Is blackface in Japan racist?
Ben Hamamoto (a new MMW guest contributor!)
The image of the Japanese pop group The Gosperats decked out in full Blackface, spread quickly through the Internet, surprising lots of people, myself included. I knew Japan had been criticized for racial caricatures in the 80s, but I assumed lessons had been learned and people would at least be aware they could get in trouble.
At the time I was writing a story about Afro haircuts in Japanese pop culture, but I decided to broaden it a bit to talk about images of black people in Japan.
In my opinion, nothing is offensive in and of itself. It’s the context that makes things offensive. So really, what I was left wondering was: is blackface offensive in the context of Japanese pop culture?
So, I set about doing some research to try and figure out what the context in Japan was. What I knew already is that Japan is not a very progressive place, (you can ask the handicapped, indigenous people, or immigrant groups of any kind). It also has an imperialist past full of unspeakable atrocities.
I knew Japan is hooked on American pop culture. Rap, Hollywood movies, and American TV are all just about as accessible in Japan as they are in America.
I also knew that in the 80 and early 90s Japanese politicians and businessmen had made some pretty incredibly racist remarks. And the American media brought it to the attention of the American people.
And while the racist comments were reported, American news media didn’t really find out what life is like in Japan for the African Americans who live there. I wish I had been able to get a hold of Regge Life’s documentary on the subject, but I was able to get a hold of and read a book by Reginald Kearney, “African American Views of the Japanese,” which had the following to say:
Post- (World War II), magazines like Ebony ran articles about African American GIs in Japan, generally presenting them as benevolent and the Japanese as “initially curious and distant, but finally won over to accept the tanned Yanks as warm, fun-loving human beings.”
In the 80s, many African Americans residing in Japan had nuanced experience there. While they reported racism, many also refused to make broad indictments, and found that once ignorance and was overcome, they had the same opportunities and received the same treatment as any foreigner. Many felt a noticeable difference being in a country that did not have a history of slavery, segregation, and white supremacy and found genuine curiosity more than prejudice colored their experiences with Japanese people.
(An article in Essence by Kathryn D. Leary, “Taking on Tokyo, Afro-American woman visits Japan” had similar things to say)
The book also discussed the discriminatory practices common in Japanese companies operating in the U.S. Japanese automakers in the Midwest were known for not hiring African Americans and Japanese Tech companies didn’t recruit from historically black colleges. A Japanese executive at Sanwa Bank was said to have refused to shake the hand of an African American telecommunications systems engineer.
One of the surprising things the book discusses is the support for Japan in radical black American circles in the years leading up to the Second World War. The Japanese governments rhetoric at the time was that they were “liberating” Asia from white imperialism. And, as is often the case with propaganda, there was a grain of truth to that. Apparently, at the time, there was a widely held sentiment in much of the West that white people were superior and their might justified their dominance of much of the planet. The Japanese encroaching on their territory was seen, by some, as a challenge to the notion of white superiority. Therefore, some gave Japan the title “champion of the darker races.”
After doing that small amount of research, the conclusion I came to is, yes, blackface is still offensive in Japan. There is an element of ridicule in it and it always disappoints me that a country as global as Japan remains so insensitive when it comes to racial issues. Japan had its own version of the 60s and 70s (fascinating subject too, could go on forever about it), but much like in the U.S., many of the ideas discussed at the time have since been dismissed by mainstream society.
Also, I do think the fact there wasn’t slavery or cross burnings in Japan’s history does need to be taken into account.
And while I’m glad these issues get some exposure in America, there is a flipside to it that makes me uncomfortable. I always sense this overtone of, “look how much better America is when it comes to race,” and I think there is something self-serving and hypocritical about that.
First of all, where are the negative stereotypes of blacks coming from? Japanese depend on the American media for images of African Americans and so when Japanese politicians come out and say that blacks and Latinos are the source of America’s ills, it’s self-serving of the media to report it and then not discuss where they might have gotten that idea. While they have no problem reporting on the racist remarks of Japanese politicians or Korean American liquor storeowners, they shy away from discussion of the prison industry or any institutionalized racism in this country. And then it pats itself on the back for publicizing a silly movie like “Crash.”
So yes, there is racism in Japan, but there’s no reason for the American media to get self-righteous about it.
(Note from CVK: Ben wrote the article on Afro Samurai for The Nichi Bei Times)
Pieces of a Whole » Blog Archive » Black people always do that…I saw it on tv! on 19 Aug 2006 at 8:21 pm
[…] How many young kids of every color or ethnic group in existence, has suppressed some great idea for fear of the reaction of his or her peers in terms of whether it is an action that would be undertaken by a member of that group, positive or not? Set them free to express themselves as they wish, as long as it isn’t destructive to life of course, and watch as we all benefit, and the phrase “credit to his race” dies a long overdue death. Hat tip to Mixed-Media Watch. […]