BLACK TOKYO NEWS
Posted on 12月 6, 2008. Filed under: Black Resources, BLACK TOKYO NEWS | タグ: Blacks, facebook, google, japan, networking, tokyo, Twitter, update |
Arigato to the BT’ers that emailed me while I was injured. The surgery was successful and I am slowly recovering and looking forward to physical therapy. Bring on the pain!
BT’ers can now follow Black Tokyo via Twitter. BT’ers can also join the Black Tokyo social network site (Google Friend Connect) with one click using your Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account. Click the Join this site button found on the BT Friend Connect widget located at the top of the center column.
For those on Facebook, be sure to join the Black Tokyo Facebook Chapter.
Mata ne!
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Posted on 11月 1, 2008. Filed under: BLACK TOKYO NEWS, Food & Drink, Music & entertainment | タグ: american, black, female, Foreigner, japan, networking, roppongi, tokyo, women |
This in from Sista in Tokyo (SIT): For well over two years now, a group of black professionals in Tokyo has been getting together to connect, chill, and catchup on the first Friday of every month. I’ve posted a few times about some of the more interesting discussions from our little shindig, but have not yet posted on the actual group. So today, I figured it was about time I did so.
Tomorrow, our cocktail hour will be held at 57 restaurant in Ropppongi(located behind Tokyo Midtown). Usually, our group includes around 7-12 attendees from various industries here in Tokyo. It’s almost always predominately male, hence my reason for posting this announcement today :).
I am extending a personal invitation to all SIT readers currently living in Tokyo (or visiting) to come out, kick back and enjoy a laugh or two and have a drink! I have included details below. Also, if you’re interested in keeping up with the goings on and other events happening, you are welcome to join our Black Professionals in Tokyo Group located an Ning. You don’t have to currently reside in Tokyo to be a member– and you don’t even have to be black, just like being around black people :). (さらに…)
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Posted on 10月 22, 2008. Filed under: Black Resources, BLACK TOKYO NEWS, Commentary, Culture & Society, Fashion, LIFE IN JAPAN, Music & entertainment, Shopping | タグ: black tokyo, CLAM, design, Fashion, music, zurui |
Founded by film producer Andy Okoroafor,CLAM is a unisex magazine whose goal is to promote creativity, concepts and ideas in fashion, architecture, music, design, the arts, free-time, travels and African design…. these different themes are approached in two main areas: Lifestyle and Trends.
Each subject is part of an original and conceptual artistic direction. The concepts are presented through the expression of the artists and creators coming from very different horizons.
The place accorded to the image is central: she wants to be unusual, so as to create constant surprise for the viewer.
Experimentation is one of the characteristics of CLAM which explains its layout: always changing, never fixed. Clam wants to encourage creative reflexion.The presentation is based on ideas and not the seasons.
This concept confers to the magazine a collector’s status.
In the interview, Zurui discusses his background, life in Japan as a US Marine, expat worker, actor; and of course, the Black Tokyo website. You can purchase CLAM online or in: Paris, France; Italy, Sweden, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K. and in the USA.
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Posted on 10月 11, 2008. Filed under: BLACK TOKYO NEWS, Culture & Society, Government, Politics & Security, Music & entertainment, THE MILITARY IN JAPAN | タグ: Argie Martin, barack obama, black tokyo, Brenda Vaughn, Garrison Davis, Glynis Martin, japan, Kaleb James, Mal Adams, Melodie Sexton, Paula Johnson, The Obama Song, World of Friends, zurui |
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The Obama Song (World of Friends): Japan-based American musical artists created and performed this song to celebrate Senator Obama’s historic candidacy and to inspire us all to change the world.
Bridges for Obama: American supporters of US Senator Barack Obama have been staging rallies abroad at world-famous bridges to show support for the Democratic presidential candidate and his pledge to span old political divisions.
Bridges for Obama created and ignited by Meredith Wheeler, Democrats Abroad France.
The Obama Song (World of Friends) written by: Garrison Davis
Performed by Change to Change (much love to y’all):
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Posted on 7月 4, 2008. Filed under: BLACK TOKYO NEWS, Culture & Society, Technology | タグ: African American, barack obama, black, e mobile, emobile, Emobile Monkey, Huffington Post, japan, Japan Racism, Japanese, monkey, Monkey Ad, Monkey Ad Obama, Obama Emobile, Obama International, Obama Japan, Obama Monkey, Obama Overseas, Obama Race, Obama Snow Monkey, Off The Bus News, Phone Company Ad Obama, Senator Obama |
Black Tokyo’s post on the eMobile CM has made the Huffington Post. Mr. Earnest Harris in his article, “Mobile Phone Monkey Business: A Japanese Primate Plays Obama” wrote:
“The ethnic tensions stretched taut by the campaign and that have roiled U.S. culture for the last half year rippled across Japan when reports surfaced that a television ad for Japanese cellular telephone provider eMobile starred a monkey as Barack Obama.
“The response from black people in Japan and others, once news of the ad spread, was swift. Cries that the depiction was raw racism and an insult to Obama and all Blacks drew a denial of any knowing wrongdoing from eMobile. Spokespeople for the company assured the press that there was no racist intent on the company’s part and it meant in no way to demean Obama or Black people. The company pulled the ad within hours after the story broke.
One of the first outlets to key on the ad was the website and blog Black Tokyo, which is edited by Zurui, a Black American who has lived in Japan for many years. “While change is good, having the candidate depicted as a monkey is not!” he wrote soon after the ad first aired:
Click here to read the Huffington Post article.
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Posted on 7月 3, 2008. Filed under: BLACK TOKYO NEWS, Culture & Society, Government, Politics & Security, Technology | タグ: african, African American, barack obama, black, black tokyo, change, CNN, e mobile, election, emobile, game, japan, Japanese, mandom, monkey, race, racial, racism, resident evil, stereotypes, tokyo, video, zurui |
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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.
(さらに…)
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Posted on 6月 28, 2008. Filed under: BLACK TOKYO NEWS, Business and Finance, Culture & Society, Technology | タグ: african, African American, barack obama, black, change, e mobile, election, emobile, game, japan, Japanese, mandom, monkey, race, racial, racism, resident evil, stereotypes, tokyo, video, zurui |
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.”
(さらに…)
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Posted on 5月 31, 2008. Filed under: BLACK TOKYO NEWS, Government, Politics & Security, LIFE IN JAPAN, THE MILITARY IN JAPAN | タグ: 6 Figures, afro eric, earthquake, government, japan, Japanese, party, racism, racist, tokyo |
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!
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Posted on 5月 26, 2008. Filed under: BLACK TOKYO NEWS, Government, Politics & Security, THE MILITARY IN JAPAN | タグ: black tokyo, defense, japan, Japan Times, okinawa, SDF |
Wow! I was pleased to see that my response, “Let the SDF Deploy Overseas,” to an Opinion Editorial (Op Ed) piece in the Japan Times was published in the Readers in Council section on Sunday, May 25, 2008. I decided last month to not only dedicate more time to finishing off the dragon a.k.a. “my book” but to write for a broader audience. I will take this as a good start.
I was also very happy to find out that a magazine in Paris wants to do a story on me and Black Tokyo for their upcoming edition. The story will present Black Tokyo to a broader demographic since the magazine is distributed in Paris, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Auckland, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Haven, various parts of the U.K., Milano, Rome, and Sweden.
Here is the
link to my response. As always, I welcome any feedback (good or bad)! The introduction to my response is posted below:
“Craig Martin’s May 21 article, “Permanent SDF overseas deployment law endangers democracy,” was an extreme pleasure to read, although I do not agree with everything in it.
It’s 2008 and Japan has the second strongest military force in Asia, continues to spend 1 percent of its GDP on defense, has acquired some pretty neat military toys (and sells a few using a broad interpretation of “aid”), has redeployed newer fighter aircraft to its base in Okinawa, wants to acquire the F-22 Raptor, and will have a few helicopter “carriers” that will allow the Self-Defense Forces to project their “defense” closer to China.” (click the link above for the rest of the article)
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Posted on 5月 22, 2008. Filed under: BLACK TOKYO NEWS | タグ: black tokyo |
Arigato and Okini to those that sent email thanking me for the list of language and resource links. I found out that MANY lurkers hit the BT Forum and Blog. Hopefully, they will post about their experiences in Japan or even ask a question or two about Japan from the Afro (or non-Afro) perspective!
Thanks again for your support!
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Black Tokyo Japan 
Clam Magazine interviews Black Tokyo’s Zurui
Posted on 10月 22, 2008. Filed under: Black Resources, BLACK TOKYO NEWS, Commentary, Culture & Society, Fashion, LIFE IN JAPAN, Music & entertainment, Shopping | タグ: black tokyo, CLAM, design, Fashion, music, zurui |
Founded by film producer Andy Okoroafor,CLAM is a unisex magazine whose goal is to promote creativity, concepts and ideas in fashion, architecture, music, design, the arts, free-time, travels and African design…. these different themes are approached in two main areas: Lifestyle and Trends.
Each subject is part of an original and conceptual artistic direction. The concepts are presented through the expression of the artists and creators coming from very different horizons.
The place accorded to the image is central: she wants to be unusual, so as to create constant surprise for the viewer.
Experimentation is one of the characteristics of CLAM which explains its layout: always changing, never fixed. Clam wants to encourage creative reflexion.The presentation is based on ideas and not the seasons.
This concept confers to the magazine a collector’s status.
In the interview, Zurui discusses his background, life in Japan as a US Marine, expat worker, actor; and of course, the Black Tokyo website. You can purchase CLAM online or in: Paris, France; Italy, Sweden, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K. and in the USA.
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