{"id":14854,"date":"2018-01-10T17:53:41","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T03:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14854"},"modified":"2018-01-10T18:34:09","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T04:34:09","slug":"new-years-eve-tv-blackface-debate-in-japan-again-referential-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=14854","title":{"rendered":"New Years Eve 2017 TV Blackface Debate in Japan (again): Referential Links"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. With the recent broadcast of an “Eddie Murphy homage” (with Japanese tarento<\/em>\u00a0Hamada Masatoshi doing blackface) on one of the most-watched shows in Japan all year, Debito.org feels a need at least to mention that there is a hot debate going on about whether Blackface is appropriate in other societies (such as Japan) with a different history of race relations.<\/p>\n

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\n(Courtesy of The Japan Times)<\/em><\/p>\n

My opinion is that doing Blackface is almost always a bad thing, due to its historical connotation regardless of context. And I add the caveat of “almost always” while struggling to think of any exception, except for purposes of historical grounding behind the issue. (And it’s not limited to blackface: Debito.org has covered racialized media in Japan, broadcast without input from the minorities affected, many times in the past, including here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.) \u00a0And the fact that this is happening again despite a similar Blackface incident not two years ago<\/a> (which ended up with the broadcast being cancelled a priori<\/em><\/a>) is merely willful ignorance on the part of Japan’s media outlets.<\/p>\n

But that’s all I’ll say. I think Baye McNeil has a lock on the issue, and I’ll just refer Debito.org Readers to his most recent Japan Times column, at https:\/\/www.japantimes.co.jp\/community\/2018\/01\/10\/our-lives\/time-japan-scrub-off-blackface-good\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Even better is a YouTube panel discussion sponsored by The Japan Times that involves McNeil, Anthropologist Dr. John G. Russell of Gifudai, and YouTuber Aoki Yuta.
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