http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/en/020622/1/da9.html
I’m sure this guy doesn’t realize some people may find blackface and an afro wig offensive. And some Japanese wonder why they get labled racists. :rolleyes:
Ah, yes. Reminds me of the annual Samba festival in Asakusa. Hundreds of Japanese men and women dancing in typical samba outfits, and one clueless guy walking around carrying a spear and wearing a grass skirt, blackface, and a fake bone through his nose.
Charming.
Why IS the guy in blackface? Is a team from an African nation playing, and he’s making fun of them, or maybe making a misguided attempt to support them? Or is he just generally excited about the game, and somehow that translates in his head to blackface?
Revtim, it looks to me like it’s a misguided attempt to support Sengal.
Or maybe even Senegal.
It’s the child pornography and rape comics that make me proud of Japan.
I think more likely to be senegal but what footie shirt is the guy wearing in pic
Ok, that picture just made me laugh so loud that I woke my roommate up.
Not that I condone such a thing
What? Your roommate doesn’t like to be awake?
First, the Rape of Nanking and now this.
Eh, it’s a sample size of 1, what do you expect? In about 60 minutes I’m about to have to have lunch (read: forced to have lunch) with a person that makes David Duke look like Jesse Jackson. We cope as best as we are forced to…
Squish, if you didn’t already have such a great sig, I’d suggest that you consider this line. 
You know, if I had seen this picture without any prompting, I might have thought he was making (an admittedly bizarre) statement about one of the Marx Bros. (possibly Harpo?). Or maybe Art Garfunkel.
I once read (and confirmed with my Japanese Born and Raised instructor) that the Japanese culture as a whole has no concept of Politicaly Correct.
I got an afro and it doesn’t look anything like that.
No, there’s a very developed concept of political correctness, it’s just has a very different orientation from that in the U.S.
Forbidden topics:
The Imperial family, other than puff piece photo ops.
Yakuza
Uyoku (the ultra-nationalists who drive around in buses equipped with 1000-watt loudspeakers screaming about America, China, Russia and various other enemies of the Japanese Empire)
Burakumin (a caste of near- untouchables designated by the Shogunate in the 17th century who still suffer discrimination today)
Rape of Nanking
WWII sex slaves
Anything else about WWII except for the atomic bombings (Japan was the victim of that whole little brouhaha, don’t you know)
Things that might be offensive to non-Japanese just don’t register on the average person’s consciousness.
Let’s be multicultural so long as we’re all multiculturally American. You gotta love it when Americans do not understand that there are other cultures around the world which are not American and are, in fact, different. But I guess those cultures do not fit into American multiculturalism.
Sorry, I do not share this view. That guy is probably showing support and admiration and not trying to offend anyone. The fact that this would be offensive to Americans in America does not mean it is or should be offensive in Japan any more than things which are offensive in other countries are not considered offensive in the USA. That guy is in his own culture and has no obligation to consider Americans or their culture any more than Americans at home consider other cultures in their everyday life. When someone shows me the intention of that guy was to offend, then I’ll review my opinion.
Furthermore, the general condemnation of Japanese culture by mentioning the rape of Nanking etc is totally out of place and a low blow. Those events were horrific but they do not represent Japanese culture today in any way and are totally irrelevant. Of course, I am not saying Japanese culture is perfect but in many ways it is better than American culture so let us be a bit more understanding.
I have never been to Japan but in the recent months I have had the chance of seeing groups of tourists from many countries roaming in Europe. Go to any European city and do a survey: “When you think of loud, obnoxious, tourists, who comes to mind first, Americans or Japanese?” See what they say. Recently I have seen Japanese tourist groups where all the tourists have a radio receiver and earpiece and the guide talks to them via a transmitter so he only whispers. This is not the tone of American groups. I have also recently seen an American young man raise a stink because they would not allow him into a cathedral with a sleeveless shirt which would only be appropriate at the beach. And quite a few Americans being loud inside cathedrals and other places where they should be a bit more respectful. Japanese have no more obligation to abide by American cultural rules than Americans by Japanese rules. And when in other countries I get the impression the Japanese are more discrete and respectful of local culture.
I can’t speak for Osakadave, but I never thought the guy in the photo was trying to be offensive. I just think he’s clueless about how it may be recieved by those he’s trying show support for.
Same goes for the guy at the samba festival I mentioned in my first reply.
First of all his message is for those around him, who happen to share his culture, not for Americans. Secondly, I think we are assuming too much. Why do we assume what is offensive to Americans is offensive to Africans? Isn’t that a bit much to assume in our multiculturalism?
I’ll give you a reverse example. In China, when you give something to a person, it is only respectful to do it holding it with both hands. Handing something with just one hand is considered quite rude, and flipping your business card across the table to the other guy (as I once saw done) is, well, what can I say? Extremely rude.
So, if a japanese saw a scene where an American businessman in America hands his card to another American businessman with just one hand, what should he think: a) Americans are obviously clueless because how can you not know this is rude and offensive, or b) American culture is obviously different from Japanese culture.
Y’know what I find most ironic about the photo and this thread?
It appears to me that the guy in the photo is of European descent. (I base this solely on the shape of his nose–hardly adequate to determine a person’s ethnic background, but with the presence or absence of epicanthic folds masked by the makeup, the only identifiable physical feature beyond skin color.)
Now the individual might actually be a pure blooded member of the Imperial Family for all I know. I simply was struck by the fact that I opened the photo link after reading the thread as it apeared, thus far, and was struck by the fact that I immediately envisioned a European face behind the makeup.