Japanese Usain Bolt
A reenactment of Usain Bolt’s memorable record-breaking win at last year’s Beijing Olympics (achieved through the use of brown paint and what appears to be a Michael Jackson mask):
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Heh, my border collie can run faster than that. Being the fastest/strongest human is about as impressive as being the smartest cow.
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well, of course a dog can run faster but the question is whether you, a human, can run faster than Usain Bolt. I doubt it.
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Of course I can’t. But we’re not the apex predators because we can run faster and lift more than the other species, are we? No, far from it, even the most physically fit amongst us are weak and frail compared to animals in the wild. We are where we are because we can create devices that run/lift thousands of times faster/more than the fastest/strongest animals out there, with our unparalleled brains. This is the year 2010, not 10000 B.C., when your running actually mattered.
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Your only saying that because your fat and unfit
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No I’m only saying that, because that’s a fact. But I guess you’re probably a little too physically fit and mentally challenged to appreciate simple facts, kinda like my border collie. Actually, that wouldn’t be a fair comparison, cause you’re still quite a bit smarter than my dog, but definitely not as physically fit as she is.
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Am I the only one who pictures ‘colorful’ as being extremely overweight?
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Because, y’know, only excelling in your studies really matters. Oh, don’t worry if you’re fat and weak and riddled with bodily complications. We’re living in the modern times anyway so all those illnesses of yours can be cured with expensive BUT modern treatments.
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Fact: People watch some sort of major league sport where physical fitness is necessary, rather than watching some sort of machine race around a track or watching a machine lift a 100 tons.
These human beings that are more physically fit also enjoy a comfortable lifestyle with some sort of shoe endorsement from Nike and Reebok. It is 2010, I think running does STILL matter.
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Eddie: yep, and with a level-80 orc.
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achieved through the use of brown paint and what appears to be a Michael Jackson mask
I guess blackface and “moonrun” are the matter, right?
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Blackface again. Will someone please ‘teach’ the culture about the appropriateness (or should I say, inappropriateness) of this relic of the minstrel days?
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Or perhaps a culture needs to be taught that its values and mores are not universally applicable, and the people of that culture need to stop assuming they are.
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Blackface is specific to the US. It has no meaning in Japan.
Why must this retarded conversation be held every single time somebody in Japan makes themselves look black?
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It is hard to respect the views of those who make no effort to understand what they are discussing. A look at the principles of cultural relativism might be useful. Commentary from a position of ignorance rarely throws much light on any subject.
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Indeed. “Cultural relativism” are the key words!
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All “cultural relativism” means is that the same image does not carry the same meaning in two different cultures. It does not excuse racism or stereotyping.
Before proceeding any further, let me first qualify that this video isn’t a particularly good example of what I’m about to argue. It doesn’t really seem that offensive in and of itself, and doesn’t immediately bring to mind any negative stereotypes.
But, there are two main reasons why using “cultural relativism” to excuse similar blackface performances is problematic.
1. Japan does not exist in a cultural vacuum.
Obviously Japan imports a great deal of cultural material, especially from America. For better or worse, Japanese people are exposed to American media that contains ingrained stereotypes about a variety of different races, whether it be from movies, music, or television.
2. Negative stereotypes towards black people exist in Japan.
Whether due to point 1. above or due to original stereotypes the Japanese have created themselves, these negative stereotypes exist. For a couple examples, check out the firsthand accounts at “Loco in Yokohama or the stories about the Gaijin Ura Hanzai File incident from a couple years back to get an idea about the problem. Obviously negative stereotypes exist to different degrees to different people, and I wouldn’t suggest that all Japanese people have negative stereotypes towards anyone.
Whether or not #1 directly caused #2, continued use of racial stereotypes of any minorities should not be accepted, as they do no justice to those discriminated against nor those who accept the stereotype as fact.
(again, I realize that the video in question for this post isn’t particularly offensive, I just don’t agree with all those that argue “leave Japan alone cultural relativism blah blah.”)
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If you’re not Black you’re in no position to deem what is or isn’t to Black people.
I’m never offended by this kind of thing, because there is no history of blackface mockery in Japan, the Japanese didn’t enslave Black people, the history isn’t there. It doesn’t run as deep.
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Eddie Im black and it does offend me. Im more than the colour of my skin. Im from the Caribbean so we also never had a history of black face. It does not rest well with me or any of my friends. Ive been called the N word in Japan for the first time in my life. We never had a strong history of this in the Caribbean so does it mean that I smiled at the guy who said it to me?
Japan like many parts of the world continue to treat blacks like shit. As a proud black person I cannot say that it doesnt bother me when people try to imitate or mock me by putting on wigs and shoe polish. Im certainly not impressed.
And Im sure Usain wouldnt like to know that all he is …is a fast N****r
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So, just out of curiosity, if a white guy or an asian guy wants to impersonate Usain Bolt or Stevie Wonder or any other famous black person, how do they do that effectively without makeup?
Obviously, if they’re doing a minstrel show or acting like Step n’ Fetchit, that’s discriminatory. But I don’t recall anyone complaining when Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall put on “whiteface” to play a couple of old Jewish guys. If they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have been “old Jewish guys” they would have been a couple of young black guys speaking with funny voices. Same here – if a Japanese wants to do an impression of Usain Bolt and doesn’t use any makeup… it’s just going to be a Japanese guy in a track suit saying “I’m Usain Bolt” and looking stupid.
Or, are we melanin-impaired individuals forever banned from impersonating blacks because you just know we’ll screw it up and be racists? If so, fine, but the next time you see a black actor or comedian impersonating a white guy I hope you’ll slam him just as hard for being racist as well.
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Silly LB, don’t you know that you aren’t allowed to change the color of their skin? It’s is inherently racist! This is why it is widely agreed that the chameleon is the most racist animal on earth.
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“your skin” is what I meant.
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Ive been called the N word in Japan for the first time in my life. We never had a strong history of this in the Caribbean so does it mean that I smiled at the guy who said it to me?
If he obviously did it just to mimic gangsta rappers calling their brothers by the N word, you should have beaten him since he was perhaps an idiot. However, in the case that he used it for the purpose of insulting you, you might have expressed yourself a bit moderately, e.g., spitting upon and slapping twice his face, since it is possible that he had brains to think and hence conversation and mutual understanding was still possible. Better to choose an appropriate way for each situation.
Either way, in my opinion, the most important thing is the attitude to trying to comprehend each other whenever possible.
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hushpuppies
Stereotype is not universal.
Not many Japanese people even know N words, much less the connotations of the words and not many people link black people with shoe polish.
Mocking somebody is wrong with or without wigs and paint,but impersonating someone with a wig and paint does not necessarily mean that s/he is mocking. In fact in most of the cases, impersonating black singers in Japan comes out of adoration.
Not that there is no racism against black people in Japan, but I don’t want people to bring old baggage with them.
Am I supposed to smile at the guy who call me Jap?
It depends on the intention and the context. If s/he uttered it as a short for Japanese in a country where there is no history nor social conditions where Japanese are mocked by calling them Jap, I have no reason to get angry.
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The costume is Usain Bolt and was used to convey some sort of joke. The comedic value in this wasn`t aimed at the ridicule of black people or at anyones expense.
Dave Chappelle puts on whiteface a few times in his comedy for a few laughs to show his whiteness.
Both jokes have varying levels of racism, and both have a varying level of comedy all of which is completely subjective.
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I’m black, and like 99% of sane black people I dont see how this blackface is in any way innaproproate. Its not black people complaining about these things over the net. Most could care less. He was not making fun of a specific group of people or anything. Now if was crying “Mammy Mammy” with white lips then maybe different. BTW Japan is awesome, that is all.
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If you think that japanese people dont have sterotypes about black people then obviously there is just no point in me carrying on this debate.Of course they do! My Japanese friends who are both married to African men can tell you how their parents reacted when they brought home a black man and the next time their half black/japanese kids come home crying that people are calling them monkey then I will tell them your kind words.
At this point in my life I could care less where Japan is headed…just here for the paycheck. So they can call me anything they want or think what they want..its not my home.
and in this day and age..no country lives in a vacuum…ie the australian KFC Ad.
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If you think that japanese people dont have sterotypes about black people then obviously there is just no point in me carrying on this debate
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But nobody is claiming that there are no stereotype about black people.
Perhaps being good athlete is one of them,
The problem is that the Japanese don’t know about black people as much as you seem to assume.
As somebody else pointed out, some Japanese might mistakenly hold that foreigners tend to commit more crimes than Japanese. But that’s not just about black people but about foreigners.
”black/japanese kids come home crying that people are calling them monkey”
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It is unlikely. In general Japanese don’t link black people with monkey. Have you ever seen Japanese moneky? You know, the Japanese link moneky with its red face and red bud.
Until recently I didn’t know there are monkey chants by football fans in Europe nor did I know monkey was linked with black people. I realized it because some foreigners in Japan protested against black people being side by side with monkey on Japanese TV commercial. Monkey is just monkey in Japan.
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Its very interesting to see the amount of people overreact to a video like this. It seems us as Americans have been programmed in our mind that when we see a black face it is meant to offend in a sort of way. I am not saying that it once was not meant to offend but in this situation it is not. As an African-American with Jamaican decent I see no harm being done. All it is is someone trying to play the role of someone else, in this care Usain Bolt. I don’t understand, How would you have him rather do to make him look like him? I see not sign of stereotypes, clear racial discrimination or making fun.. Its pretty amazing how a harmless skit like this would make everyone have there pitchforks out hunting for blood.
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Word. And why isn’t anyone making a fuss about the fake white guy next to him, if impersonating other races is so evil? I mean, that guy was running backwards!
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James!
I noticed another important point! Watch carefully the very last part of the clip, you see a woman costumed like a rabbit serving to a man. It is a crucial problem from the feminist and animal-rights point of view. It clearly reflects how Japanese regard and treat females and animals… What a backward country Japan is!
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the black paint was part of the costume, not part of the joke.
Anyway, Japanese people are xenophobic- they’re racist to *everyone* that’s not japanese. When i visited kyoto i was refused entry into two restaurants, because i was white. That doesn’t mean i should take offence to a japanese guy wearing a white man mask.
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“When i visited kyoto i was refused entry into two restaurants, because i was white”
I’ve never heard of the restaurants in Kyoto refusing white people：Kyoto is a tourist city.
Which restaurant?
I am asking this because some foreign-born activists in Japan exaggerate and distort the extent of xenophobia in Japan by telling fake stories and I want to call the restaurants and tell them to stop it if it is true.
BTW do you think white people are racists because some white folks in Japan are planning to reuse the entry of the Japanese people?
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it was a restaurant recommended for selling raw steak, out of the city centre. They said (to my friends wife, who is japanese) it was because foreign people can’t handle the raw steak they serve, but she said it was likely purely because we were just foreign. She said it wasn’t uncommon as kyoto has a lot of national and cultural pride. Im afraid i dont remember the names, it was a few years ago now!
Ive never heard of white/ foreign born activists. Actually, I have no issue with them refusing access to foreigners in some areas. It’s their culture and they should feel free to protect it from foreign influence if they choose to.
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Protecting culture is one thing and refusing foreigners is another.
The reason they gave, if nothing is lost in translation, is not convincing.
By your logic,perhaps white people are racist to everyonewho is not white. Thanks anyway.
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oh right, white people refusing access to japanese people in japan? thats a pretty stupid move business wise. It sounds more complex than just racism though, if they hated japanese people racially i doubt they’d have stayed long in japan.
incidentally the restaurant thing is just a brief personal example. obviously theres a lot more than that- isolating themselves from the world for a few hundred years, use of the word gaijin and that sort of thing. Obviously across the nation there’s going to be varying degrees of xenophobia/ tolerance, im just making the point that it isn’t just towards the black race, it’s towards other races generally.
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“It sounds more complex than just racism though”
Is it just simple racism when a Japanese restaurant did it,?
“if they hated japanese people racially i doubt they’d have stayed long in japan.”
Actually they suggest people not to come to Japan, not to marry Japanese and have a baby in Japan. It might be that they are planning to leave, I guess.
“isolating themselves from the world for a few hundred years”
Does slaving black people for a few hundred years make, for instance, England a racist country now?
“use of the word gaijin”
Does the use of the word gaijin mean xenophobia?
Gaijn means a foreingner. Does the use of the word indicate xenophobia?
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“Gaijn means a foreingner. Does the use of the word indicate xenophobia?”
By itself, no. But many other factors, including that word and the particular ways it is used in Japan, are consistent with what is often called “xenophobia” but is probably more clearly identified as “provincialism”.
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“the particular ways it is used in Japan, are consistent with what is often called “xenophobia” but is probably more clearly identified as “provincialism”
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So your own use of the word “gaijin” on the comment, for instance at 2009-09-24 23:17:06 under the thread “No Koreans Allowed”on Japan Probe is consistent with your xenophobia and that indicates your provincialism, doesn’t it? I see.
If the existence of the words that distinguish the citizen from non-citizens indicates provincialism, then no country is free from provincialism.
Could you explain how provincialism is realized in the following context?
1)外人さんって素敵！
2)外国人って素敵！
Just like “a foreigner”, “foreign nationals” and “immigrant”, it can be used in a good way and a bad way.
And there is no evidences the word is dominantly used in the context in which people insult the foreigners, as is the case with N-words.
3)あそこにいる外人はインド人かな？
4)あそこにいる外国人はインド人かな？
Could you explain the difference between 3) and 4)?
Incidentally it is interesting to note it is often people who can’t read and write Japanese well who claim “gaijin” is a derogatory word.
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@ ponta – Its interesting how – when you’re not telling others to stop putting words in your mouth – you generally are putting words in others’ mouths.
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leitmotiv
Be specific. When did I put words in your mouth?
The words like gaijin, gaikokujin, foreigners, foreign nationals, immigrants, diaspora, Japanese, American etc. can be used in such a way that can be identified as “xenophobia”“provincialism”.
It depends on the context.
Thus of course there are the particular ways of using these words, in a very trivial sense, which can be identified as provincialism.
But there is nothing special about the word “gaijin”
That is basically my response to your comment.
Keep in mind that the original claim I was responding to was that use of the word gaijin somehow expresses Japanese xenophobia.
Mentioning the particular use in a trivial sense seems out of context.
Also, I wanted to debunk the myth, propagated by some people who can not read nor write Japanese well, that “gaijin” was a derogatory word.
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Dun dun dun dun dah dah dah baaaaaan!
… Jap…
I felt insulted by this particular sequence of letters in your sentence! You have repeatedly showed contempt, hostility, hatered… blah blah blah… toward Japan and Japanese people on Japan Probe! You can never refute me since I am a victim of racism now!
No, you are not allowed to reply this, otherwise you are a non-Japanese defending crappy apologist.
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Oh, no… I insulted me.
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I found someone selling their “blackface kit” product:
【コスプレ特殊メイク】ガングロ・日焼けキャラクター向け「黒塗り化粧セット」
http://www.layered.jp/shop/261_3255.html
You know how racist Japan is…
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I like the bunny girl =P
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