The talented and sometimes funny owarai duo, Tunnels, have recently hooked-up with DJ Ozma (former Kishidan band leader) to form and produce a temporary female trio called Yajima Biyoshitsu (Yajima Beauty Salon). The female trio is actually the three men in drag. Here is the official website.

The Yajima Biyoshitsu new song ties into a new Lotte chewing gum commercial (the CM schedule can be found here) starring actress Masami Nagasawa. The debut song, “Nihon no Mikata - Nevada Kara Kimashita,” debuted on TV the day before and saw a reportedly 14,000 chaku-uta (ringtone) downloads in the hour after its premiere, taking the #1 spot on the Recochoku daily charts.

 

 Commercial: Play Now | Play in Popup | Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Press Conference: Play Now | Play in Popup | Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Now I do not mind comedy but I do mind the direction that the group, Avex and Lotte took in putting this commercial together.

According to the story line, the trio is supposedly made up of a family from Nevada, consisting of a 36-year-old former stripper named Margaret Yajima (played by DJ Ozma) and her two daughters, the 17-year-old Naomi and the 11-year-old Strawberry both played by Tunnels. The mother a.k.a. Black Bolt (her stage name at the shake joint) brought her daughters to Japan to look for their father, a Japanese barber or beautician named Yajima. 

I worked with the Tunnels twice in the late 90’s and their current comedy to me is mediocre at best. These guys are known for pushing the envelope or being over-the-top when it comes to stereotypes. To see DJ Ozma come out of retirement to do this gig is sort of a disappointment since I have been a fan of his since he was a leading the band Kishidan. Additionally, I have done a print, television and internet campaign for Lotte’s restaurant chain, Lotteria. 

Now unlike the Gosperats, no black face is involved in this current CM and it seems that men (on television) dressing up as women in Japan is sort of a norm. What I find extremely distasteful is the description of the faux black women, the implied teenage pregnancy and the husband that left the US (his family and his business) to return to Japan. What’s up with that?! Read the rest of this entry »

Black Scholars Who Make a Specialty of Asian Studies

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There has been much debate on the terms “gaijin” (foreign/outside person) and “nigger” lately in Japan among the foreign community. In a series of articles published in the Japan Times, professor, activist, and coauthor of the “Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants, Arudou Debito comes out swinging. Here is his latest article: THE CASE FOR “GAIJIN” AS A RACIST WORD: THE SEQUEL - LET’S COME CLEAN ON “GAIJIN” [Published September 2, 2008 as “The ‘gaijin’ debate: Arudou responds”]

Last month’s column (JBC August 5) was on the word “gaijin”. I made the case that it is a racist word, one that reinforces an “us-and-them” rubric towards foreigners and their children in Japan. It generated a lot of debate. Good. Thanks for your time. Now let’s devote 700 more words to some issues raised.

Regarding the arguments about intent, i.e. “People use the word gaijin, but don’t mean it in a derogatory way”. The root issue here is, “Who decides whether a word is bad?” Is it the speaker using the word, or the person being addressed by it?

Ditto for the word gaijin. People like me who have lived here for many years, even assimilated to the point of taking citizenship, don’t want to be called “gaijin” anymore. We can be forgiven for taking umbrage, for not wanting to be pushed back into the pigeonhole. Don’t tell us who we are–we’ll decide for ourselves who we are, especially in our own country, thanks. So stoppit.

Now for the more controversial claim: my linking “gaijin” with “n*gg*r”. Although I was not equating their histories, I was drawing attention to their common effect–stripping societies of diversity.

You can read the rest of the article and numerous comments here.

Here is the response that I (Zurui) sent: Read the rest of this entry »

A great resource for those that want more on Japan!

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Received this from Lord Phat, our resident Chinese linguist and MIT Sloan School of Management graduate that has lived and worked in China:

“I originally got this from the webmaster of Afroshanghai.com. It is from the South China Post, a reputable Hong Kong based newspaper. The webmaster is asking the Africans living in Beijing to confirm this and if it is completely true it is very disturbing.” Read below. 

“Authorities order bars not to serve black people” reported 18 July 2008 in the South China Morning Post by
Tom Miller

In our series looking at preparations for the Games, Tom Miller reports on plans to crack down on “undesirables” in the bars of Beijing

Beijing authorities are secretly planning to ban black people and others it considers social undesirables from entering the city’s bars during the Olympic Games, a move that would contradict the official slogan, “One World, One Dream”.

Bar owners near the Workers’ Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises. Read the rest of this entry »

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Black Tokyo will now post commentary received from BT members as a way to present various discussions found on the BT Discussion Forum. The below commentary was submitted by Ruby Baby:

“All the commentary surrounding the E-mobile CM had me feeling a little down.

Why do I feel as though every time black people speak up about racism, there will be a significant number of voices raised to tell us, very basically, that we are merely seeing things? As a black man, I have to tell you that it’s extremely frustrating to have people challenge the legitimacy of my experience by adopting their strategies of denial.

The most pernicious idea I’ve encountered in discussions about race and racism, is the idea that racism, real racism, is something that is actually extremely rare. This is because the bar for what counts as racism has been set extremely high. Unless you’re a skin-head covered head to toe in swastika tattoos, and burning crosses on a regular basis in the front yards of black households, you’re not a racist. Racists have malice in their actions. Racist actions are violent, racist language is spewed forth in diatribes, and both are intended to cause harm. Claims of racism become tantamount to claims that someone has hatred for a particular racial group. If the incident you are talking about does not involve real racists with real hatred, then there can be no racism.

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