Japan Newbie Does Video
Japan Newbie discovers something new.
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What do you think of the video?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )English guide for Nico Nico Douga
Serkan Toto reports Japanese uber video portal Nico Nico Douga (all posts on Asiajin) recently launched international versions in German and Spanish (Nico Nico Taiwanalso exists).
However, English-speaking fans apparently will have to wait a little longer for Nico Nico to be available in English. The reason for that should be bandwith costs: The service loses close to 1 million USD a month due to high server expenses.
Please follow the instructions given in English in the screengrabs below to register for the site (click on the pictures to enlarge them).
Note: Unlike YouTube, you have to sign up in order to view videos!
Click here for part 1.
Click here for part 2.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )E-Mobile Pulls Obama Inspired Advertisement
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 Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )The Black Tokyo Report 1
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 Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Black Scholars Who Make a Specialty of Asian Studies
I received the following question from a new BT reader this afternoon. He asked: “Why do you find Japan so fascinating?” My quick reply to the question: “I find Japanese history and culture fascinating, the Japanese interesting (from a sociological point-of-view) and life in Japan, as a case study of a nation trying to gain respect in the international a.k.a. multicultural world order. The new BT’er also asked: “Why don’t you focus on Africa instead of Japan?” Well, here comes the long answer!
Unlike past “norms” when life in Japan was mainly reported from the point-of-view of the victim or victor of wars with Japan, my current norm for examining Japan has more to do with how the Japanese and Blacks have interacted over the centuries. For example, some of my research looks at how the Japanese viewed and formed opinions of Blacks over the ages. We were seen:
- as warriors like Sakanoue no Tamuramaro (758 – 811), a Black man who is considered the first Shogun of Japan during the early Heian Period (check Chinese and Japanese historical records)
- as servants for the Dutch (1543)
- as samurai, like Yasuke (1582), who was personally trained by Daimyo Oda Nobunaga and later played a crucial role in Nobunaga’s last battle Honnou-ji no hen
- as minstrels thanks to Perry’s sailors in blackface
- as Little Black Sambo
- as marginalized negro soldiers during the post-World War II occupation living in segregated barracks (i.e, Tachikawa AB)
- as whatever those that import “their” prejudices teach, preach, or tell
- as our own worst enemy as times
Other parts of my research deals with the works of Black and Japanese scholars who focus on African & African-American – Japan relations.
“Contrary to popular misconception, there are large numbers of Black scholars whose academic research has nothing whatsoever to do with skin color or race relations” (Fikes, Jr., 2002).
To help the BT’er better understand why I chose to focus on Japan, I recommended the following publications from my constantly growing library:
- African Presence in Early Asia (Rashidi and Sertima)
- African American Views of the Japanese: Solidarity or Sedition? (Bracey)
- The African American Encounter with Japan and China: Black Internationalism in Asia, 1895-1945 (Gallicchio)
- The Black Samurai: A Novel of Feudal Japan (Bracey)
- Black Samurai: Work, Travel, Culture, Religion, Struggle, and Perspective of a Black American Man (Brown)
- America Encounters Japan: From Perry to Mac Arthur (Neumann)
- Securing Japan: Tokyo’s Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia (Samuels)
- U.S. Japan Strategic Reciprocity (Olsen)
When is it not racism and just plain ol’ ignorance?
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 Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )My Response to the “Obama is a Monkey in Japan?” Comments
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!
Why are you learning Japanese?
I am often asked, “Why did you choose to learn Japanese? ” My usual reply is: “Well, I failed Spanish, TWICE (well officially once since I received a “D” from the instructor in order to have the language requirement for graduation), my teacher called me “D-U-M-B,” and thus I had something to prove to her and myself, and because my girlfriend did not speak English. Just joking! No, seriously! Anyway………
As many of the BT’ers know, I speak Japanese and Korean thanks to good ol’ Uncle Sam footing the bill for my language training in the USA, Japan, and Korea. What did I give in return? 12-years of honorable military service to the USA. Now some of you may understand why I am passionate about giving the rest of the story when it comes to such topics as US-Japan international relations, the Okinawa-mondai, and life in Japan as a civilian and military servicemember from an “Afro” perspective.
Well, I came across this young man’s (skillyas)video on why he is studying Japanese and I wish to share his response. When I started studying the language and culture of Japan, I did not find too many like me. I am glad to see that times have changed!
Please feel free to comment on why you are studying Japanese.
Ja ne!
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Black Tokyo Japan 
Black Scholars Who Make a Specialty of Asian Studies
Posted on 9月 14, 2008. Filed under: Blasian, Commentary, Culture & Society, LEARNING & STUDY (Gakumon) | タグ: Africa, African American, black, books, japan, Japanese, multiculturalism, obama, race, relations, research, video |
Black Scholars Who Make a Specialty of Asian Studies
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