Black Tokyo’s post on the eMobile CM has made the Huffington Post. Mr. Earnest Harris in his article, “Mobile Phone Monkey Business: A Japanese Primate Plays Obama” wrote:

“The ethnic tensions stretched taut by the campaign and that have roiled U.S. culture for the last half year rippled across Japan when reports surfaced that a television ad for Japanese cellular telephone provider eMobile starred a monkey as Barack Obama.

“The response from black people in Japan and others, once news of the ad spread, was swift. Cries that the depiction was raw racism and an insult to Obama and all Blacks drew a denial of any knowing wrongdoing from eMobile. Spokespeople for the company assured the press that there was no racist intent on the company’s part and it meant in no way to demean Obama or Black people. The company pulled the ad within hours after the story broke.

One of the first outlets to key on the ad was the website and blog Black Tokyo, which is edited by Zurui, a Black American who has lived in Japan for many years. “While change is good, having the candidate depicted as a monkey is not!” he wrote soon after the ad first aired:

Click here to read the Huffington Post article.

 

 CNN eMobile Story: Play Now | Play in Popup | Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I would like to say ARIGATO for the emails and posts submitted by the various bloggers from around the world (thank goodness for Google Translate). Needless to say, I was happy to see that CNN ran the story on my post questioning whether eMobile’s CM was considered racist: ”Obama is a Monkey in Japan?” It would have been nice for the CNN Japan reporter to acknowledge the website though. Speaking of acknowledgments, I would like to give a big shout out to Ms. Vaughn for voicing her concern on Metropolis Magazine’s MetPod. Also, kudos to the concerned citizens that appeared in the CNN Tokyo interview.  

Here is a rehash on what I posted: 

“Obama is a Monkey in Japan[?] (Notice the question mark) Well it SEEMS like the ugly head of racism has reared its big head again on Japanese television. E Mobile’s new cell phone commercial SEEMS to depict a presidential campaign with “red” supporters (red is E Mobile’s corporate color and not representative of the Democratic Party (blue) in this case) in the background holding signs the say “Change.” While change is good, having the CANDIDATE depicted as a monkey is not!” 

I posed the question:

“Am I crazy to think that the monkey is supposed to represent Barack Obama?”

Then a statement:

“Given the track record for COMPANIES in Japan that used monkeys and blacks or monkeys as blacks in advertisements…maybe not!”

Now the responses from the blogosphere were very interesting, if not sometimes ignorant. Ignorant because some bloggers found it funny to correlate monkeys to Blacks while others felt that the Japanese would not understand the “Western” concept of things related to race and racist imagery. Many bloggers believe that my remarks stemmed from cultural baggage, whatever the hell that means.

The most telltale sign that some people were micturating in atmospheric equations of motion stemmed from the numerous claims of Blacks “screaming” of racism. I would like to believe that the voice on Black Tokyo has been reasonable, measured, and raised in a consciousness that reflects the spirit of those that do not need others to validate or approve of what is deemed racist in depiction or culturally insensitive.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Guardian and other newspapers have reported that the E-Mobile CM showing a monkey in a suit addressing an election rally was pulled. E-Mobile denies accusations of racism but has decided to pull the advertisement.

E-Mobile stressed it had used the macaque mascot in several other adverts and never intended to insult Obama but had decided to pull the “Change” ad in response to criticism in the blogosphere.

We at Black Tokyo applaud E-Mobile’s decision to remove the culturally insensitive advertisement. No matter what others think, this is not only a Japan issue nor is it an issue that is only important to Black Americans.

Some bloggers strongly disagreed with Black Tokyo’s decision to question E-Mobile’s advertisement. Sites such as Japan Probe believed that the average Japanese viewer could not make a connection between the E-Mobile CM and Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for Change. Instead, it was felt that the Japanese would draw a parallel to the Japanese television drama, Change, starring Kimura Takuya (Kimutaku).

According to UPI Asia Online, “83 percent [of the Japanese] were closely following the election coverage – slightly more than the 80 percent of Americans who took the same survey.  Japan’s expat community on a popular blog mirrored the poll’s results: “Interesting how Americans could care less about who’s running for Japanese offices, but Japan is all over American candidates,” wrote one blogger. “America is the focus of attention quite frequently.”

E-Mobile’s chief executive, Sachio Semmoto, told Reuters: ”We had no bad intentions, but this is a cross-cultural gap issue and we have to accept it. There are African-Americans in Japan, so we decided to take prompt action and shut down the ad.”

Read the rest of this entry »

This is a follow-up to a podcast that I submitted in October 2006 on Blackface in Japan, spearchucker condoms that give you that ol’ negro feeling, Tokyo Metro Government’s racist images used in an official government document , and an interview with event-throwing brothas 6-Figures.

Click on this link, Japan Report 1, to view the podcast.

Here is the new version of the Earthquake Survival Manual. After the big scare earlier this month, the manual provides very useful information for those living or planning to live in Japan or any other earthquake prone area.

BTW, the metro government took a step in the right direction in making the publication for NJ’s but there is still much work to be done in the fight for what’s right in the Land of the Rising Sun! Bonzai and Power to the People!

Wow! I was pleased to see that my response, “Let the SDF Deploy Overseas,” to an Opinion Editorial (Op Ed) piece in the Japan Times was published in the Readers in Council section on Sunday, May 25, 2008. I decided last month to not only dedicate more time to finishing off the dragon a.k.a. “my book” but to write for a broader audience. I will take this as a good start.

Arigato and Okini to those that sent email thanking me for the list of language and resource links. I found out that MANY lurkers hit the BT Forum and Blog. Hopefully, they will post about their experiences in Japan or even ask a question or two about Japan from the Afro (or non-Afro) perspective!

Thanks again for your support!

Arudou Debito & Higuchi Akira

A new bilingual book by lawyer Higuchi Akira and author-activist Arudou Debito went on sale in March 2008. The book includes advice on securing stable visas, establishing businesses and secure jobs, resolving legal problems, and planning for the future from entry into Japan to death.?In this extract, they explain the rationale behind the project and offer advice for how to deal with problems in Japan and integrate into Japanese society.

Migration of labor is an un-ignorable reality in this globalizing world. Japan is no exception. In recent years, Japan has had record numbers of registered foreigners, international marriages, and people receiving permanent residency. This guidebook is designed to help non-Japanese settle in Japan, and become more secure residents and contributors to Japanese society.

For detailed information on the book, the preface, and excerpts (see below) click here.

Chapter One: ARRIVING IN JAPAN
1 - Understanding the structure of the Japanese Visa System (the difference between “Visa”, “Status of Residence” (SOR) and “Certificate of Eligibility” (COE))
2 - Procedures for coming to Japan
- Acquiring SOR from outside Japan
- Changing or acquiring SOR from inside Japan
- Chart summarizing Visa, COE, and SOR
3 - Procedures after you came to Japan
- Bringing your family over to Japan
- Leaving Japan temporarily
- Extending your stay in Japan
- Changing jobs in Japan
- Changing SOR so you can work
- Chart summarizing Immigration procedures
4 - What kinds of Status of Residence are there?
- Chart outlining all 27 possible SOR
- Recommendations for specific jobs
- Requirements for select Statuses of Residence
5 - What if you overstay or work without proper status?
- Recent changes to Immigration law
- Examples of unintended violations
- Our advice if you overstay your SOR
6 - Getting Permanent Residency and Japanese Nationality
- Chart summarizing the requirements and differences between the two
7 - Conclusions and final advice on how to make your SOR stable

Chapter Four: WHAT TO DO IF… RESOLVING PROBLEMS
LIFESTYLE: FAMILY MATTERS:
…if you want to get married
…if you want to register your children in Japanese schools
…if you want to register your newborn Japanese children with non-Japanese names
…if you have a problem (such as ijime bullying) in your children’s schools
…if you want to change your children’s schools
…if you suffer from Domestic Violence
…if you want to get divorced
…if you are having visitation, child custody, or child support problems
…if you are a pregnant out of wedlock by a Japanese man

Click here for additional information on the author and his activist activities in Japan.

===================================

Book synopsis follows:

===================================
“HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS, AND IMMIGRANTS TO JAPAN”
ISBN: 978-4-7503-2741-9
Authors: HIGUCHI Akira and ARUDOU Debito
Languages: English and Japanese
Publisher: Akashi Shoten Inc., Tokyo
On sale from March 15, 2008
372 Pages. Price: 2300 yen (2415 yen after tax)
Goal: To help non-Japanese entrants become residents and immigrants
Topics: Securing stable visas, Establishing businesses and secure jobs, Resolving legal problems, Planning for the future through to death…

===================================

TO ORDER: Click here! (Note: Depending on the interest generated by my BT readers, I will try to sell the handbook in the USA via my company if I can reach an agreement with Debito and the publisher .)

I finally found some time to update the BT Blog. Check out the new links and posts. I will add MANY more links (especially language resources) later. Here is a link to a blog post that you may find useful: http://www.thejapanesepage.com/grammar/small_words#comment-3045

Additionally, I added Snap Shots from Snap.com. This is a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles,IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock chartsand more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you “look ahead,” before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Tsukareta, I need a beer!

Ja, mata ne!

Get this widget!

Welcome to the Black Tokyo Blog. Be sure to register at www.BlackTokyo.com to participate in the forum. Regards, The Black Tokyo Team