{"id":13084,"date":"2015-02-18T09:46:40","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T19:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13084"},"modified":"2015-02-18T12:28:23","modified_gmt":"2015-02-18T22:28:23","slug":"poignant-jt-article-on-historically-ignorant-blackface-on-japanese-performers-and-modern-day-minstrel-shows-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=13084","title":{"rendered":"Good JT article on historically-ignorant blackface on Japanese performers and “modern-day minstrel shows” in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0I had heard about this issue of blackface in Japan (a la other racialized “gaijin” characteristics in Japan, including blond wigs and stuck-on big noses<\/a>) but wasn’t sure how to raise it (Debito.org was embroiled enough in the Japartheid issue<\/a> enough over the past few days). \u00a0However, Baye McNeil does it instead, and better than I could. \u00a0The part of the article I like best is about the lack of historical research these performers (such as Rats & Star<\/a>) who profess to love the people they so carelessly imitate:<\/p>\n

\"\"Doo-what?: An image that went viral on the Internet shows members of male doo-wop group Rats & Star and idol group Momoiro Clover Z blacked up backstage during the filming of a show for Fuji TV scheduled for broadcast on March 7. | THE JAPAN TIMES<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

McNeil<\/strong>: All of which speaks directly to this racist bullsh-t \u2014 I mean, this cultural misunderstanding \u2014 one that could have been avoided in the 30-some-odd years this band [Rats & Star] has existed if, while they were researching the music, costumes and other aspects of black music and performance, they had simply taken a second to see if what they wanted to do with blackface had ever been done before. You know, just a little proactive research about the industry they would spend the next three f-cking decades profiting handsomely from.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But alas, when I saw this story on the Net the other day \u2014 that they were going to be on Fuji TV alongside popular girl group Momoiro Clover Z<\/a>, who would be similarly blacked up \u2014 all I could say was, \u201cMata ka yo?\u201d (\u201cJeezus! Again?\u201d), suck my teeth and click away. To me, it\u2019s not shocking to see blackfaced bands here. With the attitudes and ignorance encountered here regularly, the only shocking thing is that there aren\u2019t more of these groups. A Ku Klux Klan-themed idol group wouldn\u2019t even surprise me here.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m still, however, pleasantly surprised when non-Japanese people in Japan get worked up over something important. They\u2019re a beautiful sight to see! Like when Julien Blanc was spreading his misogynistic garbage about Japanese women<\/a>. Remember how the Japanosphere responded? They damn near shut down the Internet with their furor over his antics. Of course, everything he said could be heard in any gaijin (foreigner) bar in Tokyo or Yokohama on any given day, but it was still great to see people get activated for a good cause. Not to mention that, let\u2019s say, inappropriate ANA advert<\/a> that got a lot of people upset and resulted in Japan\u2019s biggest airline re-editing a television commercial advertising new flights.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And even Japanese get worked up when they want to. Like back in 2011, when the Japanese Embassy in London sent a letter to the BBC complaining about A-bomb jokes on an episode of a British TV comedy quiz<\/a>, leading the BBC to apologize for offending Japanese sensibilities. And very recently, conservative Netizens in Japan campaigned to keep Angelina Jolie\u2019s biographical movie<\/a> about a former American POW from opening in theaters here because of its depictions of Imperial Japanese Army brutality. All beautiful acts of activism, right?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I say, if ANA and the BBC can be made to change their tunes, and if Blanc can be shut down, so can these guys…<\/em><\/strong>
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Read the entire\u00a0article at http:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2015\/02\/18\/our-lives\/time-shut-modern-day-minstrel-show\/<\/a>. Dr. ARUDOU, Debito<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had heard about this issue of blackface in Japan by musical performers Rats & Star and Momoiro Clover Z (a la other racialized “gaijin” characteristics in Japan, including blond wigs and stuck-on big noses), but wasn’t sure how to raise it (Debito.org was embroiled enough in the Japartheid issue enough over the past few days). However, Baye McNeil does it instead, and better than I could. The part of the article I like best is about the lack of historical research these performers who profess to love the people they so carelessly imitate:<\/p>\n

McNeil: “All of which speaks directly to this racist bullsh-t \u2014 I mean, this cultural misunderstanding \u2014 one that could have been avoided in the 30-some-odd years this band [Rats & Star] has existed if, while they were researching the music, costumes and other aspects of black music and performance, they had simply taken a second to see if what they wanted to do with blackface had ever been done before. You know, just a little proactive research about the industry they would spend the next three f-cking decades profiting handsomely from….”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,28,36,22,50,20,26,13,60,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pinprick-protests","category-anti-discrimination-templates","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-gaiatsu","category-history","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-media","category-nj-voices-ignored","category-racist-images-in-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}