It's no secret that there are very few foreigners in Japan. Japan's population is 99% Japanese. Out of the 1% that isn't Japanese, 40% of that are Korean nationals, many of whom speak Japanese. I don't know how much of the remaining .6% are Chinese nationals, but even if we were to assume zero that's still only .6% of the population that is foreign and obviously so.
So foreigners are already rare, and as you can imagine, black folks are the rarest of the rare. As a black male, I am often asked about racism - does it exist in Japan? Have I ever had to deal with it? It's kind of a hard question to answer, especially as an American, coming from a background where my parents had to go to segregated schools and couldn't even drink out of the same water fountain. The simple answer, however, is - yes.
It's nothing blatantly hateful. You won't see the Japanese version of the KKK, wearing white hoods and swastikas and going around lynching the first darkie they can find. But there is racism here. Call it ignorance, unawareness, whatever you like, but they do have a tendency to lump people together by race and then assume the worst about them.
When I came to Japan, there was an American making the rounds on Japanese TV by the name of Bob Sapp. Sapp was a former NFL player who burned out after a year or something. He found his way to the K-1 Fighting circuit, which is very popular in Japan. He did decently in K-1, and for whatever reason he became very popular in Japan.
Bob Sapp is a big black guy.
He would go on TV only wearing a pair of Speedos, growl and rant like an animal and toss some Japanese people around. The Japanese ate it up - Sapp at his peak was just always on TV, no matter what channel or time of day. Most Americans, regardless of their own racial background, hated Sapp for going on TV and playing the part of the raving fool for a handful of yen. For me, Sapp was particularly frustrating because whenever I was out in public, I was sure to hear some Japanese person exclaim - "Hey look, it's Bob Sapp!" the moment they spotted me. Keep in mind that although we're both black males, that's exactly where the resemblance ends. Sapp has several inches and several hundred pounds on me - his head is shaved (I keep my hair close but never shaved), and our facial features aren't even that similar.
There was just no escaping the Sapp comparison. It was especially bad at work - students calling me Bob Sapp and then eventually just Bob - or the Japanese version of "Bo-bu". One principal actually, my first day at the school, he introduced me to the student body as "A new American teacher who looks a lot like Bob Sapp." At another school, a completely different principal had used the Sapp comparison to describe me to the faculty. One English teacher mistook that to mean my name was actually Bob, and called me "Bob-sensei" several times throughout the course of one class.
It wasn't exactly fun to be compared to a guy who became famous for fighting, and going on TV wearing spandex and acting like a raving beast. ...Who would find that fun? I blew it off the best I could though. "They just don't know better," I told myself. "There are so few foreigners here, and even fewer black people. It's not intentional. They just don't know." Nevertheless, I waited for the day that Sapp's popularity would die down and I could go back to just being "foreigner", "black foreigner", and sometimes "huge black foreigner".
Little did I know, it was going to get much, much worse.
At almost precisely the same time Bob Sapp's 15 minutes of fame expired, he was replaced by someone even worse, Bobby Ologun. Bobby had been on Japanese TV before. Perhaps inspired by Sapp, Bobby took part in a New Year's K-1 fight, which he won despite not actually being a fighter (the fight was more than likely fixed). From there, Bobby's popularity exploded. Bobby was on TV far more than Bob Sapp ever was. Unlike Sapp, Bobby knew Japanese. However, instead of using his abilities to speak correct Japanese, he made word puns and other intentional mistakes (such as speaking rudely to someone he should be speaking politely to) which only seemed to reinforce the notion that foreigners can't speak Japanese. His act also included a lot of bucking his eyes out, overreacting, and in general acting like a bumbling, hapless fool.
He played the part.
Japanese television revolves around their celebrity circle (revoltingly so), and much of the humor is derived from ridicule. There are acts such as the girl with the big, scary face (Sayaka Aoki), the three girls who are chubby and unattractive (Morisanchu), and the two guys who are scrawny and awkward (Un-girls). So, Bobby's act was really nothing new or extraordinary. However, when you factor in that there are so few foreigners and even fewer black foreigners in Japan, and that Japanese people tend to take one impression of a group of people and run with it, well...things get ugly.
During Bobby's popularity, I couldn't leave my house without hearing someone say "Hey, it's Bobby!" at least 5-10 times a day. There's a park I usually have to pass by on my way home from work - every day upon seeing me the children would stop playing, exclaim "It's Bobby!" and then proceed to mock his foolish mannerisms. I was on the train once, and as a group of high school boys spotted me, they nearly screamed out "Look, it's Bobby!", roaring in laughter as they too made fun of his TV behavior. They wanted to ask me to imitate his act, but figured I didn't understand Japanese and couldn't work up the courage to ask me in English. This went on for ten minutes before I had to change train cars, lest I turn around and start administering Jean Claude Van Damme spin-kicks to whomever wasn't smart enough to face my wrath. While children were the primary purpetrators of the Bobby chant, there were also some grown men and women who'd let a "Look, it's Bobby!" slip from their lips upon seeing me.
Words cannot describe how infuriating it was. To automatically be likened to someone simply because of your gender and race. To have that someone play the part of the fool on national television. Because the transistion from Bob Sapp to Bobby happened almost overnight. And, aside from the three of us being black and male, we looked nothing alike (furthermore, Bobby isn't even American - he's African). I was angry - perhaps most of all at Bobby. He lived here - he knew Japanese. Bob Sapp, maybe, could have been excused - he had no idea what he was doing, but Bobby...Bobby should have known better. It made me retroactively angrier at Bob Sapp. And I was angry at the situation - there was nothing I could do to stop it. I couldn't stop random people on the street and tell them to knock it off. And yet, I literally could not leave my apartment without, at the very least, 5-10 people calling me Bobby, with a significant percentage of that proceeding to mock his idiotic behavior. I told friends in Japan about it, who had a hard time believing me at first, until they actually went somewhere in public with me and saw it for themselves. The only thing I could do was throw on some headphones and pray for the day when Bobby's popularity died down.
There was nothing I could do about the Bobby label in public. But one place where I refused to let it fly was at school. It was a special kind of frustrating to hear my students call me Bobby - they knew my real name. They knew I wasn't a bumbling idiot. They knew I could speak and understand Japanese. They knew, yet that all got overrided by Bobby's television antics. Any student who called me Bobby got a harsh re-buff where possible, and when not possible, at least a disapproving glare. Most teachers were quick to notice the pained look on my face whenever "Bobby" echoed through the hallways, and after explaining to them how much I hated the label the majority of them took it upon themselves to pull aside any kid who used it and have a short talk with them.
I did my part as well. The more level-headed students never even thought to call me Bobby, but for your average student who just didn't think about it, I tried to do what I could. It wasn't an easy battle though. Of course, there were kids who, if they found out how much I hated it, would only do it more just to push my buttons. Then there was your average kid who just couldn't wrap their minds around the concept...
Me: Hi there!
Boy: Hey Bobby!
Me: ...Why did you do that?
Boy: Do what?
Me: Call me Bobby.
Boy: Because. You look like him.
Me: No I don't. I don't look anything like him.
Boy: Sure you do.
Me: Allright, fine. Well, see you later Ichiro.
Boy: ...Huh? Ichiro?
Me: You know. Ichiro Suzuki, the baseball player.
Boy: Why'd you call me Ichiro?
Me: Because. You look like him.
Boy: But, I don't look anything like Ichiro.
Me: Well, you're both Japanese.
Boy: ...I don't get it.
...They never do.
Some of you may think that I overreacted to the whole Bobby thing. I'd just like to say, that I'm a pretty laid back guy. It usually takes a whole lot to get me worked up. And, growing up in and around military bases across California, I've been fortunate enough to never really experience racism first-hand. Or, if I did, it wasn't significant enough to matter. When I go to a restaurant with my parents, they always flinch a little bit if the waiter/waitress happened to sit us in the back, and while I could understand the reaction, I could never truly empathize with it. I'm not a person who wants to play the victim or cry foul at whatever chance I get.
That the whole Bobby issue even became an issue with me shows how big of a problem it was. When I said I'd hear it 5-10 times a day at the very least, that is in no way an exaggeration. If anything, an understatement. I fear though that the only people who will understand the scope of it are black men who happened to be in Japan during that time, and the people around them. Japanese people who hung around me long enough noticed it enough for it to start bothering them. Just last week, I was walking down a shopping arcade in Kyoto with my girlfriend, when she heard a young woman (probably in her 20's) say "Look, it's Bobby." My girlfriend stopped dead in her tracks and said out loud "Goddamnit, that pisses me off!" She tried to say it to the purpetrator, but apparently she'd already walked by and didn't notice. The gf swears that if she hears "Bobby" again, she's gonna tell the person off to their face next time.
I'm not writing this article to say that all Japanese people are racist and evil, free the black man. No. It is what it is. It is a sign of Japan's massive and staggering ignorance when it comes to foreigners and many things outside of their borders. I knew that the people who called me Bobby, in general, meant no harm or foul by it, and probably never stopped to think about it. But, ignorance is not an excuse. If a child runs out into a busy street, you recognize that his ignorance is what made him do so, but you still tell him not to run into anymore streets.
Nor is this something exclusive to blacks. Foreigners are often likened to, and sometimes flat-out confused with celebrities they look nothing like. In those cases, at least the celebrity (probably) isn't making a fool of themselves on Japanese television. I've also heard that there are quite a few Asians in America who have been hit with something like "Hey, it's Jackie Chan/Lucy Liu!" at one point. Honestly, that's just as bad, so we can't say that this is something exclusive to the Japanese. For me though, at the moment I'm here in Japan and can only tackle one problem at a time.
JET is a program for teaching English, but more than that it brings a much-needed foreign presense to Japan. Japan needs foreigners who can come here and break their stereotypes and closed way of thinking, not perpetuate them. It's not going to be an easy job, and changes won't happen overnight, but maybe someday, we'll get to a Japan where being foreign isn't so damned pigeonholed. Even if none of the kids I taught ever speak a word of English again, if even a small fraction of the Japanese population will no longer freak out upon seeing a Gaijin, then I'll feel as if I have accomplished something here.
As for my dear friend Bobby, his popularity was cut short when he had a run-in with his manager. I don't know the details (nor do I care), but whatever happened lead to Bobby being suspended from appearing on Japanese TV for 6 months. After his suspension ended, many networks have become reluctant to feature him because of the incident. Bobby still occasionally appears every now and then, but nowhere near the complete and total exposure he had last year. As a result, I no longer have to hear the Bobby label everytime I leave my house. It still gets thrown around from time to time, but now the incidents are few and far between. I've finally gone back to being just "Gaijin" or "large black man". If nothing else, at least I no longer have to wear my headphones outside.
I would like to note that, given what's been going on in the comments lately, the timing of this post is an unfortunate coincidence. It's been in the queue for a few weeks - while I thought about changing it, ultimately I decided I'm not going to let my comments section rule over me.
Yeah, I used to get Mike Bernardo [another - older - K1 fighter] because we both do the shaved head thing. Now that he's not as well known anymore, all I get is Bruce Willis, occasionally. Probably neither as much as much as you ever got Bob and Bobby. Sapp never bothered me so much, probably because I liked watching him fight, but Bobby is the definition of clown.
But it is what is, nothing to get worked up about... you have to figure Japanese think all foreigners are alike, well... because they think all Japanese are alike.
The best advice I ever got for the Bernardo/Willis thing was to say "Yep, that's me! Buy me a beer?"
don't have a typekey, but i check into gajinsmash every once in a while and enjoy whats going on. I think your lucky to live such an interesting life Az, look at all you've written. Whatever's going on don't let it get you down. Youre off having adventures in Japan while some of us are stuck in CA, in school, with no clue what's next. Keep up the good work.
-DDD
10 points for having the guts to post this despite the comments, Az. A great post, and it's a good point. But I've also never been to America so I can't make that much of a comparison - Australia, especially the inner-city areas of Melbourne and Sydney (I live in Melbourne and rarely venture outside the inner-city areas) has an incredibly high population of Asians. It would simply be stupid to call one 'Jackey Chan'. Well, more stupid than usual. It'd just be moronic to go around calling about 40% of the people on the streets Jackey Chan or Lucy Liu.
Though I have been into more rural areas a few times and I imagine its populations are close to America. It never really hit me, but I imagine if I spent a week in a rural area, the lack of Asians would finally hit me and all be a bit surreal. I've just grown that used to them, just like all the other races. I've never really had much appreciation for Australia's multi-culturalism (since so many of the local barbie-slinging Bogan idiots in their Holden utes love to hurtle down city streets hurling "GO BACK TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY" quips), but when I think about the idea of there being a certain skin-colour of person that you just very rarely see, and who stands out when you DO see them... Well, it's odd.
But hey, we all know that one of the key features of Japan is how isolated it is. Racial ignorance is the price you pay for how many radical steps forward in so many areas Japan was responsible for before things such as the internet began to help them get in touch with the rest of the world. Of course, there are the side effects. No other country is as isolated as Japan to be able to come up with things like their weirdo gadgets and their crazy fashion, but at the same time, no one is as isolated enough to be warped enough to invent tentacle porn.
Ups and downs. Japan's a land of extremes, I guess. (And much humour!)
Great article.
. I've also heard that there are quite a few Asians in America who have been hit with something like "Hey, it's Jackie Chan/Lucy Liu!" at one point.
Oh man, I heard this on a daily basis at my school back in the US. You just kinda get desensitized by it after hearing only so much.
"...They knew I wasn't a bumbling idiot..."
Well, if beliving that helps you sleep at night..lol j/ks.
Everywhere in the world ppl are guarded against things/ppl/customs that are different. They may welcome you with open arms (and hopefully open bars!) but do someting against the norm, custom or expected behaviour, and your automatically that gaijin/foreigner/scum-bag-not-from-here!
But it is worse for colour, because its so pianfully obvious. I fell you, I have been confused with so many different races, and it does get annoying. Ppl treat you differently on that basis, if their interaction with you is superfical (ie. seeing you on a train.) But once they get to know you it doesnt matter at all, you're either a nice person they want to get to know or a dick, regardless of colour.
And dont change your posts due to trolls/attention whores. Your great writing is what ppl keep coming back for, its insightful and entertaining.
although this is not as extreme as your case, for the most part: now you know how asians, especially the chinese, feel about William Hung!
I just spent 10 days in Japan on Winter Break and I can definitely agree with you. Perhaps not completely emphasize (I think a large black man probably stand out there a lot more than a short, white, brown eyed blonde girl ^^'), but I do realize that they've got a thing about foreigners. Sometimes when catching a taxi, we had to make sure we were looking away when we hailed it, because some taxis wouldn't stop for gaijin.
Not that anyone was outright rude, many are very polite and friendly. My uncle had a very good way of describing this.
If you're a foreigner to japan, they will be nice to you, they'll welcome you, but they will never truely accept you. It's the world's most polite predjudice.
I've been living in Japan myself since last April, so I certainly know the guys you're talking about. In fact, that moron Bobby was on TV this morning IIRC, and he recently went on that 'Shall We Dance' program. Same old eye-bulging, overreacting stupidity.
Although I can't relate to the black thing (I'm another Australian), I do know what you're talking about in regards to people freaking out about gaijins - I'm living up north in a relatively small city called Kushiro (I'm sure you've heard of it Az), and frankly, I can go months at a time without seeing a new foreigner. They recently (a few months ago) had a gaijin winter coming party, and I'd swear about 90% of the people there were chinese, korean, or other of another asian nationality.
As a result, the people up here aren't really used to the whole gaijin thing, compared to the people down south in Tokyo etc. Though it has been a blessing in a way - I can speak Japanese reasonably well, and when I go to a store or whatever, you see the initial 'oh shit' reaction go through the workers' face, then the 'oh thank god' when they realise I can speak it. Down in Tokyo etc, it's like Az said in a previous post - people flat out refuse to believe you can understand Japanese.
What Az says about the black population is oh so true though - when I went visited Tokyo for the first time in 6 months, it was the first time I saw a black person since leaving Australia. It's a rarity to say the least, and pretty much unheard of up where I live.
It really is a shame that the vast majority of Japanese people will never really get used to foreigners, since we're so few over here. It took a while for the people at the dorm I live at to get used to the idea, but they all warmed up to it - hell, I went to dinner with a friend who lives in the room next door, and he was telling me that before I (and the one other foreigner) came, he'd had next to zero interest in foreign things, countries, whatever. But now, having lived with me for nearly a year he, as well as lots of the other people I know, have gotten a better appreciation for foreigners. Even they have started to see how stupid some of the stereotypes and stuff are.
on a culture enrichment day, tell the kids about Yellomon and Victor Varnando
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Beeno
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Vernado
Great post. I think you should translate it into Japanese and let Japanese read it.
And I am really sorry for your troubles.
It will take time, but you ARE contributing a lot to Japanese society. Thank you.
Kerrichan
"If you're a foreigner to japan, they will be nice to you, they'll welcome you, but they will never truely accept you. It's the world's most polite predjudice."
I am not so sure. It really depends.
I want to know how gaijin biker think of it.
http://linmoore.blogspot.com/
I am not sure how long it has taken for the US to grow as she is now, but Japanese society is also changing. At least that is what I am hoping.
All I can say is, as a black man living in Japan, I understand.
well, the japanese also think that every blonde blue eyed foreign girl is a stripper. Even if she's wearing a suit, gives her meishi with both hands and her name is all over the research report she wrote and presented- she will not be allowed to speak in a Japanese meeting, all questions will be directed to the man accompanying her, whose sole job is to repeat what she says verbatim because the Japanese men on the other side of the transaction don't believe that women are capable of such complex thought. They still think, even after feeding all the answers to the man in the meeting, that said female is an escort, and what boggles their mind is why a foreigner would hire an escort in the middle of the day to come to a meeting. And they're just too damned polite to say how crazy that is.
Certain stereotypes can infuriate people, its generally only certain ones against you, and its due to the influence of what people see on TV, therefore one guy on TV is the spokesman for people who share his/her nationality/colour etc. but if it really gets on your nerve just think- At least it could be worse like...
Hey look! Its Whoopi Goldberg!
I'm an exchange student in Japan, and I've had somewhat of the same experience before, although no where near on the same scale. I'm a white female, and although I don't look anything like her, I've been compared to Brittney Spears. I can only assume that this is because they don't really know what she looks like, but seriously, if someone compared you to Brittney Spears, wouldn't you be offended?
I think you look like moota in The Cat returns [/random]
Az have you ever experienced this in America? I have plenty of times. Many of the time where there have been say 2 or 3 tall, thin, black males in a class (myself included) and no matter how different we look undoubtedly our names are confused ALL the time. By whites mind you, which is weird to me because this isn't even blatant racism. These people, as a matter of fact are totally not racist. However this pretty much only occurred with white teachers, hispanic and black teachers never made that mistake. It drove me nuts, and I definitely made mention of it at the time as a joke, but with all the other more blatant racism in this country (bear in mind I'm in Virginia, so I've experienced some fucked up shit, and not even in the deep south) I never really thought much more about it.
Hi! I've found one of your recent posts last week and now I just can't stop reading through the whole archive! Your stories are great and I'm completely addicted to them! :) Please, keep writing! I'm from Brazil and I'm going to live in Kyoto for one year, starting in April. If I see you around, I'll have to give you a hug, man! So if a gaijin-woman starts to stare at you on the street, run! :)
Reminds me of Crocodile Dundee when he beat up the bad guys on the subway and the Asian guy swore it was Clint Eastwood.
I'm a chinese and hey, the caucasian (westerners) think that I speak chinese. I don't I speak mandarin. Chinese is a race, not a language. Just like African is a race.
And why the hell, does it seem that all chinese are kungfu martial arts experts? We can't fly around the room and more often than not, we can't take down a guy bigger than us. We do not make a hell of noise when we punch someone either aka Bruce Lee.
That "gaijin talent (tarento)" in Japan must be terrible. There was (I don't know if he's still on TV) this italian guy, Girolamo Panzetta, that played the stereotype of the italian (lazy,slacker,pizza lover,mandolino player etc) on TV and many Japanese were disappointed in meeting regular italians that didn't behaved at all like him..
I get "Eh! Matto Deiman!" fairly often, but just at school. And just because my name is Matt. I've never been called a celebrity out in the streets, and for that I am thankful. I mean, I've been called a lot of OTHER things in the streets, but never a celebrity.
I'm not a black guy like you but I'm big and Yugoslavian. Now apparently while I was in Japan there was a set of movies produced which basically featured a popular Yugoslavian actor as a weapons dealer. Hearing people around me saying that I deal in weapons was no fun specially because unlike you I do look like the actor. So there were people around me calling me things like member of the mob, druglord, hell there were people scared of me.
And I had no idea why till I saw the movies -.-
Dude I know how you feel like and I have seen both Bob and Bobby and find them to be idiots and a at some points a disgrace to the foreigners and black people all over the world.
As a black female in Japan, its slightly better and then slightly worse. Right now, at least I will get Beyonce' or Whitney Houston.....but I HAVE gotten Whoopi Goldberg....THAT freakin sucks! I look like NONE of them...all that we have in common is that we're black females.....and that Beyonce' and I are both curvy....nothing else....I TOTALLY understand your pain!
You should check out the Average Asian video's on Youtube. It's comedy about asian stereotypes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYTbpCTphdc
Yeah.. I hear you man. Growing up with Long Duck Dong from Sixteen Candles, in a predominantly Caucasian city was killer. But is the stereotype character a progression before strong minority roles. And how much do you blame an actor trying to feed his family as opposed to the market for such an actor? If not Bob or Bobby, then someone else willing to play the part, as long as there's a demand for it. Eventually someone will come along who will want to break those stereotypes. Maybe you?
Hey, just wanted to say that your post really made me think. I'm seriously considering studying Japanese next year and I'm really glad I read this. Not so much in the sense of that I perhaps shouldn't do it because of the ignorance towards foreigners but more so that it's something important I should take in consideration. Thank you for being so open about this.
Great post, even though what you had to go through sounded really rough. I don't usually get mistaken for anyone, but I get called 'Anne Frank' occasionally by the people who know I'm Jewish, tasteless as it is. I dunno, whoever told the Japanese that all white foreigners were Christian? The best was in December, when I got to explain that no, I didn't know any Christmas games for english classes to play, nor did I have any favorite memories to share, and actually, I didn't celebrate it at all. The response was always, always a blank look and 'nan de?' Most people, after they get over that, will take it in stride, until we get back to the thing that brought it up, at which point they won't understand what me being Jewish has to do with the thing that brought religion up, like me not wearing a crucifix, or not celebrating a certain holiday. Then after that issue gets sorted out, if something else comes up, they remember that I am Jewish but attach no meaning to that and try to get me to conform to Christianity anyhow. Sorry to digress, there, but yeah, the xenophobia is pronounced and, going to a Catholic school with religion classes, nuns, and prayers exactly 14 times a day, its something I deal with a lot. I feel sort of lucky that my minority foreigner status is relagated to just being a tall, curly haired white girl when walking along the street, because at least that is the normal amount of staring, but I think I make up for it with absolute shock about my religion, when it comes up. Also, I don't recommend talking to the Japanese about the Holocaust, you're likely to find some frightening opinions.
I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan in the late 90's. While my similar incident didn't happen in Japan, your post made me relive the moment.
While on deployment in Korea, I and a friend were out in the local town looking for a bar to chill at. While walking and talking down a pretty open sidewalk, how when I say open, I mean that the lovely people of the people's Republic of Korea cleared the sidewalk when they saw me (then 5'10" 165) and my friend (5'8" 200). This was nothing unusual, during our deployments people usually leave the scary looking black guy alone and assume my friends are just as thuggish and rough as I am.
As it happens this day wasn't average, while talking to my friend I didn't notice the 5' Korean girl and her 4' friend walking towards us or I just didn't pay them any attention. Like I said I'm use to not having anyone around me.
Well, they were talking and laughing just like we were and the tall one walks right into me. As she is almost a foot shorter than I am, look down and say hello (in Korean) She takes a step back, looks at me and screams at the top of her lungs and flees from sight like some kind of cartoon character (without the cloud of dust). I didn't see how her friend reacted, because out of no where some guy yells "AMERICAN GOOD, AMERICAN GOOD". What do you do when something like this happens? Nothing right, we just shrugged it off and continued partying the night away. But this incident kept nagging me; I asked one of the ROKMarines I was on duty with why this happened.
What he told me basically changed my way of thinking. Korea's major exposure to Americans and especially black Americans is via the media. Earlier that month a black service member had gotten drunk and caused a major incident that was all over the media. In 90% of movies that have black actors they are doing something criminal, whether it's breaking the law to right an unjust wrong or sell drugs to stealing and killing. Music videos are another genre that allows black people to display ourselves at our worst. The image we allow that to be portrayed is one of violence, ignorance and worthlessness. The funny part of this, to me at least, is that I have never identified myself with this genre. I have never been gangsta, I'm extremely faraway from hip. I haven't been cool since high top fades went out. I had on jeans with belt, a shirt with a collar and boots and winter jacket. To this day I have never forgotten the look of terror on her face as she locked eyes with me.
My question is how you would react if your only exposure to a culture was negative, and the positive is hardly seen and rarely noticed. If I was white would she have reacted the same?
Thanks a lot for postings a blog about being a English Teacher in Japan. That is what I want to do once I graduate college and a insider view is great!
while I'm not a typekey member either, I have been reading your writing for awhile and always find it greatly entertaining. I completely understand what you are saying. I spent a few weeks in Japan for work, and I'll never forget walking through a market and having a guy come up to me and tug on my jacket and ask if I played basketball. while I'm pretty tall at 6'6", no one would ever confuse my build with that of a basketball player. but apparently, because I was tall, I fit the profile for this guy. and this was an adult, not a child who just didn't know any better. keep up the good work, and hopefully it gets better for you.
Dudes...!!! It's Bobby and a Monkey!!! You have got to see this video. Apparently there is not only "gaijin smash" (performed by foreigners), but also a "gaijin smashing" (performed by the japanese towards foreigners).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRp8btMFKE4
This is a really great video on Asian stereotypes in North America:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-877443643928876680&q=chink+in+the+a
I cannot imagine how frustrating it must be to constantly be recognized as a fool or clown who has nothing to do with you and who you vividly hate. I'm glad that the actors' popularity is declining so that you don't have to endure the comparisons as often, and I hope no one crops up to take their place and light the fires anew. Maybe for a day you should wear a shirt that says "I am neither Bobby Ologun, nor Bob Sapp, any more than you are Ichiro Suzuki". I don't know if it would do a damn thing, but it might be interesting to see if passerbys do double-takes or you get fewer comments yelled out around you.
Very thought-provoking post, Az. I was kind of wondering if you were planning to touch on the Bobby phenomenon. I'm truly glad you did. It's frustrating enough to be likened to someone simply because of race and gender, but it is more so when said someone is the epitome of buffoonery. Not that I'm supportive of pigeonholing, but it is better to at least be compared to someone who commands some degree of respect. I applaud your attempts to educate your students on this matter. However, I think it would have been somewhat more effective if you had used a Japanese equivalent of Bobby (ugh, I hate the guy with a red-hot passion), rather than a Japanese baseball player. Perhaps, then, it would have registered with them.
Who knows? Maybe, just, maybe people will learn that one person (or a cluster of individuals) does not represent an entire group. That we can FINALLY practice what we preach and judge people as individuals. Until then, keep educating the masses, I guess *sighs*.
Good Post Az.
I'm pretty MTV is still your problem even with the 2 Bob's =p
Face it Az, As long as MTV and rap are around the black man will always be seen as a Pimp Lunatic lol.
Can't wait for Tuesday!
Curtis Cage.
Great article. When I was in Japan I got called Tom Cruse alot because I had the same length of hair he had in The Last Samurai. I hated it because I don't like him and I don't look like him at all (we dont even have the same hair color). Eventualy I when from being upset to pity because they honestly don't know any better. It is like dealing with that one 3-year-old who may say something not out of hate or spite but out of sheer ignorace and they honestly can't wrap their minds around the concept that it may be saying something wrong.
Gooooooood Morning Vietnam!
This post reminds me of when I was a child with my parents in Vegas, and my Dad claimed to see Whoopi Goldberg LOL. Since then, I have seen 4 Samuel L. Jacksons, a Tom Hanks, and I, personally, am Billy D. Williams.
Maybe I shouldn't live in Japan after all? I'd lose my wife in a crowd?
Also, my advice for all Blacks in Japan is to get on the first chopper outta there. I have been reading AmRen. They had a juicy story there about how Asians hate Blacks. Now this website might piss you off, as it pisses me off to an extent. However, I'd advise you to read at your own dicression.
In other, more important "news", racism will always exist. You have to TAKE THE PAIN, TAKE THE PAIN. If you can't, then quit life. Sorry to say it, but it's true. If you're Black, realize that nobody likes you, and nobody ever will. Had I not come to that realization, I would have never gone to Japan. I thought to myself, nobody likes me anywhere, so I might as well go where I want to; otherwise, I'll be stuck here in this one little box, to die a virgin. However, I met my wife and I am happy as hell!
Also, remember what the dormouse said, feed your head.
Sorry, I've been watching Platoon all week. I've seen the movie about 50 times this week, and I'll probably watch it 5 more times today.
Anonymous studying Japanese:
If you are Black, don't do it. The reason why is because you will waste hours of precious time that could be spent doing physics or calculus...
Or buying Mitsuki T-shirts.
http://www.cafepress.com/violentaj
Well I can't say I know the full extend of having that done to you, but I know the feeling. In high school, I suddenly became "Ralphy" much to my confusion. I didn't spread much, but it was annoying to hear it called out in the hallways.
When I finally asked the guy that started spreading it who the hell "Ralphy" is, he tells me that I look like the character from The Christmas Story. I have never even seen this movie, yet somehow I look like some 7-8 year old kid. Eventually I looked up an image just to find our similarity are blonde hair and glasses. Not even the same hair style or style of glasses.
To me, calling me by anything other than my name is an insult and I took it very personally. If I was in your position, the word "angry" would have been redefined by the Japanese.
Coincidentally, I read this [ http://joi.ito.com/archives/2007/02/03/japanese_racism_available_now_at_convenience_shops_near_you.html ] a few days ago. The author of the magazine in question responded with this [ http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/399166 ]. I was meaning to post something about this here, but didn't get around to it until now.
-Kalle.
"If nothing else, at least I no longer have to wear my headphones outside."
They probably thought you were listening to rap too...
I got stationed in Japan for four months in '97. My friend is a clean shaved black guy and we used to tell people in bars that he was Micheal Jordon and I was Steve Kerr. There are probably a hundred Japanese people out there with our autographs.
Since I am seriously considering joining the JET program after college, this post really got me thinking. Being over six-and-a-half feet tall with long hair, glasses, and a beard gets me stared at quite a bit in the 'States. I'm quite sure I'd get it CONSTANTLY in Japan, so I've been prepared for that, but what I didn't think about was the Japanese populace's (specific type of) celebrity fixation. Is there anybody incredibly famous in Japan who fits that description??
Yeah every race and culture has it's own sterotypes and no matter if it's in an isolated country like japan or a multicutral one like america or australia these are things you just can not escape.
But also americans (I can't speak for other countries cause I'm not sure) are also ignorant to asains in general. I'm sure when you were here you there where times when you were teased for having an interest in japan. Where you were labeled a geek or nerd or something to that effect for taking an interest in a country and culture that most people either knew nothing about or didn't care to know.It's funny cause when you say you want to learn spanish of french americans are all for it they think your intellegent or smart but say you want to learn japanese or chinese and they think your weird and whatnot. Hmmm I'm having a hard time trying to say what I mean. I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say.
Though you still have every right to be upset. All it takes to bet ignorance is a little logic and common sense and if people don't think to use that than you have every right to be upset with them.
This same kind of thing happened to me a while ago when I was in Japan. The only difference was that they all thought that I was Harry Potter because Daniel Radcliffe and I are both white.
Driver Driverson,
I'd like to add that I'm a white male computer nerd who practically never does anything social where I need to physically see the person, and I sometimes will interact with these three white females that I have trouble telling apart. So I'd say it's more of a stranger thing in general than a racial thing.
Hmmm...that mustve been pretty frustrating being Bob all the time. I'm half asian , but don't really look it so much so I've never been called jackie chan.
Didn't know Bob Sapp used to be so big over there, my only real exposure to him was the movie "IZO" a tashi Miike movie about an immortal demon samurai who fights like hell through hordes of samurai, ninja, yakuza, riot police, school kids and ghosts to get revenge on the politicians that ruled the many eras of japan. Bob Sapp played a warrior priest who got cut in half by Izo in that movie. I thought it was a cool movie and would recommend it, but then again after all these bobs, I could understand if you had an aversion to anything associated with them.
Also, I do not mean to discourage anyone, black or otherwise, who would be considering a study abroad, or to live in Japan for some time. As I said, Japan needs more (good) foreigners to help break stereotypes.
There is a lot of stupid shit here, yes. But there's a lot of stupid shit everywhere. No exceptions. You just have to factor in everything, along with your personal decisions, and make your own decision.
I do think there's a lot of fantasy that surrounds this country for whatever reason. A lot of people come here only knowing the fantasy, and are somewhat shocked to find the reality. That shock oftentimes turns into bitterness, anger, and resentment. I just hope that people, before coming, could know the whole story - the ups as well as downs. Culture shock may be inevitable, but as is I feel that the majority of foreigners who come here just have no idea what they're getting into beforehand.
I have to say, I understand what you mean. I bear a very slight resemblance to Napoleon Dynamite (going only so far as to have curly hair and glasses), and, even now, two years after the tupping movie came out, I can't go anywhere without hearing "gosh!" or something like that. It's not as bad as it was when the movie first came out, where most people, even people who knew who I was, still called me Napoleon instead of my name. It's infuriating, because I am nothing like him whatsoever. I hate that bleeding movie.
I am very ashamed of this behavior and I am not even japanese.
I am a chinese american, but I must say that the same stereotypes exist in china and probably all over asia (and even in my parents' heads -_- ...but that is another rant). But in defense of the place where many of my relatives live, please understand that it is really ignorance and not hatred that fuels this stuff. What Mac said up there is correct about the media only showing black gangstas and slutty white girls etc in asian countries. This is really the majority of asian exposure to foreign people. Therefore, many asians will have this image in their head of america being this crazy place that is exactly what is shown to them on TV (ie: black people = gangstas). It's not really their fault.. it's just the only image of foreign people that they've ever known.
The bigger problem is that the government/media does nothing to stop this stereotyping, probably because they don't see it as much of a problem, since there are so few foreigners there anyway. This is probably the same reason none of the people really stop to think about what they're doing when they point and yell "bobby!" at a random black guy walking around japan. Education of the public is really the key here, but it seems like no one really cares enough to do anything about it.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is.. hold your judgement on the population of japan/korea/china/wherever and consider things from the other viewpoint. I'm not saying that their stereotyping is ok. I'm just saying that it's not intentional, so please don't think too badly of us asians. Az seems to understand this.. but I guess I just wanted clarify some possible misunderstandings. I sincerely hope all this can improve and even be fixed and I am very sorry that any of this stuff happens at all.