On the plus side him speaking out like this just helps to show how dumb racism is.
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“It’s the state where Caucasians are not guilty even if they shoot Asians.”
That makes it sound like Asians are held above other races. horribly stupid statement.
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Not really, you’re misinterpreting the sentence.
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how would you interpret it? the “even if they shoot Asians” really jumps out at me.
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Most likely that Caucasians are not liable for anything EXCEPT when they shoot Caucasians.
Or maybe, “Even if they are Asians” meaning Asians are not exceptions to being shot by Caucasians who would not be held accountable.
To make it more clearer: “It’s the state where Caucasian shooters are not held liable whether or not who they shoot are Asians.”
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I think his statement was poorly written. I bet what he meant to say was “it’s ok for white people to shoot Asians in this state”.
I don’t know much about this case, heard about it years ago. I think they ruled it an accidental shooting.
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“ルイジアナ州って日本人高校生が銃で撃たれて
撃った人は無罪になった恐ろしい州でしょ。白人がアジア人撃っても無罪の州。” (Original Japanese)
This comment doesn’t make it sound like Asians are held above other races but rather I see an obvious intention to imply that Louisiana is the state of white supremacists.
What I clearly remember on this incident is that “Freeze” became famous among Japanese as a word for warning for a while. And I think, the focus of news reports about this incident was not on racism but on an aspect of U.S. as a society of guns and rifles at that time.
By the way, on the 2ch thread for this issue, there is debate on whether the fact that we see virtually no black swimmer in the Olympics is a result of racism or not.
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I wouldnt advise for anyone of color to live in the south or much of America. Imagine walking around and having people hate you for the color of your skin everyday. Racism and alive and well in America and from my experience and also from the words of other black people who live in Japan, the racism in Japan has nothing on the racism in America.
My father got arrested for driving a car to a house that both didnt look like it belonged to him (words from a cop) even though it was his house and car. They even called him boy like you see in those old movies from the fifties.
I had people call me the N word when I scored higher on a test than them… Or I had some guys called me a “sweet yellow nigger woman” and tried to pull me in their car or my playmates tell me that their mother dont like black people coming into their yard. Yes there is racism in Japan but I think it is much better here.
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Wait a sec… I just can’t stay quiet on this. I understand if you may have been through something but I, who am a black female, have not. I was born and raised in America. Went to a private school where there were only 2 other blacks. You know who my closest friend was and still is? A white female at school and an Asain female at my ballet classes. I was close with one of the black females until she said “Us blacks have to stay together” So my question was are you friends with me because I’m black? If I wasn’t would you be? Twisted hm? Let’s just say I’m not close with her anymore.
I have faced more opposition from blacks than any one else. “Selling out huh?” or “What you don’t like your own kind?” are just a few of the lines I’ve heard. The guy I’m dating is white and you know who yells out rude language about it? Black people. Do I feel ill sentiments? No. Simply because it was those people and not everyone is like that. My family accepted him without even blinking. His family accepted me without a thought. I was raised to treat everyone equally. No judging on looks or color just the person inside and their actions. And you know, save a few people here and there (which will happen just because there are people like that in the world) I have had nothing but good dealings with others.
I am tired of generalizations. This is how misinformation gets spread. And it seems to me it’s misinformation that gets spread the quickest in most cases. You have a bad run in with someone you categorize Everyone like them that way instead of saying it was the individual. Which is was! Those people in your life acting that way were simply those people. Including the cops. I’m sorry you had bad experiences but, don’t pin it on every single American. And I would say the same with Japan. Pinning the term racist or anything else on the Japanese due to some nonsense people say in forums shouldn’t be done either.
Maybe it’s a good thing to talk about it. Get it all out in the air. Once it’s all out there and we realize we’re all saying the same thing and simply the majority of us, no matter the ethnicity, just want to live our lives, choose how we live them and of course choose the people we surround ourselves freely we can move forward.
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Listen Okami or whoever you are. That wasnt the point of my message. I went through the same thing with Black people thinking I was a sellout cause my skin was too light or I hung out with all kinds of people, no matter their skin color. My point if you have missed it is about how racism is alive and well in the states and how much I enjoy living outside of America and in other countries because the racial tensions in America is too much.
Do you even live in Japan or have you even been here to note the differences? I discuss these issues with everyone and hold no grudge against someone for the color of their skin. My grandma is white and we have the same discussions so dont even think I am like one of those girls who pinned you as the oreo… I dont care about color of a person’s skin and all the superficial stuff…
By recounting my experiences as a Black person in America I was showing how what happend at that interracial couple is only the tip of the iceberg.
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My actual nickname is kami-chan… S.
Well you could have said so in your comment. Simply telling how bad your life was in America then saying it’s better in Japan was more than misleading. And as you’ve stated “I enjoy living outside of America and in other countries because the racial tensions in America is too much.” Is what I’m addressing. I was telling you that I have not experienced what you have gone through.
To me it felt like you were pinning the US as racist. And I have not felt any of the tension you speak of. Which was also the point as I want to make sure that instead of just the “I’m black I experienced racism in America” is not the only view out there.
I also have to say this tension you speak of is between blacks more than anyone else nowadays. Split between the ones who play the race card and the ones who are tired of hearing it.
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I think the appropriateness of “Jap” is entirely dependant on context. If someone uses the term while meaning to offend me then it’s offensive, if it’s someone just being too lazy to say the whole thing then that’s fine. A word alone can’t be sinister or evil, context is everything, people who can’t tell the difference are sad people.
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It sounds like you had some bad experiences in the US. Sorry to hear that. I have also experienced or witnessed plenty of racism in my life. Most of it before graduating high school. I’ve found that the majority of adults are not racist, but you still have the chance to run into some like the judge in the case.
I grew up attending an inner city public school in the Southern US where I was a minority. I actually have a mixed background but most people probably consider me white. I can say without a doubt that the things I saw growing up were a hundred times worse than my personal experiences in Japan. I have been the target of racism before coming to Japan so that was not the biggest shock to me. What I found difficult to adjust to was being completely surrounded by one race of people. I was used to seeing people of every color in my daily life. I guess it’s just a sub conscious thing. But it’s difficult to adjust to being in such a small minority.
Eventually I realized (even if it’s obvious) after coming to Japan that the reason there is there is more racism in the US is that there are simply more races that need to interact with each other. It only makes sense that there should be less racism in Japan. Many people here very rarely encounter people of other races. It seems like if you are living in the homogeneous bubble of Japan it would remove the type of racism I have seen outside of japan. Granted there are still people here who have managed to master racism and made sure I knew about it, heh. But at the most these are just a few random idiots. There may be Japanese people who suffer in quiet xenophobia but they have no impact on my life.
Anyway, I would honestly say there is more racism in the US than in Japan. But at the same time you also get the benefit of many people and cultures mixing together. It’s a double edged sword no doubt, but I don’t have a problem taking the bad with the good. Japan is a great place but I also love the diversity of the US.
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“All you need is LOVE, ba-ba bala-baaaaaaaaaa………”
….an intelligent man said, once. And he was shot.
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I’d just like to chime in and say that I know tons of people who say, “Jap” casually — it’s not racist, it ~shouldn’t~ have any racist connotations, and there’s really no reason to get upset about it.
Some people try to justify racism claims by saying that “Jap” carries WWII-era emotional baggage, but you know what? So does “Japanese.” In the 1940s when “Jap” came into being, “Jap” and “Japanese” both had the same negative meaning. The only difference then was being lazy in the syllable count, and the only difference now is being lazy in the syllable count.
Really, I can’t stand when people get angry over something as ridiculous and benign as “Jap.” Can you imagine if US citizens got angry every time someone called us “Americans?”
“That’s UNITED STATES OF AMERICAN! Use the full term!”
It’d be ridiculous.
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Interesting, Tell that to anonymous 2 channelers who use “chon” They must be more than happy to use your argument for their cause.
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While it would be great if everyone just dropped whatever bad memories and meanings associated with these terms on the count of three, the world isn’t such a perfect place. So then, if you unilaterally declare you have no bad intentions and use such terms with abandon, you may risk looking ignorant at best, a bigot at worst, whatever your intentions may be.
Somehow I have a hard time believing that. But I suppose it’s better than Nip …
I just hope you don’t go around using words like Gook with the same excuse.
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Whether a word is considered discriminatory or not largely depends on what the majority of the target group would feel, rather than its linguistic origin. You could also say “Shina”, “Sangokujin”, “gaijin”, or “Negro” are neutral in origin, but that’s not the point.
Stop using “Jap”, if you don’t want to give the wrong impression of you being racist. Simple as that.
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When I was in Japan,my buddy Ken always calls me a fkin cracker and I called him a yellow monkey, then we’d high five and drink ten beers.
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Honestly I think for many words it depends on the intent. Some words are meant to be racial slurs and others are more ambiguous. For example it used to be cool for black men to call each other “nigga”. While it might be idiotic they didn’t intend it to be derogatory.
For me this is actually the first time I have heard that “jap” was a racial slur. But honestly if it offends you (assuming you are Japanese) I would never use it.
Would it still be ok to use the term “jap” in the context of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish-American_princess ?
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I think it is history and context that is crucial.
There is a history in which “negro” and “Japs” have predominantly been used in discriminatory contexts in the U.S. people presume someone is using the words in a pejorative sense when they utter them. People don’t use the word “chon” because predominantly the word has been used in a pejorative sense.
Of course there are exceptions as in the cases where some black people call themselves nigger, and some Japanese call themselves Japs.
(By the way I don’t think the majority even use the word sangokujin—I didn’t know the word until ishihara used it and I think the majority use “gaijin”"gaikokujin” in a neutral way except that “gaijin” is not used in an official place.)
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Lovely minds we humans have, soon we will run out of words.
http://www.rsdb.org/
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> Can you imagine if US citizens got angry every time
> someone called us “Americans?”
> “That’s UNITED STATES OF AMERICAN! Use the full term!”
No, I don’t think they would get angry. Yet, the other “Americans” outside the U.S. would be offended at least mildly. I personally think it’s inappropriate to refer to U.S. citizens as “Americans,” because U.S. nationals only form a minority group of the whole Americans, but they don’t seem to consider Brazilians and Mexican to be fellow Americans. We should probably call them “U.S. Americans” or “USAers”.
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The rest of the world calls you “Yanks.”
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To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
- EB White
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thx kevin!
ot that there are some meaning from EU, India, Russia and PRC..
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See, the word “America” appears in the United States of America’s name. So, really, if you use a little bit of brain power, you can understand why people form the United States of America (or, commonly shortened as America, or USA, or the US) would be called Americans. Much like how people from Canada are called Canadians or people from Mexico, Mexicans.
If you want to call some one from a continent, under your strict names rules, it should be North American or South American. Or, it can just be American too and you can stop being an idiot.
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It turned out to be too difficult for a self-centered “American” girl to understand my argument. Go ahead and call yourself an American.
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Wow magus,
YOU are so completely clueless and out of touch.
Calling somebody a “Jap” is not benign nor ridiculous. It IS racist, prejudiced, and derogatory. It’s the same as somebody calling Americans “Yanks” all the time, and Yanks ONLY.
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Sorry to break this to you but “Yanks” doesn’t offend any American that I know. Unless maybe they are a Red Sox fan, heh.
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“Yanks” surely offends proud Southerners.
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Pixel_Bomber,
I guarantee you would be offended if you heard it used while you visited some place like the UK on holiday and they were bashing you about how crappy the Yank footie team TRY to play football, or some such thing like that. Because they won’t call you an American, they won’t call you somebody from the US, they’ll just call you a Yank the entire time through pub-bitter teeth in your face.
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I’m not pixel bomber, but there’s no way I would be offended if someone was calling a Yank – even to my face. I’ve heard the word off and on for a couple of years now, but the word still has no context or meaning to me. The only reference I can think of to Yank is in the song Yankee Doodle Dandy, and even in that context, the word is supposed to indicate stupidity because one doesn’t know how to dress properly…
I mean, there is a team called the Yankees. Just tell them you don’t play baseball.
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Honestly in American culture there are more positive examples of Yank or Yankee than negative. Through various films and songs, I think yank is a term that most Americans would see as positive. But maybe it’s just me. I was born in the North but grew up in the South. I guess some people who are into the civil war might think of a north/south thing when they here the word. But even then, it’s probably not offensive.
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It’s certainly not meant as offensive most of the time – when it is used in offensive contexts it’s not the word itself that is considered offensive, but the “goddam stupid arsehole” that goes in front. That said, it is not respectful, but then it’s a casual nickname, and they seldom are “respectful” as the whole idea is to get past that.
Incidentally, I just did a search on the word “yanks” for my hometown paper, and it is most often used there in a sporting context.
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When someone uses the term “Yank” it’s not offensive to me. It’s just a red flag that tells me that person is a moron and has no clue about America. Especially when they say it to a Canadian.
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“It’s just a red flag that tells me that person is a moron and has no clue about America.”
In what sense? The word may refer to a specific set of northerners in the US, but outside it is refers to all Americans (USA).
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The reason this is news is that it is monstrously atypical for the United States. Trotting it out as an example of how racist America is can only be seen as an effort on the part of some people to try and vilify the U.S. rather than to understand the true situation.
Americans are outraged by this racist behavior. Therefore it is news. If they were typically racist, it wouldn’t be news.
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good point, I completely agree with you
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“Americans are outraged by this racist behavior. Therefore it is news. If they were typically racist, it wouldn’t be news.”
Pretty much.
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I think that US still live the segregation era!!!
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That must make it very confusing for our half black/white president. I wonder which bathroom he uses.
Your trolling is terrible.
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Yea you are right we still have segregation. I bet it gets really confusing when our half white/black president needs to use the bathroom. Which one does he pick??
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I tend to notice that most educated Asians in the States usually associate themselves more with white american culture than anything else. So i kinda agree with one of the 2channel comments on that.
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So James you’re basically using 2chan comments to troll your own website in order to spark outrage and get more hits? Then you take the moral high ground by saying “these comments don’t represent all of Japanese society” when you practically invited the flame war yourself? Nice to include those token rational 2chan comments to pretend you’re trying to be balanced.
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Why would he need to be balanced? This is a blog, not some hard news site.
Also, I love these posts. I love reading what people on 2channel have to say as I wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
These posts do not give me a negative view of Japan, or even Japan netizens. It may give me a bad opinion of the individual that said it though.
I can’t see how a rational human being could have a problem with these posts.
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There are several Japanese site translating reactions and comments of people from all over the world on various topics, especially related to Japan, from sites like, “I Am Bored“, “reddit“, “digg“, and YouTube to Japanese. Stereotypes and misinterpretations are often funny there. Even there exists Japanese site which often picks comments from foreign boards sometimes full of racial slur against Japanese; they are not so different from some of 2ch threads.
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I see you have found out the secret to driving more readership to this place.
I don’t know… remember the Kitty (i.e. skinned and cooked alive) video many years back?
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Actually, these comment translation posts get far less hits than the silly animal video posts.
but far more comments….
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@pixel_bomber
“Would it still be ok to use the term ‘jap’ in the context of Jewish American Princess.”
Jewish American Princess is similiar to calling someone a valley girl. The person you are calling a JAP doesn’t have to be Jewish or female or American to be called this.
It’s basically means stuck up girl. In Japanese we call this ojo-sama. But JAP, as an expression, is really old. Remember there was an official funeral for the word “def”. JAP didn’t even get a funeral, it was already mummified. They just figured to leave it were it is, in the trash bin of verbal history.
I personally prefer “old maid” because this term:
* is much more cruel
* girls can laugh off valley girl or JAP, but not old maid.
* It’s like stating the obvious. It’s just a fact. Which is why it hurts.
* The person is doing it to herself. Although she will blame everyone else
Old maid refers to the aftermath of being a JAP. Old maid is a woman who can’t get along with at least one other person on this planet (guys are just called by other guys untrustworthy, not old maid) eventually wakes up and realizes the rest of her life will be spent without a partner … alone …
One perk of this state is she will have plenty of time to develop obnoxious habits and mental illnesses. Hording, having 50 cats, cleaning the house. Any of these ring any bells.
I grew up surrounded by this mental and physical hell.
So speaking from the heart….
* If your husband beats you.
* If your husband is French or cheats on you.
* If your husband is an alcoholic or drug addict or Canadian
* If your husband can’t make a desent income.
* If your husband is lousy in bed, fat, bald, and smells
* if you husband is a lousy father to your children
My advice to these women is NEVER ever divorce.
A classic valid reason for divorce is infertility. Or if you produce handicapped children because your wife is your sister or cousin or (name your nationality) and you shouldn’t have been married in the first place.
You think you are doing what is best for yourself, but history proves otherwise.
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@pixel_bomber
Would it still be ok to use the term ‘jap’ in the context of Jewish American Princess.
Short answer is No! But not for the reason you might think.
Jewish American Princess is similiar to calling someone a valley girl. The person you are calling a JAP doesn’t have to be Jewish or female or American to be called this.
It’s basically means a stuck up girl. In Japanese we call this ojo-sama. But JAP, as an expression, is really old. Remember there was an official funeral for the word “def”. JAP didn’t even get a funeral, it was already mummified. They just figured to leave it were it lies, in the trash bin of verbal history.
I personally prefer old maid because this term:
* is much more cruel
* girls can laugh off valley girl or JAP, but not old maid.
* It’s like stating the obvious. It’s just a fact. Which is why it hurts.
* The person is doing it to herself. Although she will blame everyone else
Old maid refers to the aftermath of being a JAP. Old maid is a woman who can’t get along with at least one other person on this planet (guys are just called by other guys untrustworthy, not old maid) eventually wakes up and realizes the rest of her life will be spent without a partner … alone …
One perk of this state is she will have plenty of time to develop obnoxious habits and mental illnesses. Hording, having 50 cats, not cleaning the house. Any of these ring any bells.
I grew up surrounded by this mental and physical hell.
So speaking from the heart….
* If your husband beats you.
* If your husband is French or cheats on you.
* If your husband is an alcoholic or drug addict or Canadian
* If your husband can’t make a desent income.
* If your husband is lousy in bed, fat, bald, and smells
* if you husband is a lousy father to your children
My advice to these women is NEVER ever divorce.
A classic valid reason for divorce is infertility. Or if you produce handicapped children because your wife is your sister or cousin or (name your nationality) and you shouldn’t have been married in the first place.
You think you are doing what is best for yourself, but history proves otherwise.
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“The incident is too bad but look at 2ch! You can find more terrible people over here!”
“2ch prove” tactics is realy effective! WWWW
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Thanks James, It actually sounds pretty normal in Japanese. The translation was good but I would have just translated it a little different so it wouldn’t sound as strong maybe like:
“Louisiana’s where a Japanese highschool student got shot with a gun and the shooter was found not guilty,pretty awful state right? Its a state where even if white guy’s shoot Asian people they’re not guilty”
The “Louisiana’s that horrible state where ” line I’m a little confused about because the meaning i get from the Japanese is kind of like hes sayings like ” Scary/shitty/terrible state right?!” from the sentence at the end of it with the topic being the shooting and its like of like an extra thought, where as in the translation given, the horrible state of louisiana is gouped together and kind of gives it this matter of a fact tone of assholeness that the real writer didnt have. I kind of wonder why they chose to translate it like that.
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Her and it will get ugly child, it’s crime to world, they should regret!.
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I think that while there is discrimination in Japan, it is not so bad as in America. I think when many white people come to Japan they are in for a shock because they in a way experience a small percentage of racism that blacks or other people of color experience in America. I even had a friend from Massachusetts who claimed that there was no racism in AMerica. Just goes to show how privileged white people are in the States…I wish I could live in the same ignorance. Let me just tell you that my father got arrested for driving a car that “looked too good to be his to a house that just wasn’t possible for a black man to have”… words from the policeman after he called him boy… now this happened in 2005. Also I was harassed and called a “sweet little N- woman” by a bunch of white boys in a pick-up truck who tried to pull me off the street while I was walking to class…or the numerous times I got harassed and treated as a second class citizen in my own country cause I am a woman of color. So when you guys are ranting about how you cannot possibly fit into Japanese culture just remember that it is a lot worse for your other fellow Americans. Those people who were refused a marriage certificate is the tip of the iceberg…
And yes, America is a lot worse for Asians also. My friend from Mongolia was beat up by a bunch of white guys cause he “looked too strong for his own good” … some crazy stuff like that.
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S,
yeah, that’s pretty much how it goes for everybody on the entire planet if they’ve never really experienced being outside of their own comfort zone their whole entire lives.
The fact is, racism is natural – natural selection, that is, and it is also a part of the instinct for a survival of a unique, individual, and indigenous species. NIMBY, they call it too – Not In My Back Yard. The same thing. As long that foreign thing or idea or person doesn’t invade “my” space than it’s OK to keep it at an arm’s length – after all, how are we supposed to protect our unique, individual, indigenous properties and identities without being racist, saying this is mine here, and that is yours there, and we CAN, at some point, come to some sort of a cordial agreement, but we don’t have to let our guards down and forget about traditions and long-time cultural behaviour of rules at the drop of a hat. The fact is, YOU are DIFFERENT, and I am DIFFERENT. We should be able to leave it that way.
Racism has been bastardized to mean PREJUDICE and DISCRIMINATION – when in reality, the word RACISM should simply mean calling each other by nature’s profiles.
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S,
I went to public school in suburbian Massachusettes up until high school, and I was the only Japanese there. It was surprising to see a school bus full of black kids being transported from the Boston area, because of State policy that required a certain percentage of blacks to be schooled in the suburbs where the population is dominantly white.
Those black kids never really mixed into the local white middle class kids. I never saw outright racism towards them, but once you enter the lavatory, graffiti of racial slurs not only towards blacks but also to asians covered the walls. Most racial hatred is expressed behind closed doors. I even had a teacher who I thought trustworthy call me a “stinkin’ Jap” right after I left the room. It was in the mid 80’s when you would see Toyota’s being sledge hammered on the evening news, so the atmosphere was not the best either.
I don’t know if the situation has improved in the US, but I think there’s too much social engineering going on over there. I’m not against mixed marriages in any way, it’s only natural that some people interact with other races and communities, but it seems like they teach mixing is good when what they really need to teach is respect for other communities and societies, and pride in being part of or identifying with one.
Anyway, I’ve come to the conclusion that in most cases it is necessary to keep a healthy distance between communities of different races, ethnicity and cultures. If we can get rid of the hatred, the world would stay a much more interesting place that way.
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fg…I get what you are saying. I think it is easy for people to spurt out things behind closed doors or the internet. I think it is so sad that people seperate themselves from other just because the color of the skin. I bet if everyone had the same color of skin, we might discriminate against someone for maybe having freckles or long fingers.
After all the bad things that happened to me, I still look a woman/man in the eyes and judge from that , not from the skin… i judge from their actions.
It is just amazing that in the year 2009, something like that would happen. I think if I had lived 50 years ago, i would have gone crazy. Anyways…after living in Japan I realize that one of the solutions to less racism in america would be for people to say just American rather than breaking it down so much to white black asian native etc American. People here just call me amerikajin and they call my coworker amerikajin also… There shouldnt be seperation based on the color of one’s skin. When that happens, it causes a rift within the society.
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S……..
Sorry kiddo, but your above post is typically the kind of immature, irresponsible, uneducated, ignorant things that we would expect to hear from somebody who is precisely not qualified to be out here commenting on something one does not fully comprehend about one’s own IDENTITY.
Please go back and read what I said, above – the bit about “natural selection” and race-identity and uniqueness must be, and truly is, a NATURAL thing that we all must have in order to know one’s identity. To put it another way and, some might still find this concept horrendous and unacceptable, but RACIAL CLASSIFICATION is exactly how one PRESERVES one’s cultural identity. DO NOT get that mixed up with NATIONALITY and POLITICAL identity. It’s an unending argument, this whole chicken-or-the-egg thing, especially when people start to mix – but it is a fact, that when you look at a place like Japan, or, to give you a prime example – ISRAEL = you must ask yourself, is that a nationality by RACE? RELIGION? Or, in the case of America, simply politics?
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Do TELL us your qualFICATIons to comment ON this matter, won’t YOU? Since you THINK it so VERY important.
And you shouldn’t mix with people with different hair or eye colour either, right?
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S, Thanks for the reply
I didn’t mean that the black group should have interacted more with the others. I thought it was a natural thing that they kept seperate.
Here is my theory and nothing more:
The only way a human can further develop into maturity is to make a commitment of who you are. That includes race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, language, being a parent, etc..etc. Some things you have a choice, and some things you have none. But don’t make a mistake of who you are. It does no one any good pretending to be color blind, or pretending we have no cultural heritage, or expecting others to be that way.
Since you mentioned that you think there is less racism in Japan, maybe this will give you a clue of what’s really happening here. The reason why I think the Japanese are so overly polite has a connection to this. (Although I admit it is lacking these days) Again, my theory and nothing more:
Every Japanese has long forgotten, but it is precisely because this society developed on this secluded island through so many wars after wars, tribes vs. tribes, clans vs. clan, race vs. race., since who knows when.
Japanese didn’t start out as a homogenous group of people. At a certain point in history we have come to an agreement on certain crucial things, instead of fighting until the last man’s dead. The politeness you encounter here is proof that the Japanese are living in that agreement to this day.
The politeness we encounter in America or any other part of the world is proof that there has been an agreement made that to respect our differences. And the identity that defines our differences only comes from a commitment to who we are.
So to sum it up, to the best of my knowledge, I don’t think America will be better by just having its people juggled around to become like coffee with cream color, or making laws to enhance interaction among different ethnicities. No matter how hard it is, or how long it will take, we must be responsible of who we are and treasure what we inherited from our ancestors and forefathers, that includes our bodily feature and our distinct cultures too. And only through maturing through our identity, can we go through a process of agreement with others.
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Aren’t you contradicting yourself? You say that you need to commit to your group in all aspects, then say that Japan wasn’t always homogenous, but all agreed to work together so presumably it is now homogenous, then say that won’t work in the US. Which is it? Is mixing to form one people, as in Japan, good, or not good?
For what it is worth, I don’t agree with what your basic premise seems to be – that colour [race] and culture are inextricably linked. Colour is genetic, culture is, well, cultural.
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I can kind of agree with this on one level. I think it is important for people to have a sense of their culture through their family. But I disagree that you need to stick to your own culture strictly. I grew up in exactly the type of society you are saying does not work. My friends growing up were of various races and cultures and all of them had an impact on my life. I actually consider myself lucky for these experiences. What I’m trying to say is you can create your own identity even if you are surrounded by others who are different from you.
I don’t think culture is a stagnant thing that you simply follow. It has to evolve with the world. The world today is tiny, and getting smaller. There are few places you can go in the world and not have access to vast amounts of information. And people have the freedom to go almost anywhere in short amounts of time. Just because you become a part of some other culture does not mean you lose yours. It’s just evolution. I don’t even think it’s open to debate, the human race will either get along with each other or blow ourselves up.
I’m not saying that we are all gonna come together and there will be glorious world peace. I think people will always find a reason to hate each other. Even if every race of people locked themselves away eventually they could find conflict amongst themselves. Using the Japanese as an example, they have a reputation in the world as having a huge problem with bullying in the school system. These are Japanese kids picking on other Japanese kids even though they share the same culture. You say Japanese used to fight with other Japanese when this was a secluded island. There also used to be a cast system where one group of people believed they were better than others, but they evolved with the rest of the world.
I know this sounds really corny but we are all humans, our blood and organs are interchangeable. Do you really think it’s impossible for the entire human race to evolve to a state at least at the level of Japanese society today? It might take a long time but I think it will happen.
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“our blood and organs are interchangeable”
Hmmm. In that sense I have more in common with a Type A Japanese than I do with a Type B European….
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To get to the bottom line of this whole mess, the judge simply doesn’t have a right to interfere in that couple’s life in such a way as he did. He was way out of place. America has a divorce rate of like 49.3% (2007)…. I doubt most of those marriage split up because of ethnic differences. His comment on how interracial relationships rarely survive is not his true agenda. fyi… Alabama recently annulled a bill that prohibits interracial marriages… No one really followed it after the 1950s… but I couldnt believe that in 2000 or so, 26 percent of the voters opted to keep the century old ban. Here is an excerpt…
“A recent poll in Alabama indicated high support for the bill. About 63 percent of those who responded to the poll favored lifting the ban on interracial marriage while 26 percent were opposed. Ten percent said they were not sure or had no reply.”
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First of all. I don’t have a premise that colour (race) and culture is inextricably linked. It’s obvious if you take a look around the world that’s not the case.
I never said you had to commit to your group in all aspects either, please stop putting words in my mouth.
I’m saying people need to identify themselves with “something” in order to mature. And you need to mature in order to respect others who are different from you. So it is only natural that children identify with the culture they are brought up in, or the ethnicity they are born in, although this ofcourse is not always the case. I’m saying there’s nothing wrong with identifying and being committed to what you naturally are. I’m sayin there’s no universal ideal that we should all be striving for.
I’m over simplifying the process in which Japan became a mostly homogenous population. But as you know there are dialects, regional culture still thriving in some parts. That’s a good thing isn’t it. It’s because people identified with the culture.
The Japanese didn’t always just work together, people were shuffled around by force most of the time. It’s all in the past.
Who knows if mixing is good in the US. It might work to make the US homogenous, but do you want it to be? Do you want to go through the process of shooting each other to make that ideal American. I’m not American after all, so sorry for the irresponsible comment, but if you want it to be, I guess that is where you should be committed to.
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You said “make a commitment of who you are. That includes race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, language, being a parent, etc..etc. Some things you have a choice, and some things you have none. But don’t make a mistake of who you are.” This looks a lot like committing to your group in all aspects – you as a black person, you as a Hindu, you as a Chinese, you as a Tamil, you as a Swahili-speaker: these are all groups. So do you mean you only need to choose one of these, or all of these? It’s not clear. Or wasn’t in your original–you have explained it a bit better now.
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Hey OT,
at least all those people you mentioned – they have old time identities that they don’t have to “fake” like Americans! hahahaha
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Yes!
The US’s “old time” is only a few hundred years ago so they have to fake it. It’s hilarious!
I hope I got the joke right, I love jokes.
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“they have old time identities that they don’t have to “fake” like Americans! hahahaha”
I have no idea what you mean. Are you saying American cultural identity is fake?
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Overthinker,
My original post was a response to S’s original post, before you jacked it!!! Just kidding.
But don’t you think that most things you mentioned above are not a choice for most people? It is hard for most people to just to make a living, and the mutual support in the communities or society they identify is important to have things run smoothly isn’t it.
Only a few priveledged ones have a choice over these things. Yet some of these priveledged ones go about ranting on things they don’t care to identify with and not committed to. That is not polite and is a mark of immaturity and contributes to nothing. Although it is funny sometimes to read these rants, it becomes less funny when social activism gets involved.
So I was in agreement with S’s original post that read “So when you guys are ranting about how you cannot possibly fit into Japanese culture just remember that it is a lot worse for your other fellow Americans. ”
But also what I think a solution to this could be, is to be responsible for the ethnicity and culture you inherited, and be committed to the community you are in, and identify in that culture so you can mature in it to make polite (political) agreements with others of different backgrounds. As you know, there are people of mixed backgrounds, and still the argument can be apllied to them as well.
So in general, communities and cultures are very important for people to be civil and to have a moral backbone for the reasons stated above, and although ethnicity and culture are not inextricably linked, they have a very deep connection in the process of development of a community that you cannot take lightly.
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fg,
It’s so easy for an American person who is near the top of society in economic and political status to say what you said. But your “generalization” also demoralizes, dishonors and debases everything that people are “fighting” for throughout human history. Because America, when it was founded, was created on certain ideals that were almost dreamlike, when in reality this whole equality of all men don’t necessary apply to “all.” After all, the land on which America was founded was founded after almost all the Natives had been completely annihilated, and a lot of people will discredit America for its “world police” attitude, trying to be the new Rome, since the land doesn’t necessary belong to the White invaders, after all.
Take a look at Palestine, as a prime example. Do you think your “polite agreements” would work in a place like that? Israel was also founded by force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine
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ML,
I’m not sure what you mean. What is it that people are “fighting” for throughout human history? Does it apply to all humans on this planet, or only to certain people? Can you be more specific.
And jumping from US history to Palestine is a bit abrupt, and frankly too much of a topic for me to handle on this forum.
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I’m not too sure what this is about myself. Bit busy at the moment, so will respond more fully later, but let’s use either “hijacking” or “threadjacking” – I thought for a minute fg was telling me I had been wanking….
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FG,
Sorry if I misunderstood your post. It sounds like we agree on this point. I do agree that children need to identify and learn from their environment. The only thing I would add to that is that in Japan the main qualification for defining your cultural upbringing is that you must be Asian (unless your name is Ken Tanaka). There might be exceptions to this that I have not thought of but I’m pretty sure any child who does not look Japanese would forever be a gaijin regardless of how/where he is raised in Japan. In a multicultural society a child of any race can simply absorb whatever culture he is brought up in and become a part of it. I prefer this, but it’s only my opinion so take it as that.
In my opinion it certainly is. If you look at history, the US has been successful because of immigration. Most people in the US come from immigrants at some point. Look at it like a business. If you need to fill a position you want the best PERSON for that role. You don’t care what he looks like or what religion he practices in his personal life. You want the best person so that your business will succeed. So I think it’s the same for a nation, you want the best leaders and ideas to form your country’s future. It shouldn’t matter if they are the son/daughter of an immigrant or a person of mixed race. I think by limiting a culture to one people a nation severely limits their ultimate potential. I hope Japan will continue to welcome more foreigners as I think it makes Japan a greater nation.
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“I hope Japan will continue to welcome more foreigners as I think it makes Japan a greater nation.”
THAT is where you’re wrong. To use the American “model” for immigration and nation-building is not the right way for Japan. This goes back to the point about “unique, individual and indigenous properties and identities.” You’re making Japan not be the Japan as you now know it to be. I’m not saying that any culture or nation has been able to be the same forever, let alone a couple of hundred years, paradigms do shift because that is a part of progress and evolution – and seeing how the world has got smaller thank to the Web and other technologies in the last 50 years – but all those qualities that Japan unique and what it is will be gone if you open the doors completely and let it a free for all for all the foreign elements to become a part of the “new” culture – such as in America.
If that mix is what you want, then go to America. People should let Japan be Japan – because in the end, that is why you enjoy Japan, because it is not like other places or peoples.
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“Everybody’s gotta keep f__king everybody till they’re all the same color.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8lUY9jS8oQ
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wow that was a terrible movie.
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It was a hilarious movie, though. And though overall it was terrible, it had some good points, like this clip here.
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I’m from New Orleans.
We all see things that anger and hurt us. When we do, one form of relief (apparently) is to blame a group, and thus derive a momentary sense of superiority (and satisfaction).
“Look at ALL those people in that horrible state. They’re ALL terrible, because they mistakenly think ALL [insert race or nationality] are [insert attribute].”
Hm. Now manifestly, doesn’t this sort of statement demonstrate the very same behavior it pretends to decry?
It seems harmless in the moment, but isn’t it this very thing that’s behind every form of cultural hate?
Hate is as hate does. We need more patience and clear thought in this world, and less hate disguised as thinking.
- A very proud Louisianian
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I live in the same area as this man. All I can tell you is that not EVERYONE feels that way. The majority that do are the baby boomers and older. I’m in my twenties. I’m shocked that the world would stoop so low as to group everyone in Louisiana and the south in general as white supremacists. Please think outside the box.
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No of course they don’t – they’re so responsible and self-respecting that they LEAVE the State to go pollute another one, such as Texas which is next door, instead of staying to fix it all. I am so sick and tired of people who say such good things about themselves down there in NO, but they don’t do anything about their own communities and they DO blame it on the government (local, state and federal) for not cleaning it up quickly enough. Bah!
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It’s unfair to generalize the American South as a backwards racist outpost, but you’d be downright foolish and naive if you think that a non-Caucasian is NOT going to encounter trouble there. I’ve gone to Penn State for my undergraduate studies, lived in Oregon for 2 years, rented a summer house with my friends in Florida, and went skiing in Colorado. Overall, I would say I rarely if ever encountered prejudice toward myself (I’m Malay and Danish). But in the rural areas of the American South, I did encounter some unpleasant occurrences. That didn’t warp my view of the fine people I met in Georgia and Tennessee, but it was still a bit of a shock to have a group of middle-aged WASP-types scratch up my car and call me all sorts of wonderful terms about my eyes and skin tone.
And really, people, do we have to make a fuss over what Japanese netizens on 2channel post as commentary on this incident in Louisiana? Using that sort of logic, it’d be having Japan Probe’s comments as a basis in ascertaining how deluded and patronizing foreigners in and out of Japan can be.
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Racism is awful. Looking down on someone because they are different than you is downright ignorant but common among people. I know that whites coming to Japan are shocked sometimes at the discrimination they might receive here But have they ever thought about how their own family members back home might be treating people who are not white? Many African Americans who come to Japan say that they are treated better in Japan than in their own country.
THere are some parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Lousiana that even today I would not go to because I would fear for my life. They still have kkk rallies and it is increasing. I tried to visit a friend of mine in Alabama who is white and she told me not to be out alone after dark because I am Black and many people are assaulted. A few miles away, a burning cross could be viewed from her window. Only a few years ago Alabama had officially done away with a law that prohibited interracial marriage.
As for me,while in America… I was almost driven off the road a couple of times by racist kids. My father was called a boy and pulled out of his own truck because he didnt quickly respond to the officer. Yes there is racism in Japan but the racism in Japan is passive aggressive, sometimes hard to detect but the racism in America is scary, invasive, and at times life threatening and also affects your likelihood for getting a job.
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