Frickin’ Eugenics or Racial Hygiene is what it is called and State of Louisiana Representative John LaBruzzo (R) is pushing it. This sort of thinking is why America needs CHANGE!

“The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that state Rep. John LaBruzzo (R) said yesterday that “he is studying a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied.” LaBruzzo worries that people receiving food and housing assistance “are reproducing at a faster rate than more affluent, better-educated residents”:

He said he is gathering statistics now. … “What I’m really studying is any and all possibilities that we can reduce the number of people that are going from generational welfare to generational welfare,” he said.

He said his program would be voluntary. It could involve tubal ligation, encouraging other forms of birth control or, to avoid charges of gender discrimination, vasectomies for men. It also could include tax incentives for college-educated, higher-income people to have more children, he said.

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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 »

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 »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

 

 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 »

I received this from Debito regarding a [World Famous Company] in the Debito regarding a [World Famous Company] in the Tohoku region of Japan that refused to employ a young Japanese man probably because he’s half/biracial/double a.k.a. in this situation, not Japanese. The [World Famous Company] even retracted their original job offer!

Apparently after the interview, the young man was separated from two other job applicants who also passed their employment and health tests. The two “full” Japanese were given jobs at the main location and the “half” was given a job seven kilometers further away from the place he was promised employment. That place does not even have a dining hall.

Now I do not know if there were only two positions at the main location or if test scores had anything to do with the decision but the young man sensed that he was a victim of racial discrimination. He kept his mouth shut for fear of not getting the “other” job. Mind you that this is not the job that he was interviewed for. The interviewer told the young man that the decision to place him in another location had nothing to do with him being half Japanese. Hmm! That does not seem like a normal thing to tell a person that you just interviewed.

A couple of things stick out: The interviewer knew from the young man’s rirekisyo that he was  born in the area, went to youchien, elementary school, junior high and high school in the town the [World Famous Company] is located. The young man was raised as a Tohoku person as can thus speak the local dialect. More importantly he has a Japanese Koseki.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wow! I have received many emails regarding my posts on E-Mobile’s commercial (CM) that parodies Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for Change. Many wrote to inform me that the CM is only a parody of a Japanese television drama. I try to keep an open mind but E-Mobile does not get a pass on this one! 

As presented in my posts and comments, Blacks have had to combat negative images and stereotypes in Japan (and elsewhere). One can easily turn on the television in Japan to watch a variety of programs that still show the CONTINENT of Africa as some backwards land or Blacks in America and elsewhere as the problem to whatever plagues a country. With that said, there are also some positive portrayals of Blacks on Japanese television. I am just doing my part to make sure that there are more. 

Other replies that I received asked: Why don’t you focus on more positive things? My reply: Who say’s that I don’t! Let’s just say that I am doing my part to present a positive image of Blacks and of America. When I proudly wore the US Marine Corps uniform, I presented myself, my service, my nation, and just as important my “image” as a Black male in the most positive manner. Why? That’s how I was raised and “conditioned.” Part of my conditioning comes from understanding the power of an image and power of positive action.

For example, when there is news in Japan on Blacks or negative press relating to the US Forces Japan, I try to get the “rest of the story” from my various sources in and around Japan not only to provide a fair and balance report but to get the ura (behind-the-scenes, on the street, or underground) Japan version. If you have followed the Black Tokyo Discussion Board for the past nine years, you know that I report on both the good and bad and I tend to not sugarcoat things!

Read the rest of this entry »

 Black Tokyo Report 1 : Download

Well it seems like the foreign press picked up on my Obama is a Monkey in Japan? story. Addressing the E-Mobile CM is important to me because America, considered the richest and most powerful nation in the free world, is on the path of putting a Black male in the White House. Some folks are eager to point out that Obama is not really “Black” but biracial or multicultural. Some tried to give him the Tiger Woods moniker of self-identity. Some have felt that the one-drop rule can go by the wayside, while others equate the “other” side as being the “reason” for Obama’s successes. One minute Obama is Black, another he is not Black enough.

Now, if you throw a monkey into the mix, whether it was due to racist intent or just plain stupidity on the part of a manufacturer, advertiser, or E-Mobile, then it sort of keeps the kokujin (Black person) marginalized at the highest level. The funny (not really) part is that I have received emails telling me that Obama will have a tougher time dealing with the Republican party in his quest for the White House and that the E-Mobile CM is not a cause for me to get my Afro out of shape. I protested when a Japanese singing group wore blackface (to show their soul) and I got in the mix when the “new” release of Little Black Sambo hit Japan. Color me crazy I guess!

I have talked and blogged myself crazy on issues regarding Blacks in Japan. Blacks share many notable experiences and achievements in Japan but there is still work to be done in improving our image in Japanese society. The Black experience and the use of the Black Other in Japan as a tool, scapegoat, or invisible entity in Japanese media, political circles, businesses, and in other circles is something that must be examined and corrected. 

Read the rest of this entry »

You know, People do not realize how colonized their minds are by stereotypes! This morning during breakfast I had time to read the numerous comments on my post, “Obama’s a Monkey in Japan?” Some of the comments were outright nasty and hateful; others were worthy of a reply. After breakfast, I decided to drive to the Apple Store in order to pick up a new Mac Book and other goodies to help me in my mission to finish my book. During my drive, I could not stop thinking about the replies I received. Even after my first attempt to further address the issue of using a monkey to parody Senator Obama, it seemed that I must continue to inform, educate, present, or piss off (please choose the appropriate word or add your own) those that read the Black Tokyo Blog. 

My journey to Japan began with James Clavell’s movie Shogun. The reality of Japan hit me square in the head in 1981 when I touched down in the Land of the Rising Sun. Hopefully, I can help readers understand why “I” and others that have been a part of the BT Community for the past nine (9), yes nine, years discuss things in or about Japan from an Afro perspective. Our reality is not the same as “Gaijin-san.” Does this mean Japan is not welcoming for we Afro-types? Not by a long shot, I enjoy living here. We know where we stand (I couldn’t rightfully use kneel) as “non-Japanese” in a slow but evolving society that seeks international recognition on a broader scale.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well the first round of feedback on E Mobile’s “Yes, We Change” commercial shown on TBS and TV Tokyo’s World Business Satellite comes from one reader that thinks Black Tokyo harbors a “bitter racist” and from the website Japan Probe:

While I respect everyone’s opinion, let me clear a few things up and respond to comments such as these:

• “The only people who find this racist are LOOKING for racism; butthurt gaijin who need to get a life.”
• “Taken completely out of context by foreigners, this commercial will appear racist.”
  
• But hey - why would e-mobile parody a currently-broadcast weekly TV drama starring a very popular and bankable idol when they could instead enrage foreigners everywhere by a blatantly racist parody of the Obama campaign! 
  

Read the rest of this entry »

 

 YouTube: Play Now | Play in Popup | Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 YouTube: Play Now | Play in Popup | Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 YouTube: Play Now | Play in Popup | Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Hello BT’ers!

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!

Am I crazy to think that the monkey is supposed to represent Barack Obama? Given the track record for companies in Japan that use monkeys and blacks or monkeys as blacks in advertisements…maybe not!

I am sure that many of the BT’ers remember the Mandom advertisement and television commercial that had African and African-American males playing the role of Rastafarians and a monkey playing the role of…. well a black man! The tag line for the product was, “strong enough to even clean “their” skin!” Thanks to The Community and the power of protest via email along with my interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Mandom issued a public (newspaper and television) apology. 

Click here to see the EM Mobile video. Be sure to send the Chairman and CEO, Sachio Semmoto, and President and COO, Eric Gan, a message! It seems like E Mobile would have used better judgment in producing such a commercial since one of their outside directors is Peter Cowhey, Dean of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California San Diego. Cowhey formerly served as Chief of the International Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 

To end on a positive note, I previously posted that it seems like the majority of Japanese believe in change and in Obama. Hopefully other people will also believe and change. Be sure to let me know what you think!

In the 19th Century, Japanese people called the northern island of Hokkaido “Ezochi”. It meant “Land of the Ainu”, a reference to the fair-skinned, long-haired people who had lived there for hundreds of years. The Ainu were hunters and fishermen with animist beliefs. But their communities and traditions were eroded by waves of Japanese settlement and subsequent assimilation policies.

Today only small numbers of Ainu remain, and they constitute one of Japan’s most marginalised groups. On Friday they will have something to celebrate. Japan’s parliament is to adopt a resolution that, for the first time, formally recognises the Ainu as “an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture”.

In a nation that has always preferred to perceive itself as ethnically homogenous, it is a highly significant move. ”This resolution has great meaning,” says Tadashi Kato, director of the Ainu Association of Hokkaido. “It has taken the Japanese government 140 years to recognise us as an indigenous people.”

There is no definitive theory as to where the Ainu came from. What is clear is that they have lived in Hokkaido and parts of the Russian Far East - the disputed Kurile Islands and southern Sakhalin Island - for hundreds of years.

Traditionally they lived off the land, worshipping natural landmarks and animals, especially bears. Japanese settlers started moving into Hokkaido in the 15th Century and gradually pushed the Ainu north. They brought infectious diseases and so Ainu populations fell. Then, when the Meiji government came to power in 1868, the pace of Japanese settlement increased.

Ainu land was redistributed to Japanese farmers. Ainu language was banned and children put into Japanese schools. Japanese names became compulsory. Finally, in 1899, the Japanese government passed an act which labelled the Ainu “former Aborigines”. The idea was that, henceforth, they would assimilate. This act stood for almost 100 years. Successive governments held that there was no “Ainu issue” and insisted that Japan did not have any ethnic minority groups.

Ainu culture was not seen as something to be celebrated or preserved, so many grew up ignorant or ashamed of their cultural heritage. Discrimination was and still is a problem - in schools, in the workplace and for marriage - with some Ainu choosing not to reveal their background. 

On Friday they will have something to celebrate. Click here to read more!

I came across this short piece on racism in Tokyo. What do you think?

 

 Racism in Tokyo: Play Now | Play in Popup | Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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!