Comments

1. atlasien wrote:

   Here’s one unusual thing about Japanese xenophobia. It’s directed not just against other races but also against ethnic Japanese re-immigrants (Japanese-Chileans, -Brazilians, etc.).

   The publication sounds like tabloid journalism at its worst. From those other blog links it looks like Japanese anti-racist organizations are responding, thank goodness.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 9:17 am ¶

2. ren wrote:

   I figured this was going to show up. Man, if you find this disheartening you should actually meet some of the foreigners who live in Asia. Many function well enough to encourage hatred of foreigners. But this issue concerning this particular magazine is a bit trivial. Perhaps they present their information in the most lurid and sensational way possible (a la CNN and FNC), doesn’t necessarily follow that the information they present is false. And who really cares if it is being distributed by a large retailer? So what? People are complaining that this “filth” is being sold on Amazon.com/jp… uh, you can also buy the oddest hardcore niche pornography on Amazon as well. Somehow getting the magazine banned would look slightly absurd, considering the Rubber Fetishists with Steel Mallets DVD is left unscathed. The worst part is, some claim they’re going to send this magazine and complaints to the UN and no doubt the United Nations will stand up and take notice. Because this is of grave concern. The same country who won’t admit or offer apologies for war crimes in China, Korea or for illegal biological warfare campaigns and human experimentation (Unit 731) is going to magically admit wrong in offending the sexual peculiarities of foreign born men (which is clearly the most important issue at stake).

   I swear foreigners in Asia are even worse than Asian Americans. Once they are in Asia, every situation gets turned around to focus on interracial relationships. I can’t shake salt into my shabu-shabu without hearing somebody make a sour-grapes argument. And nothing in the world gets American foreigners to rally like casting suspicion on their interracial relationships. Uh-oh, now watch foreigners living in Asia flip out. You just tread upon the holy. Yet the large extent of the criticism is coming from White males despite the fact that white Americans really aren’t the target of this publication. It’s hardly the overriding issue and yet it sadly it becomes the focus. All the scans of this stupid magazine is the interracial section, because this is undoubtedly the most important to those outraged. A whole double spread from a 100+page magazine, and it’s the criticism of foreigners having sex with native Asian women that prompts an outcry. I would love to pretend the outrage is coming from Japanese anti-racist organizations, but for the most part it sounds like foreigners in interracial relationships feeling slighted. I guess they have to show the interracial pages because it has the word nigger written, and really that’s supposedly the focus of their outrage. I know this for a fact, that US foreigners are very sensitive to issues of race, especially when they come together to party at the Hitler Bar in Korea.

   This is like someone reading a copy of American Enterprise Magazine and being outraged because it’s opinions and issues are twisted to promote a decidedly right-wing position… that’s probably because it’s a publication specially made for a niche audience of right-wingers. I realize it offends you but that’s still not a reason to get it banned, simply because you don’t like the opinions it posits. Of course you’re not going to like it… it’s an ideological rag and you don’t hold that particular ideology. Thus, don’t buy and read it. You’re attacking this like you’re scared mainstream Japanese are going to read this and lose their mind, going from a calm rationality to rabidly anti-foreigner… because of an exaggerated manga of an actual police case or… photographs of foreigners with Asian women. You approach this as if this magazine had a mainstream circulation and appeal, and wasn’t just niche market publication tabloid trash. Frankly, people are giving this far more attention than it deserves.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 10:56 am ¶

3. Sewere wrote:

   [sarcasm on]

   I’m utterly suprised there’s nothing about Nigerians or the the notorious “Nigerian scam” gang… Oh wait, I see we fall under the general rubric of black….

   [sarcasm off]

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 11:25 am ¶

4. Celeste wrote:

   I don’t think it’s very prudent to go to foriegn countries and finger native women on the street in broad daylight. I really would advise against it.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 11:34 am ¶

5. atlasien wrote:

   So Ren, your point is that because some white male foreigners in Japan are overly entitled and overly sensitive, that no one outside Japan should complain or draw any attention whatsoever to Japanese bigotry/xenophobia? I don’t see that connection whatsoever.

   It’s a huge, huge issue. Japan is going to have some major upheavals involving around xenophobia and immigration in the coming decade. Their situation is more comparable to European xenophobia and immigration issues than to American, but it deserves a lot more intelligent worldwide discussion than it’s getting right now.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 12:56 pm ¶

6. Gandalf Mantooth wrote:

   If Ren’s saying the response to the magazine is just as sensationalist as the rag itself I would agree. It’s tabloid crap that’s going to appeal to the Black Van element in Japanese society. It’s significant because someone believes there’s a market for it (and likely knowing the controversy would help sales), still it isn’t much of a commentary on how things are there.

   My wife and I were featured in a magazine piece on successful marriages between foreigners and Japanese nationals. Let’s be careful not to extrapolate the ugly nationalist sentiment into some kind of “truth” about Japan.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 1:18 pm ¶

7. Colin wrote:

   Come now, Gandalf, don’t tell me you don’t feel that ALL Japanese people think black people are n*ggers and violate their women, right? This is actually just a scientific paper, documentation of the atrocities the Japanese people have had to endure in their own country, you know…

   Ren, honestly, though, I don’t understand how this situation is much different than if say Matthew Hale started distributing fliers of Mexican immigrants holding hands with white women in rural Illinois and tried to get people riled up there. Sure, there are a lot of people who just don’t read it, but there are so many that do, and there need to be people criticizing it, if we are to be true anti-racists. (I also wanted to imply here that your analogy with the American Enterprise Magazine is somewhat misplaced, the content I see seems more like what I’d call Japanese supremacy literature, then merely a conservative rag)

   Also, ren, realize that, at least from what I can tell, no one on here is really doing much to really try to pressure the retailer to get the filth (it IS filth, I hope we agree there) off their site. I’ve seen few efforts at that, as of yet, so that argument seems a bit hollow. What people on Racialious are doing is commenting on the content and the context of the filth. I do not understand how in the world the comments themselves are misplaced, as there seems to be quite a bit of racist material in the mag. Please explain, if you will.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 5:22 pm ¶

8. Justin Slotman wrote:

   Yeah–I’m thinking this is much ado about not a lot. Every nation has its cranks. And Amazon US sells The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, so it’s not like they’re being inconsistent in selling racial claptrap without judgement.

   Posted 14 Feb 2007 at 6:21 pm ¶

9. Amory wrote:

   Interesting how reminiscent this is of the Minutemen’s (insane now-federally-funded racist group) propaganda:

   “When is America going to wake up? Or do we have to have our beloved
   nation take away from us by cruel thugs only to awaken when it is too
   late. The problem is extreme! According to a recent report 12 U.S.
   citizens are murdered by illegal aliens everyday and over 13 U.S.
   citizens are being slaughtered in automobile accidents caused by
   illegal aliens, which is over 9100 needless and cruel deaths per year
   at the hands of unlawful immigrants, 300 more than our casualties
   suffered by our brave heroes in Iraq! 23,725 citizens have needless
   perished at the hands of unlawful migrants, here illegally since
   September 11, 2001. This is an outrage!”

   …No mention of the “report” these “statistics” come from, unfortunately.

   Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 12:54 am ¶

10. Brad wrote:

    Damn! I thought the worst rants against guys dating asian women was on the internet. I’m a white guy dating an asian female now. I get pissed when I see criticism of wm/af on these sites but this magazine makes all the pathetic angry asian men look like little whiny school boys by comparison.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 1:57 am ¶

11. tmk wrote:

    I’m Japanese (now in Japan) and never really heard of this book until now. Unfortunately there is xenophobia in Japan and it can’t be denied, just like most other countries in the world. However, that doesn’t mean everyone here stigmatizes interracial/international couples and that this hideous book is a representation of how the majority of people look at foreigners. I’m appalled that such a lowbrow book coming out from a not-so-reputable publishing company is getting this much attention. Seeing shit like this get published is annoying but unfortunately it happens. On that note, I think Amory is totally on point about the validity of the this magazine’s content.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 10:04 am ¶

12. Rob wrote:

    Brad said:

    “Damn! I thought the worst rants against guys dating Asian women was on the internet. I’m a white guy dating an Asian female now. I get pissed when I see criticism of wm/af on these sites but this magazine makes all the pathetic angry Asian men look like little whiny school boys by comparison.”

    They’re not “whining” about the interracial dating, they’re complaining about the massive disparity between AF/WM and WF/AM which leads to emasculation in American society. Additionally, they also resent the fact that white men have it easier when it comes to dating because of their spectacular portrayal in American media while Asian men are portrayed as asexual which severely limits their ability to shake stereotypes in the dating scene.

    So, please. Don’t trivialize it as something so simple.

    Back to the topic, you missed the part that the magazine actually uses racial slurs against blacks.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 12:44 pm ¶

13. Elizabeth wrote:

    First and foremost, I think it’s REALLY imperative that ALL people become aware and do something about their own society’s ethnocentricity/racism/xenophobia.

    Including Japan.

    I’m a mixed Nikkei fr0m California and I’ve lived in Japan before. My mixed father grew up in Japan and his Eastern European mother spent quite a bit of time there back in the day – so I feel I have a pretty good perspective on racism in Japan. It’s true- you’ll find SOME pretty outrageously ignorant and offensive Japanese people. I’ve met some of them, and they remain some of my worst personal experiences. Ever.

    Also, there is no preferential treatment for people of Japanese descent there, in case you think I’m biased.

    However, I find that on the whole, Japanese people are comletely obsessed with foreigners and absolutely love the thought of meeting and interacting with foreigners- particularly from Western countries, and most specifically White Westerners. I would say definitely people were really interested in me when they found out where I was from, but they were even more interested in my White husband and for the record, he was without a doubt was treated much better than I was.

    However, it’s true that Japanese are xenophobic. They have a very safe society and are used to having predictable public/social interactions (ie customs). So when they meet people who are ‘different’, they have no confidence in how to act, what to say (including people of Japanese descent- we are just as foreign as other foreigners)…unless they’ve had exposure to other people and cultures. This may be one of the reasons why Japanese people are virtually obsessive with learning foreign languages, travelling abroad and interacting with foreigners. They LONG to be comfortable and ‘knowledgeable’ about how to deal with foreigners, whether they be American, Chinese, Korean, European, etc etc. [Can anyone say 'JET programme'???]

    Unfortunately, there are strains of ugly ugly racism that run deep in that society. I am not qualified to explain what these are and the history of them, but I know they exist. Whether they are feelings of superiority towards Chinese, Korean or SE Asians, there are very real and palpable feelings of dislike, hatred and superiority by some people towards some foreigners. However, I would say that if you met the average, reasonable Japanese person they would say (and many have said to me) that these feelings are wrong. In fact, I noticed many Japanese people working tirelessly to help foreigners and promote friendship and tolerance towards foreigners (much more than I’ve ever seen in the US).

    I’ve also worked with thousands of Japanese youth who’ve come to the US to study or work, and they’ve always been INCREDIBLY open to people of other cultures- wanting to learn Spanish, feeling proud to have made African American friends, often preferring to befriend Korean students than fellow Japanese students…I could go on. It always made me feel really hopeful and optimistic seeing these Japanese youth. Maybe the old racist attitudes will die out with the older generations, I often thought!

    My last thought concerns the usage of the N-word in Japan. Where the heck do you think they learned that word????????!!!

    [Incidentally, it's just like any ESL student, they love learning swearwords! I've had students say the most inappropriate things to me (f-word, sh-word etc) in class even! They have no IDEA of the social significance of most of the taboo words, including N-word, unfortunately!]

    Do you think it maybe has anything to do with all the White-centric American media (particularly films) that are not only heavily marketed but widely played throughout Japan? Hollywood blockbusters are not considered ‘foreign films’ there. From my experience, there are more American films [usually the shitty ones, too] playing in the cinema than there are Japanese films. Just go to any video/DVD shop in Japan and at least half the stock is Hollywood films! Anyway, I often thought that many Japanese get some of their weird ideas about people of color from these films.

    Besides, they don’t really have any reason to dislike Black people in Japan. It’s usually White people pushing their businesses onto Japanese consumers, procreating with Japanese women, or causing a fuss when things don’t go their way.

    Also, that Blackface musical group? I think they wouldn’t have the slightest clue that it was wrong. Again, I personally think it’s another example of Japanese people taking their cue from White Westerners.

    Peace!

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 2:49 pm ¶

14. Brad wrote:

    Rob I don’t trivialize anything. Some of the criticism of wm/af is truly sad and pathetic and in some cases downright horrendus. Don’t believe me? check out this article

    ModelMinority.com/article681.html

    This one is about a hate crime against a wm/af couple who were ambushed and attacked. The boyfriend was nearly killed.

    As for me not mentioning the N-word. I read the article . I didn’t miss anything. The wasn’t the point of my comment. I’m Just making it clear why I post here from time to time. That’s all dude, Peace

    the first poster was a real charmer

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 3:06 pm ¶

15. Jay wrote:

    modelminority.com is a cesspool. There’s no moderation so the people who are kicked off of other sites congregate there.

    Using it as anything close to normal criticism is unwarranted.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 5:11 pm ¶

16. Rob wrote:

    Brad,

    The people guilty of that crime were all white and according to the comments, only one poster happened to be a deranged individual.

    I don’t wish to drag this thread off topic so I’ll be blunt; the fact of the matter is that the “complaints” aren’t because Asian women have a much higher tendency of dating out, it’s the ratio involved. If 90% of Asian women were dating out but Asian men were also dating out at nearly the same rate, no one would bat an eye.

    The problem lies in two places, the “disparity” and the resentment that white men have it easier when it comes to the dating scene because society hasn’t typecasted white men as asexual like they have with Asian men.

    So, I think they fully deserve to be “angry and bitter.” White men have the best propaganda machine in the world working for them and it’s a huge advantage in regards to white privilege. The problem arises when you, along with ignorant Asian women, pawn the issue off as something simple when the problem is much more complicated. If American media changed their ways 180 degrees, the complaints would stop overnight, I assure you. However, media, along with the advertising industry are the most resistant to change.

    This is why I stress that the Asian community work on media represent ion as a primary goal since it kills two birds with one stone.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 5:42 pm ¶

17. Rob wrote:

    I really need to write a full article about this but this guy has already done a good job though he leaves out certain parts.

    http://edofthefu.blogspot.com/2007/02/race-relationships.html

    Carmen may have missed it when I sent it to her.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 5:44 pm ¶

18. ren wrote:

    In my annoyance at this issue, I might have pounced on this one without properly explaining myself so I’ll be happy to do so. Just to clarify, I have for the most part, nothing against foreigners getting involved with the indigenous population. You have my holy blessings, go for it. This issue has nothing to do with my personal view of interracial relationships. Now, to the issue at hand. What I object to, is the use of interracial relationships as propaganda to get people to rally on an issue that they don’t really comprehend, one because their foreigners, two because their acting out a knee-jerk reaction. If you’re going to decry this magazine’s use of interracial relationships as propaganda, then I equally condemn those criticizing the magazine by utilizing the same method of propaganda.

    Not sure if you meant to Celeste, but you make an interesting point. The stranger in a strange land phenomena. It’s a familiar foreigner issue, especially for those coming from the west are stricken with the disease of not employing the same faculty of reason and morality that they do at home as they do abroad in Asia. The mentality goes from operating within a society as equals to playing in an Asian playground where the populace is regarded as children. Hearing the “oh, they just don’t understand me”… no, it’s YOU that doesn’t understand them. You’re in their country. They aren’t idiots because they can’t comprehend your English.

    I don’t hold a high regard for western foreigners, it’s my bias and I’ll readily admit to it. Some foreigners are great people, a good deal (thanks to English schools with no criteria) not so much. As funny as it is to experience being a minority in America and being declared overly sensitive to racial issues, American foreigners in Asia become surprisingly tender. I often hear the criticism of how terribly rude Koreans are because they push you out of the way when you disrupt the flow of the crowd, that’s common in practically any dense city in Asia. It’s hardly rude. But foreigners take this as a sign of disrespectful behavior. As if the conformity that is so often touted about Asians results in a hive-mind. If one is rude, they must all possess this rudeness towards foreigners. For the stranger in a foreign land, every slight is evident to them now. If you are a foreigner with a native girlfriend, then clearly you are a victim of the Japanese people, their vitriol clearly established and your assumptions proven true by what’s revealed in this magazine. But I’m a skeptic of these people. These are the same ones that live in Japan or Korea for years and not make a single native friend, know only other foreigners, never once leave the foreigner sections, never even learn the language, and the extent of their culture lies in who they sleep with. But amazingly they all become qualified experts in discerning what Asian people are thinking and how their society functions. Thus I’m hesitant to approach them as the guiding light of values in the ethical matters concerning Asians. If my bias has offended you, feel free to stop reading, surely what lies ahead is lies.

    As I stated previously, the ex-pat critics of this magazine are really playing up the angle of this interracial double spread. I view that as propaganda, that it formulates a logical chain that is expected to be followed. Japanese objection to interracial relationships thus proves animosity toward foreigners is equivalent to what is portrayed in this magazine. That is vastly unfair to the great majority of Japanese, who will most likely face this criticism unlike Japanese ultra-nationalists. For those outside of Japan, say in America, who are complaining and drawing attention to this magazine, do any debate the issue without providing the interracial images? Clearly that’s being used as a tool to prompt criticism, so frankly I felt I could criticize using that aspect of the magazine since it was being consciously exhibited in the spotlight. Considering it was 120+ pages of nationalistic garbage, perhaps it was only fortuitous that the two example pages they picked dealt with an issue that prompts a knee-jerk reaction from Americans and ex-pats. A great deal of the criticism lobbed at this issue come from sites where that interracial issue plays a large role in the extent of their criticism. I wanted to evaluate their reasons, not their beliefs. Should I just ignore that aspect, simply because I want to agree with the overall message they espouse, that this magazine is filth? To me, that sounds as if despite their intentions, as long as they end up criticizing this magazine that’s all that is important; that it doesn’t matter how they got there, just as long as they arrived.

    I could be wrong that the interracial images are spurring a knee-jerk reaction to criticize Japan. Perhaps miraculously it became apparent, the ultra-nationalism that a small part of the society upholds. I mean brushing off the Nanjing massacre, the massacre in the Philippines, denials of aggression, revising a majority of Japan’s history, wanting Japanese war criminals enshrined, the Japanese abduction and the DNA debacle that strained Japanese-Korean relations further, and attempting to reconstruct the Japanese constitution to allow for an offensive military, that wasn’t so important as to warrant foreigner outrage but show racy pictures of foreigners with Japanese women on two whole pages of a magazine, that was the gauntlet across the face. So yes, I’m skeptical their criticism is emboldened by a deeply rooted humanitarian effort, and for that I apologize — simply my opinion.

    I see the reasoning behind the criticism as a bit disingenuous, to the extent that it trivializes what concerns us about this magazine. Their criticism isn’t being lodged at the ultra-nationalistic right wing movement in Japan but their over-sensitive feelings of entitlement, so yes, I would use the over-sensitivity of some male US foreigners as a connection. Western foreigners are falling upon a sense of duty in combating any negative aspect of their interracial relations with native women, their focus doesn’t necessarily rest on criticizing a particular ultra-nationalist Japanese mentality. Thus I leveled my criticism. Their decrying of this magazine lends no support to questioning the politically charged right wing atmosphere brewing amongst a niche of the Japanese populace. I welcome any foreigner who wants to contribute to the debate, but don’t bring it under the dubious reasoning that it’s to defend interracial relationships from vitriolic arrogant backwards Asian men. I think we can come together to hate this magazine for reasons apart from the ones you selfishly hold. The criticism being lodged is a knee-jerk reaction and not a product of a broad awareness of what’s going on politically in Japan.

    I also disagree with the criticism of presenting the American Enterprise Magazine as comparison. For those who don’t know the magazine, it’s the printed voice of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a right-wing think-tank responsible for many of Bush’s brilliant policies. Though not quite as sensationalist as the Japanese magazine, it functions as the nationalist voice. This Japanese magazine is not simply supremacy literature, it is the voice of influencing policy by a particular segment of the Japanese society. An extremely conservative nationalistic segment. What’s shocking? I don’t pick up a Klansmen Newspaper or Mathew Hale’s literature and go about in disgust over how incredibly racist it is, seemingly incredulous to the fact that it’s obviously racist literature. The people who hold Matthew Hale’s literature up as a high standard are interestingly enough… racists. And similarly the Japanese Magazine has one purpose and it makes no attempt to mask its intent. Lending a loud and vocal scoff doesn’t demean this magazine any further from where it already stands. The difference is, my disgust over what Matthew Hale publishes is partly manifested by my disgust of what Matthew Hale represents, a coalition of people bound by their racist ideology. People are approaching this magazine with a disgust for the Japanese people who they feel this magazine is meant to appeal, but the mainstream isn’t the demographics for this magazine.

    For the issue with Matthew Hale, ask the question of who exactly should the Mexican immigrants decry over the propaganda? All Americans? I would say Matthew Hale, clearly he is the source of this propaganda, but in the case of this Japanese Magazine who in particular is the target of criticism? Is a specific entity to blame or does it get thrusted on the entire Japanese populace? You want to say Japanese Supremacy literature but you don’t want to assign that as the emboldened vision of any one particular group and so it casts suspicion on the Japanese as a whole. In the same way I assign the views of American Enterprise Magazine as belonging to that of the right wing conservatives of the American Enterprise Institute, I would hope that people hold the views in this Japanese Magazine to the vocally xenophobic view of Japanese Ultra-Nationalists, like Gishin Gokoku-kai and their black vans, NARKN, Greater Japan Patriotic Party, Japan Friendship Societies etc., whose policy issues this magazine clearly endorses. If your concern is over the issues of anti-immigration and xenophobia, it’s difficult to separate that from the Japanese ultra-nationalists. They are the one’s that should be of concern, the fear of immigration and xenophobia is merely an offshoot of their actions and their attempts to influence policies. So why are they not even mentioned? Why have they not become specifically the target of criticism? A KKK rally isn’t just another show of “American Nationalism”, when David Irving talks, it isn’t another example of that “American Holocaust Denial”, or when Neo-Nazi’s rally, it isn’t further proof of “American Nazism”, yet for any other country, they are not entitled this level of consideration. It’s classified as Japanese xenophobia, Japanese hatred of immigrants, Japanese hatred of foreigners… so that means if you’re Japanese you have to own up to being a xenophobic hater of all persons non-Japanese. I don’t see that as being very fair.

    In terms of what people are doing about this magazine, that assessment was based on comments around the blogosphere as well as comments on the sites listed in the article. That wasn’t gleamed from anything that was said on Racialicious, considering mine was only the second comment posted. Read about the issue elsewhere and my argument seems a bit less hollow. I have nothing against people criticizing this on Racialicous, I urge them to do so and I agree with them, clearly this magazine employs nationalist racist fear-tactics. But in my criticism I’m also capable of gauging whether this is worthwhile or not, and from the way I’m seeing it approached, I see it as trivial — trivial in the sense that a wrong approach has trivialized any tangible issue concerning this magazine, not that the racism and xenophobia it espouses is a trivial matter.

    So do I advocate ignoring this trash? Yes, if you’re criticism is for all the wrong reasons and it’s criticizing on an issue that doesn’t even hold a light to the real issue at hand. It doesn’t deserve the publicity that it’s getting. Must we draw attention to it? We ought to when it actually matters, but I would argue against the “must” aspect. I have no personal desire to stand up and challenge a creationist who believes dinosaurs were sitting in Moses’ Ark. To argue against it is to lend it credence it doesn’t deserve. Refusing to debate bogus claims doesn’t mean I have any less respect for defending the tenets of science, I’m just not so charitable with my time. But what about all the poor individuals who fall for this line of argument, have I abandoned them from receiving the gift of reason? Probably not… because it’s highly unlikely that anyone who finds the most absurd Creationist reasoning valid is going to be swayed by anyone’s meticulous reasoning to the contrary. And neither do I need to confront Matthew Hale in a debate in a public forum to rationally prove that he is a racist tard when he’s standing there with a Nazi swastika armband and a I *heart* Hitler T-shirt. He doesn’t deserve the creditability that is lent to his position in a debate. So yes, ignoring trivial issues can prove constructive, partly because it’s saving you from a total waste of time. Not every issue that falls under the umbrella of injustice in the world deserves to be headed equally.

    Admittedly I was a bit terse in my original comment and didn’t express myself clearly. If that’s the case than Gandalf sums up my issue nicely, when he says “Let’s be careful not to extrapolate the ugly nationalist sentiment into some kind of “truth” about Japan.” Well put. The easiest “truth” that foreigners love to stipulate is the fear/hatred that Asians have over interracial relationships. US foreigners know this is a hot-button topic, thus they purposely market this issue with the interracial pics, they know this is what bothers them specifically. And it doesn’t take much to rationalize it, “hey I recall a Japanese person looking at me when I was with my Japanese girlfriend, so I guess I have first hand experience of this anti-immigrant/rabid nationalist mentality as advocated by this magazine.” That might not be the case, this magazine is not a product of mainstream appeal, it’s a tabloid specifically printed for an ultra-nationalistic audience. The problem is, fundamentally, that this racist crap is being applied to the Japanese as a whole, not against the right wing establishments, politicians, and yakuza that probably had a hand in this magazine’s creation. Certainly I agree with you that this issue needs more intelligent worldwide discussion, but frankly the “intelligent” approach, is not how it’s being approached by many foreigners who are acting on this on behalf of their own sense of entitlement rather than abhorring the Ultra-Nationalist parties in Japanese society. Thus doing little to diminish the credibility these ultra right-wing groups possess.

    Just my opinion… my highly biased opinion. Not meant to offend you or your foreigner friend you know who amazingly functions antithetically to every issue I have about foreigners. He/She’s a swell person. Peace.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 6:39 pm ¶

19. Brad wrote:

    Looking at my response I realized I did dodge something in robs comments. The portrayal of asian guys in the media. No I’m not going to excuse it. In fact I agree with the angry asian guys, I think it’s bullshit frankly. I think one of the worst examples was when Law&Order SVU had a chinese themed episode in 2004 and BD Wong played a very minor role in it despite being a major character for many years by then. But with that said I still don’t think it justifies the type of rhetoric some of these guys have spewed at real-life wm/af couples over the years? In my last post I posted an adress that would have linked you to a site called ModelMinority.com (I’m sure many of you know this site)

    There was an article there that was about a wm/af couple who was attacked in Iowa a couple of years ago. The attackers were three skinheads.The boyfriend nearly died. The website posted the story. You know what the first posters reaction was? The only thing he/she regretted was that the attackers were white instead of asian. (Real charmer) As I stated before, don’t believe me well here’s the addres again you can go it see it for yourself

    ModelMinority.com/article681.html

    P.S. Rob this is one white guy who did not have it easy dating an asian female. I had to prove myself that could except the difference’s between us.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 7:54 pm ¶

20. atlasien wrote:

    I am also a mixed Nikkei like Elizabeth, and I agree with 100% of what she says. Yes, there is a very ugly strain of xenophobia in Japan. Again, it’s also directed against foreigners of Japanese descent. For more on the subject see this essay in PDF format: “Media Images, Immigrant Reality: Ethnic Prejudice
    and Tradition in Japanese Media Representations of
    Japanese-Brazilian Return Migrants”.

    It is absolutely not something that should be swept under the rug or dismissed in any way!

    But it certainly doesn’t dominate Japanese culture. In parallel, I would hate to have Minutemen propaganda define America for the rest of the world.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 8:27 pm ¶

21. merq wrote:

    Wow, Ren. Seriously?

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 9:56 pm ¶

22. theboxman wrote:

    What ren said. Nothing more to add really.

    Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 11:55 pm ¶

23. Rob wrote:

    That’s perfectly fair, Brad, and I salute you for acknowledging that “injustice.”

    First off, you need to take Modelminority.com with a grain a salt. I’ve never seen a forum board more poisonous in my entire life. And like I stated, I read the article but the comment from one deranged individual isn’t an accurate picture.

    There are deranged individuals and ones that are sincerely concerned about this issue.

    I’m not concerned with Asian women dating out at all, I’m concerned with the disparity because that is the *only* point which leads to Asian male emasculation in this country. Thus, I’m trying to balance it out by encouraging Asian men to date out as well rather than prohibit or “control” Asian women from doing whatever they want.

    However, I just get annoyed when individuals trivialize the issue as someone who has their own personal shortcomings and ignore the big picture and details.

    Read this thread and you’ll understand:
    http://edofthefu.blogspot.com/2007/02/race-relationships.html

    Posted 16 Feb 2007 at 9:10 am ¶

24. Colin wrote:

    ren,

    I tried to find reasons why I felt I disagreed with you, and I couldn’t, really. I want and will criticize racism when I see it, and that, from what it seems like, is not debated here — the criticism of racist materials. I can agree with you that it is important for people to name actual sections of Japanese society, instead of leaving it open to thoughts that the WHOLE of Japan is racist and ultra-nationalist.

    That all said, I do not think critics of racism, anti-racists, should ignore this, under ANY circumstances, however. It seems you say that ex-pats’ sense of entitlement means that the rest of us should not criticize it; that the piece otherwise will be ignored unless WE on this blog and on other blogs bring the magazine up, and I disagree, especially if this is as you say, if this is a magazine for some nationalist/xenophobic right-wing group in Japan that affects policy, then we should criticize the policies it’s attempting to promote, the culture it’s attempting to bring about. (See, now that’s if I go back and accept your original analogy, heh)

    If it’s not actually supported by members of the Diet or local government officials, or power-wielding members of the community, (those outside of government, I’m not sure who exactly that would be) then I’d hope the criticism would be a bit more muted, but I would still expect some people to speak up. Many times, the cultures of hate and bigotry grow out of silence from its critics, I feel. I do not know of many examples of this, but I feel today’s anti-GLBT climate in America is a good one.

    For years, GLBT people, especially gay and lesbian people, have been singled out by far-right groups as ungodly, sick, unnatural, disgusting, immoral people, whose “condition” can be cured with the power of religion. Many of these thoughts were published in right-wing magazines, and over time, were refined to the point where people saying they out and out “hate gay people” is a defensible position. To me, it’s not a large leap to say that Japan could go down this sort of road in a decade or two with respect to its non-native populations.

    Thusly, I urge all members here to comment and criticize if you feel it is worthy of such criticism and tell anyone you know in Japan to criticize it. I am not saying we should try to get it banned, but we should treat racism in Japan as we do here and anywhere else.

    Lastly, I hope it is clear that I am NOT an ex-pat in any shape or form.

    Posted 18 Feb 2007 at 4:30 pm ¶

25. eric daniels wrote:

    Surprise, Surprise, Surprise The Japanesse are xenophobic as their books, manga, and writings are laced with anti- forginer rhetoric. That’s like saying Tupac is still alive, 7 years ago A manga was accused of rewriting WW2 with them winning the war with the same racial, xenophobic language. Folks, yes many Japaneese are Xenophobes and racists but at least they are honest unlike Americans.

    Posted 21 Feb 2007 at 11:53 pm ¶