[MMM]

Originally Posted by mercedesjin

We're not stuck in the Meiji Era. It's 2009. I've seen plenty of dramas and movies and magazines with black people in them. They are not cut off from the world - at least, not enough to not know who black people and white people are. I believe that internalized racism exists in Japan, to the point where many young people have looked at Western foreigners in the media and have wanted to copy them by bleaching their hair blonde and wearing light color contacts. Internalized racism shows itself in the women who get eye surgery to make their eyes look more "Western." With the ideas of wanting to look attractive by looking Western are the ideas that is unattractive to be black.

Mercedesjin, racism is wherever you want to find it, and if you want to find racism in Japansese traditions that have nothing to do with black people, then you certainly can. Your stay in Japan will certainly be an exercise in frustration if this is the approach you want to take.

You are making the assumption that Japanese traditions do not influence the mindset of modern Japanese thinking. Yes it is 2009, but that doesn't mean that history and tradition do not influence the choices people make today.

Bleached hair: Everyone in Japan has black hair. So why would someone want a different hair color? Because that want to look more white and less black? C'mon! How arrogant do we have to be to think all Japanese fashion is based on white people and black people? Doesn't it make sense that hair bleaching is not about looking more like Britney Spears, but just being different than mom? If it was about being more white than black, then explain to me why Japanese girls perm their hair, and some (men and women) even perm them into afro-style looks?

Color contacts: Everyone in Japan has brown eyes. So to want a different eye-color that happens to be the same eye-color as most black people is racist? Again, how arrogant do we have to be as non-Japanese to think like this? Japanese don't get different color contacts to be more white and less black. If that were true why are non-natural (in the white world) colors as popular? (yellow...cat eye...all black)?

Eye surgery: You got me stumped on this one. How is larger, rounder eyes "less black"? If anything is it more black. If they made their eyes more narrow, then you might have an argument.

Originally Posted by mercedesjin

Light skin being more attractive is also a tradition in America and in most countries you travel to. Saying that it was a tradition in Japan long before black people set foot in the country doesn't change the fact that, today, when I step foot in Japan, people will see my skin and think that I'm not attractive - just as when I step foot in America, Brazil, England, ANYWHERE.

The idea of pale skin being attractive for Japanese comes from the tradition of pale skin being attractive for Japanese. I am not going to apologize when I say in a mono-racial society, it's not about you.

But to look at it another way, in popular culture right now (especially as summer begins) multi-ethnic artists and darker skin are very popular. I have a Japanese friend who is in Hawaii right now getting as tan as she can before heading home. It's not about being black or being white (why would it be) but being in fashion. Japan is not a multi-racial country like America, England or Brazil, and to think they think about these racial issues when tanning or avoiding the sun is, again, arrogance.

Originally Posted by mercedesjin

In the days of the confederate flag in the USA, people wanted to defend tradition - leaving the essentials rights of human beings behind. No, Japan isn't America. That doesn't change the fact that these are two countries filled with human beings - and human beings, around the world - no matter the history or geography - has the same habit of racism and oppression, no matter how subtle it is.

1) To compare the history of the confederate flag in any way with a Japanese woman's desire to use a parasol in the sun to protect her skin is the paramount of bulls***.

2) Not all human beings around the world have the same history, background, inclinations, and upbringings. So if you want to say the isolated Eskimos in Alaska are as equally racist as the KKK of the American south, the nationals of Haiti and the aboriginal Ainu of Hokkaido , that is your right as a person, but it seems like a very short-sighted perspective to me.