Comments

1. Anomaly wrote:

   Great post, and so true! People only think about negative stereotypes when it directly affects them, all of us should fight to end all negative stereotyping. Of course, people don’t see it when it is applied to another race, just their own.

   Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 8:23 am ¶

2. jen* wrote:

   really? Stepin Fetchit??

   wow.

   somebody’s privilege is showing…

   Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 8:37 am ¶

3. malted_tea wrote:

   In Tokyo for the first time a few weeks ago, I was more astounded at the pseudo-subtle but massively persistent ads of blonde Caucasians. They were selling EVERYTHING. Well, there was one Black dude selling a mobile phone plan and the cosmetic counters sometimes had small ads with Selma Hyak.

   Now, did I notice this more because – compared to my urban, North American existence – Tokyo wasn’t as multicultural (understatement)? In a see of same faces/body types, etc…does the presence of Caucasians stand out more? Does it not, then, make it even weirder that they’re in the majority of ads aimed at consumers as if to say: Buy me to get whiter, lighter and coveted.

   Ugh. My quick taste of Japan was full of disappointments but the ad thing was beyond weird.

   As to “Mr. James” I think he’s a counter-culture balance to what I just described so wouldn’t be too offended. But then again, how would I feel if it had been a Black person?

   Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 8:40 am ¶

4. BRG wrote:

   That’s not what karma means. Karma is a phrase that’s been robbed of its actual philosophical meaning.

   Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 9:01 am ¶

5. Miztification wrote:

   This is a huge part of why I just stopped watching Heroes altogether.

   Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 9:19 am ¶

6. Medusa wrote:

   Malted_Tea-

   Same face and body types? Are you serious? Japanese may just be one race, but they certainly don’t all have one body type or face. I mean…come on.

   And yeah, all these white people pissed off about how this portrays whites…where was their outrage when all the negative stereotypes about Asians men were (are?) being circulated? And Asian women, for that matter. And….black men and women…and Latin@s…

   Yeah… I lived in Japan for over a decade, and in my opinion they have no right to be pissed off about one white person being depicted as a nerd when all around there are positive depictions of them and it’s crammed down everyone’s throat that white people are more attractive, and just generally superior to everyone on earth. I’d see their point if whites were constantly portrayed like this, but come on.

   And there are plenty of guys like this who go to Japan (and other Asian countries) because they think “Asian chicks are hot!!” and are looking for a girlfriend or wife. I mean, I’ve met them. They’re really there. In fact, they are probably the ones complaining about this ad…

   Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 9:55 am ¶

7. Slush wrote:

   Was it on this blog where I was reading about the racism claims in current American discourse and how they are more and more becoming cries about discrimination against white men? It’s a frightening dynamic. Not to mention CRAZY.

   Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 10:00 am ¶

8. F. wrote:

   Yeah. Well, racial/cultural stereotyping is inherently wrong.

   But as an Asian American looking at these ads, for some odd reason I can’t drudge up an ounce of pity.

   If the man in the ad was black or Hispanic or Arab or Indian, I would be troubled by it.

   But since he’s not… yeah, I mean I know it’s … what’s their favorite phrase to use… “politically incorrect”… but come on… it’s satire, no? Even if it’s not, learn to take a joke, white people. Don’t be so uptight and humorless.

   /Isn’t that what WE are told all the time?

   Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 10:04 am ¶

9. Evan wrote:

   There are white people getting bent out of shape because of this ad campaign? Are you serious?

   Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 10:22 am ¶

10. js718 wrote:

    I was just reading the ‘are you a credit to your race’ article and I was thinking, maybe white people in Japan are upset because as a minority they feel a responsibility to be a positive credit for their race. so when a dorky character such as mr. james is created they think their image is tarnished (which is absurd when considering the staggering amount of positive white imagery worldwide.) Because, here in America when we see a dorky white guy no one associates it with whiteness, it’s just a nerd character. For example mac’s advertisement portrayal of a typical PC user. I don’t think I saw any white people get upset at that, am I wrong here?

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 10:33 am ¶

11. Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:

    I find nothing offensive about White people being reduced to amusing characters for commercials. for a long time, THEY have done this to all ethnicities, people of color, and racial minorities.

    and now it’s THEIR turn to be mocked. Get over it and stop crying.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 11:11 am ¶

12. Patrick wrote:

    I’m white and I think it’s funny. When did people’s ability to laugh at themselves and general stereotypes disappear?

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 11:30 am ¶

13. Kandeezie wrote:

    Booya! Goooo Jen!

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 11:49 am ¶

14. ElleDee wrote:

    My time living in Japan as a foreigner contributed greatly to my becoming anti-racist. I would have come around anyway I think, but there’s nothing like really experiencing what it’s like to be othered to help a white person gain some perspective. (Not that being a foreigner in Japan is identical to being a PoC in the US, but if you’ve never experienced any real racism against you, you’ve got to start somewhere.)

    But racism in Japan *is* a huge issue for ex-pats, especially for non-white ones, and this Mr. James business is just another small example. It’s not that big a deal by itself, but it’s the constant pinging away that… wait, I’m sure that any PoC knows how the little injustices add up. While my features may still have been valued, I had little social power to go with it. Are women more valued in the West just because they are considered to be more attractive on average than men? Beauty confers some power, but it is limited and limiting. (”You are young and beautiful, what more could you want?!” Um, how about a fair paycheck and to not live under constant threat of violence?)

    Honestly, I don’t want to get into it more because it is a special case situation. How many places are there that exist where a middle class, American white person can experience actual racism against them? Not that many. It seems hardly worth mentioning in a larger scope, so I generally don’t mention it when talking about race because the comparison is next to useless. But it *is* real and it is an undeniable force in the lives of a few and I’ve been there.

    (I’m not asking for sympathy for myself or on the behalf of white people or anything, but please don’t dismiss my experience.)

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 11:52 am ¶

15. Cindy wrote:

    First let me say I am a BIG Disgrasian fan. There was some uproar about their post which I found as ridicules as the uproar about the ad. I’ll give a quick summary from my own post about it all (http://cksmetalart.blogspot.com/2009/08/white-men-cant-jump.html)

    The root of negative stereotypes is that certain groups actually experience harm as a consequence and is something that virtually any non-white, non-christian racial, ethnic, religious group can claim. All too often when a negative image of white people comes about the claim is one of justification. “See you do it too. It’s no different.” It becomes a justification to continue the reprehensible behavior.

    The truth is that it IS different. White people don’t suffer harm because of these perpetuated images. They don’t lose their jobs, they don’t get turned away from businesses, they don’t get arrested in their own homes, they don’t get beaten and left for dead.

    A little turn about may be fair game. But any outcry from the white folk is misguided at best because the consequence is never the same for them as for any other racial, ethnic, religious group. If there were any real understanding of this from the white people complaining, they would not compare themselves to some of the worst forms of racial stereotyping in American history. They would just say this is negative and we don’t like it. That’s enough.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 12:02 pm ¶

16. shah8 wrote:

    It is my impression that Japan can be a very racist place, even towards white people. They routinely have minstrel type shows that often includes invideous stereotypes of germans or english, or especially any of the catholic countries. And I haven’t gotten to the really crazy/offensive stuff that non-whites get.

    This ad campaign, though? Is typical white guy whine.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 12:10 pm ¶

17. A. wrote:

    Welcome to a world where white privilege is close to non-existent. They’re roughly on the same level as Blacks and others.

    It sucks ass, doesn’t it. My sympathy, even as an anti-racist activist, is non-existent. Hopefully this is what will make white people want to actually do something about their own privilege when they come back here.

    As I said on another community, Debito Arudou strikes me as being an incredibly privileged asshole. Seriously, Gaijin = Nigger? Is this dude for REAL?

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 12:11 pm ¶

18. Digital Coyote wrote:

    I feel rather silly for not fully registering/recognizing that Hiro and Ando from the show “Heroes” were caricatures.

    They are the only characters I care about–they seem to be the only really likable folks out of the lot–and only pay attention to the show when they’re on screen if my boyfriend’s watching said program.

    The story line with George Takei as the ebil [sic] overbearing misogynist businessman father and the “useless” daughter Kimiko bothered me. The white female character calling Hiro “Pikachu” rubbed me the wrong way as well.

    Thanks for making it clear for me.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 12:20 pm ¶

19. Latoya Peterson wrote:

    @ElleDee –

    Thanks for adding your perspective.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 12:26 pm ¶

20. MJB wrote:

    I would be careful to assume that this is a parody of white men and look at it within the rest of dialogue in Japan about race and foreignness in particular. I might be wrong, but as a Chicana who has lived in Japan for a long period of time, in my eyes this is a caricature of FOREIGNNESS and not of whiteness. It occurs at the same time that popular saying has it that only people with Japanese blood can learn Japanese, appreciate Japanese poetry, etc and so, is harmful in that sense. Also, I would be careful to question the intent of white foreigners in Japan – it’s not all Japanophilic men looking for wives and girlfriends. Living as visible outsiders everyday in a country resistant to non-Japanese immigration would, I think, result in people who have “their eyes open” to stereotyping – on the basis of race and nationality, especially.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 12:26 pm ¶

21. Christine wrote:

    I know two wrongs (or try thousands over the last couple centuries) don’t make a right, but I ain’t mad at them.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 1:05 pm ¶

22. Steve wrote:

    I do think this ad campaign is offensive. The only good I think it might generate is to make someone who is white and is offended by it more sympathetic to minorities who are offended by negative portrayals of them.

    Did anyone read this article in the NYTimes (maybe just the online edition, I don’t know) … http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30lives-t.html?ref=magazine.

    It gave me this weird vibe … I am not sure but I think its “I was sad when Japanese women called me fat, but it turns out Japanese women love chubby white guys.” really? I thought most women (japanese or not) like good looking, fit guys (if they are into guys — no offense intended at lesbians).

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 1:54 pm ¶

23. Danny wrote:

    Yeah…me too. Even though I know it’s a little wrong (more like not-serious funny) I really couldn’t build enough pity in myself for this case.

    I surely can empathize what it is like to be a visible minority, even though I have that luxury of living in a place that is much more diverse. The long term exposure and history of struggle are two very important factors to look into.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 2:38 pm ¶

24. Casual Observer wrote:

    I have a few replies for the whiners.

    “But it’s just their culture. It’s how they were brought up.”

    “You people always take yourselves too seriously. Lighten up!”

    “Their sense if humor is different from ours. They’re not REALLY racist. It’s just a xenophobic society!”

    “No body can win with you people. “You people” always whining about something like you
    have a chip on your shoulder.”

    “You have to try and take the time to understand where this is coming from. don’t be angry..just turn the other cheek and eventually they will see the error of their ways because love is everything.”

    Did I get it all?

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 2:47 pm ¶

25. wendi muse wrote:

    i am going to agree with mjb here. when you live abroad, especially as an american, sometimes the race aspect disappears and nationality comes to the forefront. and i’d rather not be stereotyped at all, be it based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or nationality. i don’t think it helps the situation at all, it just makes things more complicated. campaigns like this, no matter which side they are on, are problematic and can have a drastic effect on cross-cultural/national relations.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 2:48 pm ¶

26. Persia wrote:

    Digital Coyote– I thought that Heroes was going to move past that as the show went on and make Hiro and Ando more mature and, er, heroic. Instead they were the butt of jokes until the day I bailed on the show.

    As for the ads– at least Mr. James appears to know basic hygiene and like the country he’s living in. That’s not too bad for a stereotype!

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 2:52 pm ¶

27. ElleDee wrote:

    A: Arudou Debito is ridiculous now and forever. It’s too bad because sometimes he does have a point. He gave up his American citizenship in order to naturalize (a mandatory move, which is one of the reasons it’s very rare for someone to actually naturalize), so he ought to be treated as a full citizen, but that’s not always how it works. But he’s obnoxious and very abrasive and had his head up his ass often. You’d think that someone who lived in Japan as long as he has would have grown out of those gaijin traits by now, but no.

    MJB: Yes, yes, yes. So important. Japan is an island (geographically isolated) and has a unique language and culture and they are not set up to assimilate anyone else, so the difference between Japanese and non-Japanese is a lot more than just skin color. (Not to ignore that there are also other Asians in Japan who can pass for Japanese also.) This is why it’s so hard to draw good comparisons to racism over there and racism over here. You can’t really separate Japanese people from the Japanese nation as a whole. Thanks for bringing that up.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 2:59 pm ¶

28. js718 wrote:

    Steve, I read the article you posted, it made me cringe. I wonder how many fat asiaphiles got excited by that article.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 4:05 pm ¶

29. KB wrote:

    I think he looks hilarious. (And I am white.) In fact, I probably know several of him. Slightly younger, but a generation of Americans crazy into Japanese culture than think going to Japan they’ll fit riiiight in by quoting anime.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 4:25 pm ¶

30. khinky wrote:

    @Casual Observer: “Why must everything be about race for you? You’re obviously the racist one because you always see everything in terms of skin colour.”

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 4:37 pm ¶

31. urbia wrote:

    I’m not sure about everybody else, but I see two things that are somewhat ironic in this campaign.

    The first, as most people have already mentioned, is that the tables have been turned – white people are being stereotyped in an advertisement.

    The second has to do with specifically the type of image it is, of the foreigner being nerdy. The racist stereotype of Asian-Americans being perpetual foreigners and nerds with no social skills, is dealt back at white people as foreigners in an Asian country.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 4:37 pm ¶

32. atlasien wrote:

    @ElleDee: yes, yes, I can’t agree more, Arudou Debito is a complete tool.

    Also, I think there’s much less prejudice against white expatriates in Japan than there is against people who look Japanese but are ethnic minorities. Debito’s argument that gaijin = n***er creates an insulting false equivalence between American-style racism and Japanese-style ethnocentrism, and erases the global privilege that whiteness confers.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 4:50 pm ¶

33. maus wrote:

    “There are white people getting bent out of shape because of this ad campaign? Are you serious?”

    Republicans are eternal victims and martyrs, what can I say.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 4:52 pm ¶

34. The Hanged Man wrote:

    “MJB: Yes, yes, yes. So important. Japan is an island (geographically isolated) and has a unique language and culture and **they are not set up to assimilate anyone else**, so the difference between Japanese and non-Japanese is a lot more than just skin color.” (my emphasis).

    ElleDee: I may well have misinterpreted you here, so my apologies if I have (and this certainly isn’t an attempt to discount either you or MJB’s lived experiences) – but it seems to me like you’re implying a logical justification of Japan’s and Japanese xenophobia and racism, and I think that’s probably unhelpful to any discussion about either of the two.

    As a mixed race male who lives in the UK (another island which is resistant to the “wrong kind” of non-british immigration), I’m always very wary of invoking “island mentality” as an apology for any tendency towards xenophobia or racism.

    Of course, the UK hardly = Japan. However, all too often I have seen ‘liberal’ thinkers here proceed to the logical extension of providing a cultural defence of xenophobia and racism: that it impossible for us as Outsiders to understand or render value judgements on other cultures. This generally manifests itself as “Group X are not racist, that’s just their culture. To judge them by the standards of your culture is the *real* racism.”

    (I won’t get into why precisely I find that particular argument so insidiously disingenuous right now – though for a start, the idea of ‘culture’ as static and monolithic…sorry I’ll stop; I’ve derailed enough)!

    Anyway, to address a more general point: I think it’s perhaps a little hasty to say that the mentality which produces advertisements which satirise the foreign “Other” in the *relatively* harmless way we see here is completely divorced from the mentality which produces the blackface minstrels such as the “hilarious” depictions of Barack Obama which did the viral rounds a while back .

    Not to stay that the “campaign” referred to above isn’t a blinkered ‘white boy whine’, for the most part, it sure seems to be.

    I’d echo the hope that it’d open people’s hearts to the inherent evils of negative stereotyping, but I’m guessing many privileged folk will use this as a cut-n-paste example of “we’re all just as bad as each other” to refuse the burden of their own privilege. I’ve seen it happen, and heck, I’ve even done as much myself.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 5:01 pm ¶

35. Kaonashi wrote:

    I’m not going to lie; I am really enjoying just how pissed off people are by this ad campaign!

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 5:08 pm ¶

36. Slush wrote:

    @ElleDee #14 – I really agree (with both the comment and the disclaimers). I had a very similar experience to what you describe when I was living in Indonesia, and it was very enlightening.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 5:51 pm ¶

37. 7thangel wrote:

    @casual observer
    there’s so much more
    here’s a couple (a few i just heard this week)
    “well. everyone’s a little racist”
    “get over it”
    “stop whining”
    “what, are you saying there no white people like that”
    “don’t you have more important things to do then cry about racism”
    “here we go again, always pulling the race card”
    “uhh, why does everything have to be so pc?”
    etc, etc
    feel like going over there and posting some on that blog of white privilege fail.

    srsly, point me to the real issues of racism or omission in japans media i.e. korean japanese, non-japanese asians, etc, not this ad with some foreign otaku

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 6:10 pm ¶

38. urbia wrote:

    Or how about, “You’re being to uppity. I am now terminating your English teaching contract so you can return to your own country.”

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 6:36 pm ¶

39. Banna wrote:

    I wrote a blog about this on another website (site is login protected so I just can’t paste a link): Anyway this is my take on the whole deal. This is from my experiences as being a black woman in Japan and they reason why I just roll my eyes at the reactions to the Mr. James commercials.

    I remember when I was in Japan, I would hear all these complaints about the way foreigners were portrayed. They complained about Japanese TV shows that would have a Japanese person doing acting like a foreigner in a blonde wig and speaking broken English. Anime characters that were American, would be portrayed as loud and obnoxious. I would read the rants about Pakkun acting like a goofy foreigner on Japan’s TV, seeing him called a “sellout.”

    Japan has a fairly small foreign population. This foreign popular is mostly Asian (well Chinese and Korean). These folks have been getting screwed for years, yet I never heard complaints the lack of Koreans on TV or the portrayal of Chinese characters in anime. Hell I bet these guys never even thought about how obnoxious stereotypes on a minority group could be until they stepped out of the bubble of their own countries.

    Things were equally sticky when it came to blacks and whites in Japan. The portrayals of blacks in Japan, received a much different reaction to the way whites were portrayed.

    Let’s look at this commercial:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hInLo10I72w

    This commercial came out around the same time as last year’s election. Right off the bat there appears to be similarities between this commercial and Obama’s campaign. Gatsby (men’s hair/face products company) also got flack from black when they aired a commercial featured “Jamaicans” and a monkey.

    The reaction to these commercials: “Lighten up it’s just a commercial!”

    “This is Japan don’t bring your American racism over here!”

    “Japan is just ignorant about what blacks go through. Just let it go and try to see things from their side.”

    Many a times I saw and heard these comments on boards like JapanToday, and Gaijinpot (two board I don’t even touch anymore).

    Yet these same people are up and arms about Mr. James.

    So it just seems to be an attack on foreigners when the foreigners are white men.

    I once got into on a Japanese music message board with a self-proclaimed Japanese expert (who felt the need to repeatedly tell me about his years studying in Japan, and Japanese wife), complained about being compared to Patrick Harlan. However, he jumped down my throat when I mentioned why black people in Japan hated Bobby Ologun.

    This is Patrick:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07tm8-kdfbI

    Patrick is known for being the only foreign to do manzai in Japan and having several TV shows about learning English. He’s appeared on many different TV shows doing different roles in Japan and always speaks Japanese, has published books.

    This is Bobby:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQio7StcXUU

    Bobby is a K-1 Fighter know for speaking slow, slurred Japanese, bugging his eyes out, and basically being a modern say Step N Fetchit on Japanese TV. Bobby’s sole role on Japanese TV has just been to play “Big Dumb Oaf.” He was on a TV show (Sasuke a.k.a. Ninja Warrior) in which he had to do a math problem before moving on to the next obstacle on the course. Despite getting the question right, the machine “mysteriously” thought his answer was incorrect, depositing him into the water below (so he was eliminated). My Japanese has gotten a bit rusty but the theme of this clip is about whether or not Bobby speak Japanese in his home.

    Yeah it must suck to be compared to Patrick.

    I think what many white men in Japan forget is that in the media, white men have been able to be any and every character. They can be evil, good, or just average Joe. When it comes to stereotypes, white men can be the individual; however this isn’t the case with minorities. And
    most of the foreign media Japan gets is from the US meaning they’re seeing a bunch of shit that’s already lacking in minorities in other countries.

    White actors and actresses are often used to promote products in Japan. Just take a look at Japander, a site that tracks celebrities in commercials. How many black, Asian, or latino celebrities do you see on the list?

    Japanese shows with foreigners would occasionally have a goofy white guy…and he was quickly countered with a white guy in a totally different role. There were portrayals or the “awesome” white guy, the “evil” white guy, and the “average” white guy. Black men on the other hand were usually someone’s bodyguard (they never spoke Japanese). Even on Japanese drama that took place in states (often NY or LA), you’d still see the “black troublemaker” attacking a Japanese person. With the exception of a Will or Denzel movie, movies with black leads or predominately black cast went straight to DVD in Japan, yet Steven Segal movies and even some American straight-to-DVD flicks got a full theater release. And black TV shows? LOL just the Boondocks. Seems the only thing released on the regular that featured blacks was hip-hop and R&B. The Asian people I saw on TV were often celebrities (like K-pop groups or Jackie Chan). One Japanese drama used a Japanese actor to portrayed a Half-Filipino kid.

    Oh yeah, this kid was in a gang, went to prison, accused of doing a lot of shit he didn’t do, and constantly reminded of his “dirty” Filipino blood. Yet again, when I’m seeing the complaints about how foreigners are being treated/portrayed, it’s because of Mr. James. When it’s someone else, it’s just a commercial or a movie. It’s because Japan isn’t America and they just don’t know any better.

    By the way, I didn’t see any complaints when this commercial aired in 2007:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrfM0z0Xx_E

    I guess this guy was too “cool” to get complaints.

    I wonder if there will be an uproar when this comes out:
    http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-08-27/is-he-turning-japanese-manga-made-into-live-action

    Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh on white men in Japan. I suppose they do have their own issues over there as I had mine being a black woman that wasn’t my home. Not all white men are this obnoxious. And I’m sure Mr. Message Board Asshole did get tired of people putting their Patrick stereotype on him.

    Then I meet a white guy lives in Japan and says to me: “Now I know how black people feel.”

    Oh well, you almost had me in your corner.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 7:07 pm ¶

40. ElleDee wrote:

    @atlasien: Yes, there’s a lot more to racism in Japan than what I just talked about above. Not everyone is the Western English teacher kind of gaijin (probably white, but you get some privilege points if you are American, British, Australian, a New Zealander or from Western Europe). When I lived in Kagoshima, any Russian women were assumed to be sex workers, but I don’t know if that idea was pervasive in other areas, but certainly African people are also faced a different set of racist ideas. Then you have the Zainichi Koreans. And the Ainu, the Ryukyukan people and other minorities. There are a lot of people out there with big, relevant problems, but I haven’t been connected to Japan issues in a few years and I wish I could speak more confidently on them. You’re 100% right. There still remains a lot of prejudice against *all* non-Japanese, but your point is well taken.

    The Hanged Man: I think you understand me, but there are some important caveats I must add. I don’t think all Japanese people are racist or that Japanese society as a whole is always racist, but there are some deep racist elements and the racism that individuals hold varies greatly. (This is the similar as my experience in America.) I *do* see some logic to why this racist element exists, but I don’t think makes it moral. I hate the Japanese right wing for the same reasons I hate the American right wing. (Ok, the religious reasons are different.) Also, when I say that they are not “set up” to assimilate other people, I mean in a legal sense. Japan has fairly strict immigration laws. That’s just how it is and it doesn’t necessarily reflect people’s hearts and minds. Does that make more sense?

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 7:33 pm ¶

41. GueraLola wrote:

    that Mr. James character kinda]reminds of an article discussing Koren soap opera’s where white people mostly Americans are portrayed as bumbling idiots. Honestly I thought it was funny, it kinda reminding the ugly American archetype. (Frankly if I get a dollar everything I see an American portray as an someone who cannot speak the native language correctly. This is from my experience of watching Spanish, Japanese, Koren soap operas , I could just simply buy Mr.James)

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 7:38 pm ¶

42. Jess wrote:

    I’d cosign with those that say there isn’t the equivalent of racism in Japan — at least not as we experience it here. To me, speaking as a ‘white’ guy with relatives in Japan — well, it’s a good deal more complicated than ‘that’s their culture.’

    Put simply tho, I’d say the problem is that Japan’s history is so vastly different, you can’t really shoehorn the concept of racism as it works in the US to situations there.

    For example: yes, there is a case to be made that white privilege is global — unless you are in Japan. I mean, while there are certain occupations that they seem to prefer Western (and largely American) applicants and are willing to hire any old fool to teach English or manage a baseball team, there are a lot of other things where it just doesn’t work like that. And in fact, a foreigner living in Japan will never get certain other jobs that might be vastly more important to them, even if they speak fluent Japanese. (For instance, there will probably never be a European/American-descended CEO at Honda or JAL).

    But again, I stress that the whole concept of difference there is different. I ran into this years back on a trip there to see the family. It’s a little weird, I must say.

    Whenever I said I had Japanese relatives, the assumption was that it was the only possible way I could learn Japanese as well as I did. And when I used chopsticks, it was like “Look! The monkey uses chopsticks! It talks!”

    And when I didn’t know something it was an obvious failure of my family for not teaching me proper etiquette. Navigating a culture that different is hard enough even when you know a little of the language. It’s even tougher when people start expecting you to know things that you don’t.

    ‘Island mentality’ is an oversimplification, but there is a case to be made that Japan, being an island, was a tad more isolated than say, China. (The same could be said of Britain, though the Channel crossing is actually easier to do, as it is smaller and shallower than the stretch from Fukuoka to Busan).

    But I wouldn’t say that Japan is a ‘closed’ culture either. One of the interesting features of it is there are signs that everybody from somewhere in the Western Pacific has been there at some point or other, adding to what is ‘Japanese.’ It’s just been a while since the last major wave of migration to and from.

    Again, a history that is very different. And a relationship with Europeans that is different.

    I always got the sense that the reason European faces show up in ads there is precisely because they are exotic, as far as they are concerned. And more importantly, Europeans/Americans are seen as desirable because of the power inherent in being so, yes, but let’s remember that Japan — at least judging by their own media (reading the editorials and such) — well, I would say that there is definitely not an inferiority complex.

    I mean, lets remember that the Japanese have been dealing with European powers as equals for several hundred years — and they made the Russians look damned silly a century ago. The country was never colonized. How many other non-European countries can say they nearly destroyed the US Navy? It’s a pretty short list. China had to submit to ’spheres of influence.’ Not Japan.

    All this is to say that I find much of the kinds of scholarship / discussion used to talk about race and stereotypes in the US just doesn’t apply. Not because it is wrong per se, just it seems the wrong set of tools, or maybe just not-quite-right set of tools.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 7:57 pm ¶

43. honeybrown1976 wrote:

    If whites are truly upset over this, they live a life of pure fancy, don’t they?

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 8:29 pm ¶

44. pm wrote:

    I think the only context in which getting irate about this would be valid is if there were physically ‘white’ and European-featured people living in Japan who were born and raised there, spoke Japanese (or at least were part of some long-standing non-Japanese speaking community) and had Japanese citizenship and could not really regard the West as ‘home’ in any meaningful sense.

    I have no idea if such a group of people even exist, but I would have said such a hypothetical group _could_fairly object to this ad. Internationally whites may have more power, but the international situation would be irrelevant to such a group.

    For ex-pat Westerners working there, citizens of powerful white countries, I think they should just laugh it off and move on. Certainly clueless comparisons like the Step’n'fetchit one are a bit embarrassing.

    (I think I would draw a similar distinction between Japanese-Americans and Japanese people visiting the US, though I really can’t decide if its quite the same situation or not)

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 9:20 pm ¶

45. pm wrote:

    Oops, proabably should have said ‘white-dominated or majority white’ countries, above.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 9:21 pm ¶

46. pm wrote:

    …Though I think MJB and The Hanged Man make very interesting points (whether this is about ‘foreignness’ as opposed to whiteness, and that this, while having less power to harm, does share some characteristics with the really racist stereotypes, respectively).

    I just find in general, comparisons of mildly irritating stereotyping or rudeness about a mainstream group with far more serious examples (the ‘they wouldn’t dare say this about black people’ sort of argument) to be a bit silly and even offensive.

    Posted 01 Sep 2009 at 9:34 pm ¶

47. m. wrote:

    Ahahahaha! This made my night. I don’t care how ‘insensitive’ (LOL) this makes me sound, but guess what? I am laughing at the white people who are, and will, cry “Racism!”
    Reminds me of these fitted [caps] I have that poke fun at white people using satires of the Cleveland Indians’ and Washington Redskins’ mascots. The Chief Wahoo satire is blond and blue-eyed with paper-white skin and wide frame glasses, and the guy on the Redskins cap has a pink guy with coon tails hanging from the back of his mullet. I get nasty looks and comments every time I wear them (which isn’t very often, but always pretty memorable) – all I can do is roll my eyes. Native folks have been forced to look at Wahoos, Seminoles and Illiniweks our entire lives in our OWN homeland. So to piss and moan when the same thing has been done to Asians? Hah! How hurtful can this really be? Are white people incapable of taking a joke? None of this is nowhere near as damaging, as vicious, as undeniably HATEFUL as what they’ve done to everybody else. “Get a sense of humor,” that’s what my dad would say to the crybabies in Japan raising a fuss over this. How the hell do white people think my people put up with their shit “over here”?

    I think it’s absolutely repulsive that this will be given so much air time amongst white people in Japan when, uh, I don’t know…non-indigenous Japanese people depict Ainu people as monsters? Or when, um, Japanese teachers and textbooks spread misinformation/lies about what was done to Koreans? If white residents of or expats in Japan getting all riled up about this want to talk racism (like, the real kind), then go there. But no, in a fashion true to their privilege they’ve kept their priorities straight; always putting themselves and their delicate feelings first.

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 12:43 am ¶

48. little mixed girl wrote:

    The “Mr. James” ads just starting coming out, and I had to roll my eyes when I first saw them.

    The first TV clip has our guy Mr. James reading a newspaper, when his equally dorky looking daughter tells him she wants to go to Japan.
    They are speaking in English, with Japanese dubbed over.

    The article written above, doesn’t really capture what is totally going on in the adverts, and what is being advertised.

    This is a thing for “Nippon All-Stars” which is a line of limited edition burgers that are available from August through September.

    So, while “Mr. James” might be a dork, he’s a married dork with a wife and daughter.
    He’s coming to Japan to get hamburgers, and from the commercials, it seems that his love of Japan is sparked by them having these limited edtion hamburgers.

    Anyways, I agree that a lot of western white in Japan/Korea are ready to cry “RACISM!!1″ when their group is unfairly targeted, but are oftem mum when it comes to other groups.

    However, what annoys me about this ad campaign is that Mr. James talks in katakana.
    And foreigners (not just white, but any non-Japanese) are often depicted as speaking katakana.

    Yes, the US/Canada are not very focused when we talking about minorities/foreigners.
    (Sometimes they’re “cool”, sometimes they’re not).
    However, I would argue that regardless of how schizophrenic North America is in terms of race-relations, we do have the background of foreigners coming and becoming citizens.

    In the Mr. James case, it’s not just “Oh, huh huh look at that dorky white guy, white ppl are stoopid lolz!!1111″, it’s more like “lol, foreigners can’t speak Japanese. oh, and look how foreign they are”.

    You can find a “Mr. James” in the form of Chinese, South American or other foreign representations on tv.

    So, I’m not annoyed that a white guy was used, I’m annoyed that a katakana speaking foreigner was used.

    Debito, whether you like him or not, seems to have his philosophies based in North American minority activism.
    Sometimes he does things that make you go “wtf?!”, and sometimes he does things that make you go “YEAH!”.

    For the person up at the top was was in Tokyo, white people in adverts are nothing new.
    A lot of Hollywood stars are paid to put their faces on products.
    The black guy selling cell phones is some guy that’s been with Softbank (cell phone company) for a number of years.
    In this round, he’s the older brother in a family that has a white dog as a dad and 2 regular Japanese ladies as the mom and daughter.

    I was just in Tokyo a week ago, and I can’t remember seeing more white ppl in ads than usual.
    Think of them as doing something to spice up the ad.
    Selma Hyak is on ads for Lux shampoo (I thought that that was a non-Japanese shampoo??).

    Anyways, like others have said, this is more a “foreigner” issue than a white people thing…

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 12:53 am ¶

49. little mixed girl wrote:

    just to ad, six-flags/wendy’s/etc commercials are all things i don’t have access to here in japan.
    i understand the “look, you can’t complain because this is going on here” angle, but it’d be a bit more effective if the people complaining were complaining from the US…

    other than that, yeah, it sucks when you see a characture of yourself like that.

    i also took a look at that NYT article that steve posted. and a 40-yr old overweight foreigner is not going to be “actively participating” in the dating scene.
    …especially when most the women his age are married and probably have kids.
    his eikaiwa salary is not that impressive to japanese people, and their teasing doesn’t indicate that they are interested in him…

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 1:13 am ¶

50. urbia wrote:

    @A

    “It sucks ass, doesn’t it. My sympathy, even as an anti-racist activist, is non-existent. Hopefully this is what will make white people want to actually do something about their own privilege when they come back here.”

    Some will, some won’t. I used to teach English in South Korea (note: I’m Chinese-Canadian, blended visually, and couldn’t help but to hear some expat conversations, and I frequented expat message boards).

    There was a disturbingly high number of posts and conversations that went something like, “Wow, I used to be really tolerant of Asians but Korea really changed my mind. When I go home, I’m going to start doing to them what they did to me. It will be revenge, so you can’t fault me on it.”

    And really, all they had to suffer were of being stared at in the street, varying degrees of culture shock, and the xenophobia of the population — but despite this, they had jobs due to their white privilege. And as many others have pointed out, they didn’t nearly suffer as much as visible minorities do regularly in their home countries.

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 1:35 am ¶

51. x0x wrote:

    I’m going to Youtube now to see if I can find a CM… I’m only a little concerned tha this will only propogate the idea that you have to be born in Japan and have Asian features to be able to speak Japanese fluently and correctly (see Ken Tanaka, though I’m still not 100% on his whole background, but I find it hard to believe he’s faking it). Again, this ties into ideas of Japanese nationalism and essentializing, which is a whole other topic that I’m still waiting for more posts on! Onegai itashimasu!

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 2:58 am ¶

52. ElleDee wrote:

    Side bar for those of you keeping track at home: Japan’s population is 1.6% foreign. Of these, 28.2% is Chinese, 27.6% Korean, 14.7% Brazilian, and 9.4% Filipino. For contrast, Americans clock in at 2.4%. This does not include ethnic minorities, illegal immigrants nor tourists. (Numbers via Wikipedia.)

    So, yeah, not particularly white.

    @pm: People like you describe (white-looking, but raised in Japan) do exist, though there aren’t that many of them. Many kids who have only have one Japanese parent probably fall into this category. Arudou Debito has two daughters and they are apparently treated very differently because one looks more Japanese and the other more white.

    little mixed girl: Yes, the katakana thing is the most irritating part of Mr. James to me too. I can’t fucking stand it when a foreigner (of any race) is speaking Japanese passably or even totally fluently on tv and their subtitles are in katakana. It’s like the message is “you might be saying words that *sound* Japanese, but it isn’t actually Japanese.” The first time I saw this tactic it was being used for a group of black men doing ridiculous bullshit on tv for some reason. (They basically danced around and talked funny in Japanese and, yeah, it was pretty offensive. I hope they got paid well.)

    Banna: Oh shit, I had forgotten about Bobby! He was coming to fame just as I was leaving, but at least I “got” to experience the height of Japan’s interest in Bob Sapp. My Japanese is rusty now too, but as I recall Bobby’s whole shtick was that his Japanese was riddled with mistakes that happen to be puns, only they were way to complicated to be actual mistakes and the whole thing was fake. My host mom didn’t buy it for a second and just rolled her eyes.

    Also for those interested I dug up a post from my favorite Japan blog about racism towards black people. (These posts are old and the author is a white American male, but he’s far from the Japanophile stereotype. I hate those privileged fucks too, after all. Also read the comments):

    http://www.pliink.com/mt/marxy/archives/2005/06/uncle-tomaunt-j.html

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 6:41 am ¶

53. ElleDee wrote:

    urbia: I think there’s something about Japan that draws in privileged fuckwads like a moth to a flame. I met many cool Westerners there also, but a lot also are white dudes with Asian fetishes who would rather be burned alive than give up an ounce of privilege. They hate this Mr. James business so much because they hate their superiority being questioned, not because it’s “racist” exactly. If Japan doesn’t stroke their egos enough, then they feel justified calling for revenge.

    I couldn’t pretend to be cool with them if I wanted to, because, come on, they hate white girls like me being all Western woman-y in their Oriental paradise.

    (I know there are women racists too, but there are less Western women in Japan to begin with and we often have very different experience than our male counterparts.)

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 7:02 am ¶

54. EvilAngelfish wrote:

    @EllaDee
    Ugh, I remember that show with the 3 black (and later, 2 black and 1 latino) men and how it made me sick but my host family loved it and watched it every Sunday. I think it was called something like “The Funniest Japanese School”, hosted by expat talent Thane Camus and featuring our pal Bobby. I don’t recall Debito Arudou making any fuss about that, which was far far closer to Stepin Fetchit than any of these commercials.

    here’s a clip of a song the guys from that show recorded
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU8ekGi7lmM

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 9:50 am ¶

55. ElleDee wrote:

    EvilAngelfish: I’m sad to say that the group of black men I saw was another entirely and was just a one-time stunt on some program and had about 10 or so men doing a dance and I feel like Morning Musume was involved somehow. This sounds like I’m telling about a bad dream I had, which I guess it about right.

    That said, I do remember that song you linked! Unfortunately!

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 10:46 am ¶

56. Triseult wrote:

    This has been an enlightening debate for sure. I’m not sure which irritate me the most in this story: the expats crying racism and ignoring the privilege that got them there, or the American PoC revelling in the Schadenfreude stemming from a problem they have fought against all their lives. Are we not better than this?

    I’ve lived a few years in China myself. Yes, I was confronted with stereotypes about my nationality and judged many times on appearance. (No, us white-skinned foreigners are not all alcoholics who don’t speak a word of Chinese and try to sleep with your daughters.)

    At the same time, what brought me to China was choice and privilege. It is a privilege for someone like me to go work abroad and retain the benefits of my Canadian citizenship. I can go back any time I want.

    But just as ElleDee describes, upon coming back home, I began thinking through some misconceptions I had about race in Canada and the US. I began to feel a lot of sympathy for the people from the rest of the world who were immigrating to my country, considering how they were received here. Same goes for people born in my country, but were still considered ‘foreigners’. I cringe every time I see, say, a Canadian-born Chinese being asked, ‘Yes, but where are you from originally?’

    So anyway, my reaction seeing this ad is, Yeah, it kinda sucks. I’m as uncomfortable watching this as I am seeing the wizened old lady of color, or another Italian mobster. But I can’t say I feel outrage. I think the first priority is solving issues here at home, with my fellow Canadians of color. We can feel superior to the Japanese once we’ve dealt with THAT.

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 10:52 am ¶

57. A. wrote:

    “This has been an enlightening debate for sure. I’m not sure which irritate me the most in this story: the expats crying racism and ignoring the privilege that got them there, or the American PoC revelling in the Schadenfreude stemming from a problem they have fought against all their lives. Are we not better than this?”

    I tend to agree with this. We are, and we should be. However, I want for some of these overly privileged white males that go to Japan to feel what I feel as a Black Woman in the United States. Granted it will never be to that extreme, but at least a small taste of it actually does make me feel a little bit better, because it will either make them tolerant to what PoC and other minorities face in the US, or it will just show them as a complete and utterly astounding stooge. And sadly, usually the latter ends up happening because the precious white men, and everything that they have to offer, got their pwetty little feelings hurt. Particularly over a stereotype that EXACTLY mirrors how Asian men are portrayed in the US. Go figure.

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 11:39 am ¶

58. A. wrote:

    Also – ElleDee – comment 53.

    A lot of those guys have the same problem here. And as I stated here several months ago, they are the assholes that just stalk Asian women (and Japanese are generally the cream of the crop to them) and get offended when the rest of us non-Asian women tell them to back the fuck off. Happens to me all the time – some guy that is identical to the Mr. James character was stalking my roommate and my best friend and he got super pissed off when I stated that “This woman is my best friend, and I protect my best friends, particularly from guys like him to where her personal safety is at risk.” He was totally infuriated that my black ass DARED to protect my own best friend from him and his “enlightened, culturally sensitive” ass.

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 11:47 am ¶

59. Dingo wrote:

    I’m white, and I have absolutely no problem with this. I haven’t had a problem with black comics doing the, “Black people do this, and white people do this…” jokes for all the years that they’ve been done, either. This is a non-issue.

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 1:39 pm ¶

60. mk wrote:

    Thank you for posting this – really interesting comments too. Count me in as another white gaijin who finds the outcry about this ad ridiculous. I have a particularly clear (and unpleasant) memory of a fellow white gaijin from the US friend getting really indignant about people snapping pictures of us…said it made him feel like a zoo animal. On the individual level…sure it did. But I remember a similar incident having happened to Asian American friends in the US, which had similar (if not probably worse) obnoxiousness on the individual level, PLUS a whole lot of baggage related to history and privilege (or lack thereof), NONE of which white american guys have to deal with in Japan. To me, that’s the key difference. I’m not trying to say that power dynamics and injustice and inequality don’t exist in Japan … sure they do. But … meh, I don’t know. People are honestly getting **outraged** about this ad?! Cringe.

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 2:01 pm ¶

61. Jesse wrote:

    I wouldn’t count the host from I survived a Japanese game show as a stereotype we made up since he’s the host of an ACTUAL TV show that’s very popular in Japan, and his dialog is usually always making fun of the contestants.

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 6:55 pm ¶

62. urbia wrote:

    And not to mention that the Othering of white foreigners in Asian countries is very, very mild. For example, the look of surprise that foreigners receive when they use chopsticks can’t possibly be meant in a, “Wow, I can’t believe a white person is humanly capable of working their fingers around two slim pieces of wood.” It’s more like, “Wow, I can’t believe they would. That’s amazing. Oops, I didn’t realize I was staring just now.”

    It’s nothing compared to, “This whole group of people have low IQ,” that they deal towards African Americans in America. “And as a result, we will deny them jobs and imprison them.”

    Posted 02 Sep 2009 at 11:31 pm ¶

63. Shanghai Lisa wrote:

    Coming back to this thread today, I skimmed over the Bao Phi post: how he struggles to be accepted as Minnesotan because of his race, how his struggles are dismissed because “Asians are the privileged minority” etc.

    All interesting, moving, troubling issues – and valid complaints.

    Yet, in the views of many of here, those exact same problems don’t matter when taken to a different context.

    Non ethnic Asians in Asia are: racially harassed, mocked, stereotyped, condescended to constantly; treated as perpetual outsiders; assumed to be stupid and incompent. Spoken to in pidgen, or LOUD and SLOW – despite our speaking fluently, unaccentedly the native language, people assume they can’t understand us because of how we look. Asked “Where are you FROM from?”

    The parallels are not perfect, but they are there. Are we “expats”, “here out of choice”, “privileged”, can “go home if you don’t like it” – sure, some are, and so are your rich Taiwanese parents. Some aren’t. Don’t assume, don’t generalize.

    Oh, right, I forget. We whites are “too sensitive” and “can’t take a joke”.

    Yes, a lot of whites in Asia are skeevy sex tourists. But not all – and that stereotyping is as tacky and racist as presuming all Latino-Americans are gardeners, all Asian-Americans are doctors and scientists.

    Is there a silver lining of education for ignorant whites who laugh at racist stereotypes of Asians, who have never been themselves the subject of racist stereotyping? Sure.

    But, for a white who actively protests and combats Western stereotyping of Asians, and who has to deal with daily racial harassment and stereotyping – things like “Mr. James” and the attitudes here that it’s okay are really upsetting.

    Yes, a lot of whites in Asia are overly defensive, and take any criticism of their and other foreigners obnoxious behavior, any challenge to their white privilege, as “racism”. But there is genuine anti-white racism in Asia, and things like “Mr. James” are our Long Duck Dongs.

    Asia is newer than North America to dealing (or not) with issues of immigration, assimilation, miscegenation, and racial/cultural identity. Here in China the latest “controversy” is over a young Shanghainese woman aspiring to pop stardom – who is half-black: http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/shanghai-black-girl-lou-jing-racist-chinese-netizens.

    It’s a whole other topic to explore how China views Eurasians (fetished, but easily demonized as Foreign Demons when convenient) versus other hapas. But it is all part of the same issue.

    Racism=bad, no matter who it’s from or towards. Being dehumanized is awful. Period.

    Posted 03 Sep 2009 at 2:16 am ¶

64. Christie wrote:

    I do get annoyed by negative portrayals of white foreigners in Japanese media, and even more annoyed by negative portrayals of POC’s in U.S. media! When I saw this article, at first I thought, “So, there are characters like this on Japanese TV all the time – what else is new?”

    Having now visited Mr. James’s “website” & watched the video available there:

    http://mcdonalds.dtmp.jp/blog/2009/08/post.html

    (errr, comma), I actually found him a kind of endearing character, compared to most other negative stereotypes found in Japan and the U.S. (please note that I haven’t seen the ads yet).

    - He isn’t a bad-looking guy underneath – sort of Clark Kentish?
    - He is trying hard to learn Japanese, and is getting better very quickly.
    - He is not a pervert or rude or obnoxious.
    - Judging by the comments on his “website”, he seems to be liked & supported by his Japanese audience (and some of the commenters seem to think he is a real guy?).
    - He does not seem to be at all stupid – he is just a non-native speaker of Japanese, which we know does not equal stupid!
    - He appears to be respectful of Japanese culture, etc., and is socially acceptable in his behavior.
    - The fact that he is trying so hard to learn Japanese, despite his funny mistakes, is going to endear him to Japanese people, many of whom are feeling a lack of confidence in their own English studies.

    Some comments by readers of his website (from memory – sorry I can’t be bothered to go back & copy them properly, and these are loosely translated):

    - “James-san, keep up the good work with your studies! I’ll try hard with my studies too!”
    - “Please come to Osaka! Be sure to tell us if you are going to visit Osaka.”
    - “You sure are busy!”
    - “Wow, your Japanese is getting better!”
    - “My daughter loves your TV ad.”
    - “You’re right, that giant Buddha IS huge, and like you said, it really does make you look like an elf!”
    - “The interior decorating at your house in America is really cute!”

    Of course there is probably some comment moderation going on, as I did not see a single negative comment from a disgruntled white man.

    Yes, it is a damaging stereotype that “white people cannot speak proper Japanese.” However, the fact is that (quite unlike the situation of Asians in America), there is actually a very, very small percentage of white people in Japan who can actually speak fluent, adult native-level, accentless Japanese. The vast majority of white people in Japan speak with at least some accent, or some lack of fluency, or worse. I know many, many white people who have lived here for years and cannot read. They are doing harm to the image of white people in Japan, and they are the main reason that Japanese people act surprised when they see that I can read. But I don’t blame all these illiterate white people, as many of them are my friends and I know that many of them are willing, but they have just not had the right set of talents & circumstances to gain the ability to read. Mr. James is clearly trying, and improving all the time, so he is actually a positive stereotype, compared to many actual white foreigners. His mistakes are kind of cute, & not stupid.

    Yes, the katakana thing is annoying, but on his “website” he speaks in a mix of katakana and hiragana, and I see the katakana thing as more of an effort to visually show his foreign accent (& of course he is going to have one, as he just arrived in Japan).

    To white people who are speaking out publicly against him – I would like to ask if you have ever publicly spoken out (not just to a friend, privately, but *publicly*, on the internet or by writing to a company, etc.) against negative stereotypes of POC’s in the media of your home country. If you haven’t, then maybe Mr. James is not the best place to start your career of speaking out against stereotypes of foreigners.

    Posted 03 Sep 2009 at 11:22 am ¶

65. mk wrote:

    @Christie – i agree so much with this!!

    “To white people who are speaking out publicly against him – I would like to ask if you have ever publicly spoken out (not just to a friend, privately, but *publicly*, on the internet or by writing to a company, etc.) against negative stereotypes of POC’s in the media of your home country. If you haven’t, then maybe Mr. James is not the best place to start your career of speaking out against stereotypes of foreigners.”

    Posted 03 Sep 2009 at 12:17 pm ¶

66. A. wrote:

    Lisa – The problem is that white expats only care to say something when it happens to them, but are willingly oblivious when it happens to other people. The silence is absolutely DEAFENING when it comes to Bobby Ologun, and the Obama impersonators, and other such people. It is utterly DEAFENING to see the consistent stereotypes of Asian men. As I’ve stated many times before – Mr. James is exactly how Asian men in the US are stereotyped, but it is much more malicious in the US rather than in Japan. What white foreigners deal with in Asian countries absolutely, insanely pales in comparison to the things that PoC deal with here in the US. Being condescended to is a daily deal being black. That equals a GOOD DAY for me here. The woman that you’re talking about in China? Will have a much more difficult time because she is half-BLACK in China, rather than being half-white. And if you think that simply being condescended to is an issue for you, you’ve really got some light worries. Imagine being Black or Latino in Japan or China.

    What you are dealing with now? Is what I, and many other PoC have had to deal with. It hurts like shit, doesn’t it? And that’s not even scratching the surface with Mr. James. All those questions that you get? Are questions that I get all of the time, and are questions that my roommate gets EVERY. DAY. My sympathy is nil because this should be a stepping stone for white foreigners to actually sit down, shut up, and LEARN something about the racism that they claim that “doesn’t exist” or “it’s so much better now.” The reason why so many of us are having such a schadenfreude moment is because, sadly, a lot of white expats won’t learn from this. They’ll spout all the same things that you are, and will still continue on their ways of stereotyping Asian women as “easy access” and gaijin smashing and other such things.

    Posted 03 Sep 2009 at 2:26 pm ¶

67. Shanghai Lisa wrote:

    A. – I agree with you completely, but our perspectives are, literally, continentally different. Western ugliness towards ethnic Asians is awful, and is as bad if not worse amongst “expat”-type foriegners in Asia as it is in the West. Go on English-language sites in Asia, and about 80% of the discussion is based on racism, especially dehumanizing vitriol directed at ethnic-Asian men.

    Here in China, I get bad from the racial stereotyping, but I get the worst from the Western expats because I protest their behaviors and attitudes. I am public here in praising my many Chinese guy friends and occasional boyfriends. I write letters and articles and blog posts about international (including No America) cases of anti-Asian racism, especially targeting Asian men. I don’t deserve a cookie – of course I hate the abuse of my friends and family. I owe my sanity to a few Asian-American “brothers” looking after me when I was young.

    Maybe expats and tourists will be upset by things like Mr. James, but most of them are too clueless to notice. Hurt more are us assimilated immigrants, more vulnerable and exposed because we don’t live in the expat ghettos, because our lives are largely localised; we’re the ones most attacked by local stereotypes, and we are the most appalled by and opposed to stereotypes in our countries/cultures of origin. Race matters a lot less than degree of assimilation and integration.

    FYI: “expat” is Asian-English for “FOB”.

    Personally, I don’t mind Mr. James that much. Mcdonalds should know better (and so should Starburst and Quiznos and Magic Mountain etc, but we know how that goes, corporate assholes), but I have seen worse, experienced worse. I mind much more the gloating in the Asian-American blogosphere. It is catty, mean-spirited, and racist.

    The oppression olympics is not somewhere I want to go; what I personally get is more innocuous but also more persistant. In public spaces? Every 20 minutes or so. I learned the Wu-Shanghainese language largely to get people to stop harassing me, since Mandarin fluency just makes me “smart for a devil”.

    Lou Jing… She and I have little to compare beyond the larger canvas; she’s native Shanghainese and half Han, I’m a 1G immigrant quite white 新上海人. My hypothetical kids will be more in her shoes, albeit half a generation later, and I thank her on their behalf. The show’s a shitty variety show, but kudos to Lou for going on there and suffering a very public dissection – and being so graceful and patient about it. Show’s so awful, calling her the “Chocolate Girl”, asking why her Mandarin is so good for a hunxie – who was born and grew up in China, giving her grief about the American biological father she never met. I think she will become a big star here, though – she’s gorgeous and a good sport, and her story is compelling. Probably more super-model and actress than songstress, if you watch the clips. She’d actually, probably be more the “exotic” if she tries to make it in America than if she stays here. China’s just more blunt.

    Posted 03 Sep 2009 at 4:31 pm ¶

68. urbia wrote:

    (double-post to correct typo)

    @Christine

    “I know two wrongs (or try thousands over the last couple centuries) don’t make a right, but I ain’t mad at them.”

    Two wrongs may not make a right, but sometimes two wrongs pave the right to something right down the road. Sometimes the bully needs to be given a bloody nose before it realizes its wrong. In this case, white privilege is being exposed by the reactions to both the ad and the Asian-American blogosphere, and getting a wake-up call.

    Shocker? Not really. It’s a process.

    Posted 03 Sep 2009 at 6:21 pm ¶

69. m. wrote:

    @ShanghaiLisa:
    You may be in the minority while living in Asia, but you have no idea what it is to lack both the privilege AND power all white people are born into, live with and carry to the grave – regardless of current location or surroundings. I’m sorry you are mocked and stereotyped, obviously you are not a sneaky devil or a pervert, but you know what? I envy that light and airy, easy, breezy experience of ‘racism’ (one might call it ‘Racism Lite’, otherwise just known as “discrimination”), and I’m sure other people of color do, as well. Look at the big picture: Long Duk Dong isn’t even one of the base ingredients for the stale cake of anti-Asian racism in North America.
    You mentioned the classic “oppression olympics” tactic notoriously employed to silence those being vocal about heirarchy, and although you weren’t attempting to engage in it and admitted your experiences are more innocuous, you make it sound as if POCs being forthright about racism is some sort of “challenge” to white people. To that I say this: please spare those who are faced with insiduous (and blatant) hatred and must hurdle greater obstacles than a stupid character in an insignificant ad campaign your accusations of “shadenfreude” and “insensitivity” until your experiences aren’t limited to a few blows from the media and the non-white peoples whose native country you happen to be residing or traveling in. These aren’t the vicious assaults you make them out to be, and if you understood any basic concepts of history or systemic racism at all (which I’m pretty sure you do based on some of the things you’re saying), you WOULD be laughing at the amount of outrage wasted on this inoffensive and harmless ad campaign. You’ve acknowledged it: it’s not as if other non-Asian people traveling through/residing in are or would be immune from the type of shit you’ve received, them being a person of color would only make it worse.

    Posted 03 Sep 2009 at 10:21 pm ¶

70. Reiter wrote:

    This only makes me smile and shake my head. The shoe, as they say, is now on the other foot. Though the comparisons pale to all the loaded history of oppression, slavery, exploitation, colonialism, and hatred directed toward POCs throughout human history.

    It’s deplorable that a yet another fast food corporation would intentionally stir up the race pot just to move their product and make a buck (KFC with their dancing Japanese minstrels, Burger King with their dumb Whopper virgin campaign, glad I swore off the major fast food joints long ago), but at least whites abroad in Japan can taste a tiny bit of what POCs back home in the West go through on a daily basis.

    Now take that and multiply it by a thousand and they might get an idea of what POCs actually go through.

    On a final note, I love how some of the commentators on various boards are outraged over this ad and start spouting misinformation about Japan even if they’ve never been there. If you don’t know what you’re talking about on a subject, why state stuff that’s clearly wrong (and most likely pulled out of the speaker’s buttcrack) as fact?

    Where was this outrage over the Japanese mistreatment of the Ainu and Okinawans over the years? Or of Korean, Chinese, and other non-Japanese Asian ex-pats? I guess it’s human nature (in this case, white privilege rearing its ugly head) to only look out for number one.

    Posted 04 Sep 2009 at 4:47 am ¶

71. fromthetropics wrote:

    >The silence is absolutely DEAFENING when it comes to Bobby Ologun

    What exactly is at issue with characters like Bobby Ologun? I watched the clip that Banna posted (no. 39) and here’s the gist:

    Ologun’s child is quoted on the board: Dad is normal at home, how come he is (i.e. acts like) an idiot on TV?
    Audience & Japanese on stage: Whaaattt???? (i.e. You mean it was all an act?)…You’re fluent in Japanese when you’re at home aren’t you?
    Ologun: No wayyy… (turns to his child) I can’t speak Japanese, right?…Right?
    Sunglasses guy: I saw him speaking fluent Japanese to his manager.
    Host (to the child): Can your dad speak fluent Japanese?
    Child: Yeah, he can.
    Host: Better than (what he’s speaking) now?
    Child: Yup
    Ologun: (Grabs his child’s jacket) No, no way. (Turns to stage) I no speaketh Japanese. (He makes a mistake but puts a pun in his mistake.)
    Host: So he’s normal at home?
    Child: Yup. He’s normal.
    Ologun: No I’m not.
    Japanese on stage: Heyyyy. Whattt???

    So it sounds as though Ologun uses his ‘foreignness’ to sell his character (and thus make more money). i.e. Cashing in on his foreignness. And he’s not just doing it in one time ads. He’s doing this as part of his media persona.

    How does this work in terms of talking about stereotyping? (This is a genuine question. I’m not trying to criticize/poke at it.)

    Also, the island mentality issue can help explain what goes on, but it certainly is not a good excuse. I’m half Japanese and I’m excited that Japan has come to a place where it needs to start accepting that there are different ways of being Japanese. (See: http://www.mixroots.jp/engdex.htm) It’s definitely a hard thing to do, but we’re gonna have to accept that things change. (Besides, culture has never stayed static anyway. e.g. How did Japan get Buddhism from? Or the girls sailor-looking school uniforms?) Japanese attitudes towards those who are not like them do need to change.

    BUT, I do find it disturbing how some foreign born expats or naturalized Japanese citizens like Debito (or the ones I’ve personally met) talk about racism/discrimination/exclusionary tendencies condescendingly while misinterpreting the situation. The gist of the explicit (or implied) meaning goes: “That would never happen in the U.S. (because ‘we’ are more civilized and enlightened but ‘they’ are obviously not). So let us ‘educate’ them.”

    Posted 04 Sep 2009 at 5:42 am ¶

72. EvilAngelfish wrote:

    @71
    “What exactly is at issue with characters like Bobby Ologun?”

    It’s actually very similar to the issue some people have with Flava Flav. They may be laughing all the way to the bank, but they are playing buffoons, which might not be stereotypical if black men weren’t already depicted as buffoons in a disturbingly large portion of the media in which they show up. Additionally, Bobby’s schtick not only combines accidentally-on-purpose bad Japanese but classic Sambo posturing (which you can get a glimpse of in the clip posted @comment 54) that looks like it was taken directly from a minstrel show. It is absolutely painful to watch and at the beginning of his career, there was no ‘wink wink, actually I can speak Japanese just fine, thanks’, just shucking and jiving.

    Posted 04 Sep 2009 at 9:33 am ¶

73. A. wrote:

    @71 – Evil Angelfish answered everything that I wanted to say – and quite excellently, I might add. The reason that a lot of Black people in Japan find people like Bob Sapp and Bobby Ologun absolutely atrociously awful is because there are no other counters to this. White people – including expats, do have at least one or two examples of non-racist imagery of themselves in a position of glamour and some power. I’ve generally found Anime to actually be much more insulting and far more racist to white people in that regard. Basically, I do consider Ologun to be more in-line with Stepin Fetchit rather than Arudou Debito’s complete horseshit of Mr. James = Stepin Fetchit, simply due to the serious lack of positive Black Imagery in Japan. (Japan is making some strides in regards to Crystal Kay Williams and Jero, but those are the only two African-Americans that I can think of off of the top of my head.)

    Posted 04 Sep 2009 at 4:13 pm ¶

74. fromthetropics wrote:

    @72 & 73. I see, I see. Gotcha. Thanks for that. Btw, I saw a documentary on Jero and thought it pretty cool. (Lotsa tears between his mom and him. Back in his mom’s days being mixed was tough enough, but couple that with being half black and no dad and you get a lot of hardship.) One cool episode was when Jero & his manager went around visiting individual CD shops to promote his album, one of the 50 something year old male shop keeper said, ‘Are you Japanese?’ because he sounded Japanese. I thought that was quite an unusual question considering how relatively few Japanese born black people there are. The usual question I would’ve expected a 50 something to say was, ‘Your Japanese is so good, how long have you lived here?’ So I thought that was cool.

    >Anime to actually be much more insulting and far more racist to white people in that regard.

    Really? How? (Again, this is a genuine question, not sarcasm. I haven’t watched anime in a long time. The only white or black ppl that appeared back in the days when I read mangga were depicted as ‘cool’. I tried googling for examples, but my keywords didn’t hit on anything.)

    >Arudou Debito’s complete horseshit of Mr. James = Stepin Fetchit

    He seems to have since taken this comparison out of his blog.

    Posted 05 Sep 2009 at 4:21 am ¶

75. fromthetropics wrote:

    ps. I remember a black man doing a 5 minute English lesson segment every morning at the end of the news program back in the late 1980s. As a kid that was my favorite part of the news program. But of course, 3 ppl with a positive image isn’t quite enough to counter Ologun.

    Posted 05 Sep 2009 at 4:39 am ¶

76. little mixed girl wrote:

    *sigh*
    first of all, there is no “uproar” in the white foreign community over mr.james.

    debito protests a lot of things, and japan probe writes a lot of articles that they think are interesting to english speakers in japan.

    second, for all of you saying “yeah! take that racist america LOLZ!!1″, how many people in america do you actually think are seeing this campaign?
    and of those people, how many do you think care?

    third, the white foreigners in asia who ignore racism in their home countries, but point it out in asia are not going to look at this as a learning experience.
    to them, the US/canada/etc have LAWS about discrimination.
    they see it as the ability to do something.
    “asian countries allow racism, which is not allowed in my country because we have laws against it”.
    that’s how they are looking at it.

    then there’s the branch of that group which will look at it as a funny parody, regardless of the country and ignore is as being racism.

    Posted 05 Sep 2009 at 12:49 pm ¶

77. Shanghai Lisa wrote:

    I think that: it boils down to context.

    Finger eyes and “ching-chongs” offend me as a native westerner, while my Chinese friends and family find them innocuous.

    Likewise a lot of Asian racism offends those of us who live here, but doesn’t compute with Asian-Americans.

    How the Mr James etc play for you Americans is very different than how it plays for those of here in Asia – both ethnic and cultural minories alike. I think your American perspectives are valuable and interesting, and share them here in China; but they are not universal. This is a daily conversation for us, amidst a range of nationalities and races, and it is not how most Americans – or advertisers – imagine.

    Posted 05 Sep 2009 at 1:02 pm ¶

78. urbia wrote:

    “Likewise a lot of Asian racism offends those of us who live here, but doesn’t compute with Asian-Americans.”

    Uh, no.

    I’ve seem ‘Asian racism’ over in Asia as one of those few Asian-American English teachers. I’ve seen white expats become offended that they’re labeled ‘foreigners’ because they’ve been in the country for >4 years and think they should be considered ‘native’ by then and not perpetual foreigners.

    And yet they don’t speak up about the racist illustrations against blacks, in English class textbooks, that were published in their home white-majority countries.

    It’s Racism Lite.

    Posted 06 Sep 2009 at 3:22 pm ¶

79. little mixed girl wrote:

    you can see the piece that jeff yang wrote about this:
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/09/02/apop090209.DTL

    Posted 07 Sep 2009 at 3:38 am ¶

80. Nozomi wrote:

    I used to see a TV commercial here (in Japan) a couple of years ago for one of the delivery companies, I think, all in moving-clay figures: a deliveryman (established in previous commercials as kind of shy and awkward) handing over a package to a professorial-looking black guy, struggling to explain the various payment systems in English and finally reduced to “…Pay, ne?” The black guy smiles and strokes his beard and requests one of the payment systems in fluent Japanese. I always liked that commercial.
    Me, I’m white and a Japanese speaker and long-time resident, and my work is with zainichi Korean kids. I get upset when Japanese people pretend to speak English by using katakana Japanese, not because it’s racist but because it’s unacceptably parochial.
    I get more upset at Arudo Debito and his ilk, 1) because he demands consideration without showing any of his own, and 2) for historical ignorance. As people above have pointed out, getting het up about the injustice shown to white people in Japan–not as an isolated event but effectively as a profession–is pretty damn short-sighted. Not necessarily wrong per se, but…
    I’m not going to get too much into the discussion above about racism, Asian prejudice, white privilege, etc. My experience isn’t broad enough. I would just like to recommend a nuanced view. Racism and prejudice in Japan don’t come from the same places or take the same forms that they do in America, and likewise in other countries. (Not in the sense that “it’s a different way of thinking and we should bear with it,” hell no, but meaning that you can’t draw exact parallels.)

    Posted 08 Sep 2009 at 8:18 am ¶

81. C wrote:

    It’s hard for me to care when white people are stereotyped, since as a black female, my racial gender is only ever portrayed negatively, stereotypically, and as the cause and blame for the problems of the world. Same with fat people. So no, I don’t care at all when white people are teased and made fun of, because the same one who complain don’t even bat an eye at the stereotype of the ‘ghetto, loud, uneducated, 700 pound, having 50 million kids, broke and on welfare, can’t get a man yet is still a whore, looks like a monkey’ black woman.

    Posted 26 Sep 2009 at 3:56 pm ¶

82. Mike Plugh wrote:

    It’s easy to reduce this to simple terms. “White people have been giving it out for centuries and its just turnabout. Fair play.” Or, “That ad is racist because I don’t like the way it portrays white people.”

    The issue is extremely complex. To those who would simply write it off, I think it’s important to note that the context of caricatures like the one in the ad determines the level of inappropriateness. The context of those images in Japan carries with it a lot of frustration about being “outsider” despite the best efforts to ‘get along’ and ‘play by the rules.’ A lot of folks are just trying to live their lives here and can never be fully accepted as members of this society. Always outsiders. The whiteness of the character is almost beside the point. The minority/outsider status is the issue.

    Mockery of those without the means of counter-messaging, or the status to make claims for better legal rights (equality of family registers, equality of employment conditions, equality of access to the higher rungs of the societal ladder) is shameful. Instead of reducing this type of situation to Blacks, Whites, Latinos, etc….it’s important for everyone not in the majority to show a but of solidarity.

    If we showed solidarity in the face of similar discrimination in our home countries, we could make much more headway in having an honest conversation about race and power. For Whites, in this context, there’s a teachable moment about being right-minded and building solidarity with other racial/ethnic/religious/cultural groups when they are making claims to power.

    There is a moment for non-Whites here to say, “See. How do you like it. Now amplify the effect by a billion and let it ride for 1000 years.” The mistake would be to leave it there. As I said, it’s a teachable moment that can have a positive outcome if solidarity grows from it.

    Posted 06 Oct 2009 at 7:53 am ¶