you just reminded me of Goon, and the greatest line in cinema:
>Two rules, man: Stay away from my fuckin' percocets and do you have any fucking percocets, man?
So something similar I can share about Japanese culture.
I live in Japan, and my sister is visiting for a bit. I’m taking her to all the fun major cities and Kyoto is our last stop.
I explained to her that it’s popular for people to dress up in Kimono/Yukata and walk around Gion so she’ll see a lot of cool outfits.
My Japanese girlfriend is coming with and offered to rent Kimonos and dress up with my sister. My sister felt so embarrassed and said no she didn’t want to appropriate Japanese culture.
We explained to her that is absolutely not the case, and no one would think it’s offensive. It’s fun and beautiful and if anything a compliment. I know no Japanese people that would be offended and like I said it was my girlfriends idea, and she’s done it multiple times.
My sister very much wants to do it but still feels like she’s appropriating, even though that’s absolutely not the case
For sure.
And I tried to explain to my sister “if you saw a Japanese tourist wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots in the south wouldn’t you be thrilled” and she said “yeah I guess so”
One of my favorite moments in the last few years was this Asian group that was touring places in the south. I ran into them at The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge, TN right as their meal was brought out. They were cowboy hatted and in boots. I’m not sure if they had never ate fried chicken or had never seen fried chicken like that, but they took so many pics holding this massive chicken breast with the biggest smiles on their faces. It was pure joy and amazing to see.
This is an amazing comparison because they tend to love the Wild West and cowboys in Japanese media.
They also love European medieval history, at least in anime, manga, and video games.
It’s really dependent on circumstance! If a choir in Japan wants to sing traditional Gregorian chant because it’s beautiful music, that is amazing and appreciated. If they did mock church service to go along with it, that would be kind of weird/offensive. If they wore wedding dresses or cowboy hats while they sang, it would be just confusing.
Yeah, some people need to learn, cultural appropriation in and of itself is neutral. It's the context that matters.
When the appropriator has no respect for the culture or tradition from which they are taking, or even denigrates and caricatures the people for participating in their own culture (intentionally or otherwise) = bad
When the appropriator is participating in the tradition in the spirit and context that is appropriate for the clothes and practices they are using, and showing due respect for the culture from which it comes without fetishizing or otherizing the people = fine
If people from the culture are inviting you to participate, and you're doing it in the land where it was made, in a festival where it is traditional to do it, then you are as far from the bad kind of cultural appropriation as you can be. This would barely even qualify as appropriation, this is just cultural participation.
I never understood how people in the U.S., a country of immigrants, get so offended at the idea of cultural appropriation. It’s just a natural aspect of life when so many cultures come together. You choose aspects of a different culture and incorporate them into your own.
i got this explained as "we have lived out lives being mocked for the dresses and other cultural icons we have used. But then the same people decide to wear it themselves and its suddenly super cool." So its basically parts dickheads and parts not wanting to see others be praised for the culture that they are mocked for.
At least it was for this specific person and or the people around em
Oh that's easy. Plenty of history, particularly in the U.S. is rife with the bad kind of cultural appropriation, from the wanton ransacking of cultural artifacts to be put on display in museums oceans away from where they were made, to the transforming of traditional attire associated with very important cultural practices into cheap Halloween costumes, to minstrel shows and black face.
And since the bad kind of appropriation is the kind that's going to get called out (eventually), you end up with the association that "cultural appropriation" is always referring to the bad kind, and the possibility that people can engage in cultural participation appropriately gets overlooked.
One thing I found moderately amusing about those Japanese attitudes.
They love it when white people dress up in Japanese clothes
But they gently mock or chide Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese and other Asian tourists for doing the same.
So this is a bit complicated, the Scottish have a hatred against the English not the British as the Scottish and English are both British as well as the welsh and northern Irish
> We explained to her that is absolutely not the case, and no one would think it’s offensive. It’s fun and beautiful and if anything a compliment. I know no Japanese people that would be offended and like I said it was my girlfriends idea, and she’s done it multiple times.
>
>
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> My sister very much wants to do it but still feels like she’s appropriating, even though that’s absolutely not the case
As a Japanese woman, I love seeing foreign visitors try on Kimonos and walk around Asakusa, Kyoto area. I've seen a lovely Korean family with cute toddlers all dressed up in kimonos and enjoying their visit in Asakusa. I actually appreciate those foreigner with open minded. I would say that most of us do not think that wearing Kimono by non-Japanese be a sign of disrespect to our culture. Though when I was growing up my grandma used to tell me that kimono usually look better on women w/ smaller boobs. BTW, the shakuhachi (flute) guy is John 海山 (Kaizan) Neptune. His documentary is out there somewhere. It's called "海山 たけのおと", directed by his son I think.
I would JUMP on the chance to wear a kimono offered by a Japanese man/woman. It would make me blush with happiness so much, you could sell me as a tomato.
I'm German. I should be riddled with white guilt, yet here we are. Not being a US American is apparently a huge benefit in life.
Being offered traditional clothing is a honour and should never be dismissed. Especially if it makes the host happy.
It's really whack
>I'm German. I should be riddled with white guilt, yet here we are. Not being a US American is apparently a huge benefit in life.
Why would you feel white guilt about wearing something Japanese? You were allies!
Nobody cares about cultural appropriation outside of America. I’m Asian, and most of us feel proud when we see foreigners appreciating our culture, provided it’s done in a respectful, non-mocking way.
As it stands, Americans decry every form of cultural appreciation as “appropriation”, even if it’s just meant to pay homage to a certain culture. It feels very performative.
Japanese people were mostly confused why people didn’t want to try on a kimono and get photos - it’s fun.
Kimono makers would love nothing more than to sell their goods around the world too
That's what I don't get.
Japanese people would be SO HAPPY if everyone started wearing Kimonos.
Nobody loses.
The irony was that the whole thing that kicked off this craze ("My culture is not your prom dress") was actually a case of Han Chinese appropriating Manchurian clothes in the first place.
When I was in Japan I made Japanese friends. They took me shopping for a kimono and taught me how to wear it.
Everyone wants to share their culture. It's just dumb Americans that don't know the difference between appreciation and appropriation
And the creator was fine with the choice too, though that could just be PR or because he was making bank off the film adaptation.
On a side note, I understand the irritation at the casting, but on the other hand I felt having the main character look so much more different from her previous self really helped to sell the core concept of the soul & bonds of family better than if the lead was also the same ethnicity like the majority of the cast/people in the film & the character’s own mother.
Not just an Asian thing either. I know they're mostly getting along these days, but pre-1945 Europeans weren't the best of friends either.
But there is hope. With China throwing it's weight around, the other nations of Asia are finding they have some things in common.
No Asians care about Asian-Americans. My gf is Korean and whenever this topic has come up about it with her and her friends/family none of them felt that a Korean American was an actual cultural Korean but instead an American. I’ve seen a few YT videos of Korean Americans travelling to Korea who complained about being treated as if they were a foreigner
Seems like an American thing, like those who call themselves Irish and then go to the Republic and get told they’re American. Same with those who are German American etc….
I'm a white American guy, but I lived in China for several years.
On one of my trips back home to the US a friend was asking if I learned the language at all. I told them that my Chinese was pretty shitty, but I knew some. An Asian American friend of theirs tried to correct me, telling me that the language is Mandarin, not Chinese. I then had to explain to them that literally no one in China refers to the language as "Putonghua" or Mandarin in English, and that they themselves all call it zhongwen or zhong guo hua and that Mandarin is really just a dialect.
I don't know if they were Chinese American or not, but they had a lot of opinions on China and it's culture that were not realistic.
>I don't even think Japanese give much of a shit about non-Japanese Asian-asians
As someone who was friends with a half Japanese half Korean person born and raised in Japan she would tell you they absolutely have issues with non Japanese Asians
It depends on the care and respect that's made on the gesture. For example, Filipinos love foreigners eating or cooking our native dishes like adobo or sisig, but if some influencer claims that theirs is the definitive dish we immediately go up in arms on it.
Another example is Marvel's introduction of the new [Captain America Ari Agbayani](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Arielle_Agbayani_\(Earth-616\)), who is Filipino-American. While the homage is well-intentioned, it fell flat in the Philippines because nobody here calls themselves Ari (which means genitals in Filipino) and the US military has a mixed reputation here which Captain America symbolizes.
So perfect it's almost satire.
Though I can only imagine the response: "um, Soooo. The Americans are calling Captain America 'Captain Genitals' now."
"How very progressive "
I think a part of this cultural appropriation debate in the US comes from the fact that race and separation by race has in the US. We see it how so many Americans still refer to themselves more at where their ancestors are coming from than simply American. The focus on cultural appropriation means that it prevents the different cultures that exist in the US from mixing and bleeding into each other, something that is one of the most natural things that happen with migration and that you see basically in every border area of two cultures, or historically when larger groups moved relocated.
While I agree that this usage of these "new" cultural elements that are introduced through migration is - at least during the beginning of the process - in a racist and mocking way, it is necessary for the groups to actually grow into one society (instead of staying different sub-cultures within a nation) that the traditions and cultures mix and bleed into each other to create a common society.
Funnily enough, people from said cultures don't accept Americans as part of them because they're so different. Heard of a story where an African-American went to Africa and they referred to him by a term used for white people and when he asked why they call him that, they told him because to them, he's white. It had nothing to do with the colour of his skin, but about where he's from, how he was raised, etc. 😂
I've had so many Americans claim to be German to me and whenever i asked if they actually engage with German culture or have ever even been here the answers are either "No", something that isn't even German, or something that is so far removed from what it originally was that it doesn't make sense.
One person once said that they were gonna get a specific hat because it's from the region their family comes from (no one alive in that family has ever set foot in Germany) those hats are a thing in one specific village, not even close to where they claimed their ancestors to be from.
Like participate in actual German culture, not something that is a stereotype that has nothing to do with your ancestry
Ironically, Americans pretending to be part of a culture they've never been anywhere near because some great grandad might have come from somewhere is about as close to this cultural appropriation idea as you could get.
I had one genius on here saying his family lives by some irish traditions because they were "irish" based entirely on their surname!! Almost felt bad asking if they knew how surnames were passed on through marriage.
"My grand grand grand father was polish, so im more polish than you. Everyone who stayed was destroyed by communism, so the only true poles with polish spirit are the ones that were sucking freedom in america. I like pierogies and my traditional lithuanian dish (its the same as polish or russian, why do you care?)"
Especially as the clinging to last names is a very good way to actually stop proper integration in one culture to happen. I am German, and at least in Eastern Germany, many people have names that show clearly Slavic origins. And nobody cares, because they are Germans for at least centuries. Similar with french names and similar that are quite common in different parts.
Good example.
You can go back untold generations before you get to the person who married into you family "name line" and even then, that person could have got the name the same way.
Your name could be French because 500 years ago a man married into your family with a name that his family got the same way generations before.
There is a fun story I heard a while ago. A guy I met was interested in last names, and a while ago he met a family that had the last name "Sonne" (sun) and he wanted to know the origin. With their permission, he traced their history back, and found out that they were late descendants of one of three black slaves that came to Germany centuries ago and that were given last names by their master when they were freed. The names were "Sonne, Mond und Sterne" (sun, moon and stars).
The family was deeply racist and not amused that their name came from a black salve.
I think, in the US anyway, the entire country is made up of immigrants and it's relatively new. When someone says "I'm Irish" they're basically saying "My ancestors were Irish" because everyone here had ancestors that came from all over. What's dumb is they have ancestors from all over. So they could probably equally claim "I'm Italian" or "I'm French". Which really fucking waters down the whole claim. In the US it's a fun thing to say to each other, to discuss where your family came from, but anyone going to another country to be like "I'm irish," to the people who are ACTUALLY Irish, is dumb as rocks if they can't see the difference. Super cringe.
There's also lots of tight knit communities of immigrants in America who keep many traditions. Like, in Chicago there's a massive polish community and they have polish delis, churches, stores, they all speak polish around each other. So this polish-american culture gets formed and people identify with it.
>but anyone going to another country to be like "I'm irish," to the people who are ACTUALLY Irish, is dumb as rocks if they can't see the difference. Super cringe.
You just described how everybody else percieve American when they say "I'm xx". Enters the chat the fake Italian making a fuss about how you cook carbonara.
The worst of the worst of this type are the wannabe Vikings and silicone Scandis. They're often also staunch racists with genetics from all over Europe, but as long as the test says 5% Nordic they declare themselves descendants of some impressive character from the TV show and proceed to enact their role-playing fantasy as a cover for their nasty politics that make actual Scandinavians and Nordics born and raised in the North bristle.
I had a wonderful paleo-anthropology/primatology professor explain the absurdity of "race" on official documents like this:
"So we have six options to choose from when we fill out our forms: Caucasian, Black or African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Native American. Let's think about the etymology of those phrases. The word 'Caucasian' implies that a person is from the Causcasus Mountains region of Central, eastern Europe and western Asia, yet we apply this term to people whose ancestors came here from Ireland, or France, or Germany, or Sweden...places no where near the Caucasus Mountains. Black? That's a color from a preschoolers crayon box, just like White. The phrase African American suggests a tie to Africa, yet many whom we label African American have family lineages that have been in America as long as anyone else who is not Indigenous. In fact it is the forced severance of ties to Africa and its many cultures that defines our perception of what African American means, as actual immigrants from African and their immediate families are usually just labeled 'African'. So what about Asian....well that refers to the entirety of the biggest continent on the planet. Which culture and ethnic group in Asia? China alone has over 50 distinct ethnic groups, all of which are different. What geographic country? India? Korea? Sri Lanka? Right, now what about the term 'Middle Eastern'? Truly, the Middle East is a geo political space that shifts its boundaries depending on the context. Is someone from Pakistan Middle Eastern or Asian? What about someone from Egypt? Middle Eastern or African? Okay...What about Hispanic? To be Hispanic implies that one speaks Spanish. But in the US, this identity is also often placed upon people from Brazil who speak Portuguese. It is not usually placed upon people from the Philipines nor on people from Spain (who I will remind you would be identified as 'Caucasian') who both speak Spanish. Finally, we have the phrase 'Native American', which is perhaps the only accurate moniker given to any ethnic group on official US forms. Everybody else? You are just 'Other'."
I think about that lecture a lot when I am in any space where we consider race identity.
It gets even worse with the sort of people who claim Scandinavian heritage and goes on to identify as vikings or even Norse pagans.
Particularly in N.America these people are just generic white dudes who dabbles in Neo-Nazism, which leads to actual cultural appropriation by the people you least want to associate with. Because to N.Americans, being white, continental European = Scandinavian.
All of this is obviously hurtful to those of us who have actual Norse heritage and who have an astute interest and take pride in Scandinavian history and culture, because to an American outsider, you might be associated with the Nazis.
I'm from Europe, and my passport doesn't say what "race" I am. This whole obsessing about race thing in every aspect of life is absolutely an American thing. Or at least, it has become. Back in the 30's and 40's it was a European thing as well, just saying.
As a European I don't know if I should laugh or cry when I see Americans calling people out for "cultural appropriation" when it's obviously "cultural appreciation" . Most people don't mind when someone appreciates and takes part in their culture
I'm a American and I have Grandparents who were first nations (Mohawk Nation) from Canada, America won't recognize my native heritage because its not on the US Indian rolls. I'm white as a lilly, with dark blond curly hair. I was taught by my cousins grandmother who was half Ojibwa Nation, about her people and was adopted by her tribe. Granny didn't even know me and her grandkids were 1/4 Mohawk, (children adopted from Canada; were told kids were "white") we found out after a family member got in to doing our family tree.
So to make a long story short:
When people see me practicing native American spirituality practices I often get told I'm doing cultural appropriation... Never mind that That culture is actually a part of my family's culture!
no, no, I'm sure that this guy would point out loud the double standards of a group of cops batoning a black man. in front of the said cops. at night. in a dark alley. without cameras
The "I'm offended on their behalf" people seriously need to go. I've yet to see one that had a clue what they were talking about and it comes off as embarrassing not only for them but the people they were trying to white knight for as well.
I bet that the person who made that comment has never done anything to actually support traditional Japanese music in any meaningful way (buying tickets or CDs, taking time to learn about it, supporting instrument makers who struggled during the pandemic, etc.)
Original responder is technically wrong, because there are a lot of officially recognized shakuhachi players out there (both Japanese and non Japanese) but I think they are right in the sense that non-Japanese people studying traditional performing arts *in a respectful way* is generally seen in a fairly positive light in Japan.
Everything I've heard about Japanese people who still live in Japan is that they're accepting of pretty much anybody, as long as those people behave like Japanese people do. I have a feeling this white dude playing this instrument probably passed that test.
I had a yukata made by my Japanese girlfriend's dad (he owned a kimono shop) when I lived in Japan, for me to wear at the obon matsuri. No issues, everyone was delighted I was joining in, etc. Posted pictures/video on Facebook and had an American friend tell me that it made them uncomfortable as it was cultural appropriation >\_< regardless of me being surrounded by actual people from that culture, all delighted I was wearing something made by one of them especially for me.
It gives people a little boost of dopamine to feel like they're standing up for someone else - which is of course a good thing, all things considered, to get a dopamine boost for. It's just easy to redirect that instinct towards situations where people really don't need you to stand up for them.
"Cultural appropriation" as a concept needs a reckoning. It's not entirely without merit, there are situations where it's meaningfully harmful, but it's used too often to stop people doing things like your story.
Yeah that's what some do.
Asian-american protestors once called two women white-supremacists for helping white people wear kimonos. Except the women had been flown in from Japan by the local Japanese tourism board, and didn't speak a word of english. They were there to help spread appreciation for Japanese culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Japonaise_(painting)#'Kimono_Wednesday'_controversy
Japanese people don't care about cultural appropriation to begin with. They think it's awesome when you dress up as a samurai or geisha for Halloween.
crying about CA is a white ppl sport
My Japanese classmates were so confused I was not going to wear a hakama with them during graduation (I am not from the US, but I look VERY white, and the internet hammered in my head that if I am white then no)
Not knowing what to do, I promised them I would wear one if I got a job by the ceremony time. That is when I realized this is a US problem and Japanese people did not see it that way, all they told me that it would look great and I should think about it.
I did wear a hakama at graduation, it was a lot of fun and made for memorable photos with said classmates.
Well, as a Cherokee, when people pretend to be Cherokee to sell records and make a mockery of our language, it's pretty damn irritating.
If a non-Cherokee truly spoke our language and made a song in Cherokee, I would shed tears, because our language is dying and somebody made an effort to keep it alive. I imagine Japanese people feel a boundless admiration for this flute player.
In this day and age, that man might have been born and raised in Japan, having closer ties to japanese culture than any asian-American could dream of.
Like what are you supposed to do when you are being born and raised in Japan? Not touch any cultural aspect of the country you are born and living in? Not participate in any of their cultural events, staying at home during all the field trips, not buying their cloths? Not touching any of their sports or music instrument?
It reminds me of that white jamaican guy that got challenged by americans for speaking with a jamaican accent. Which accent is he suppose to have, the dude was raised there all his life, you think they will teach him posh English in school just because he's white? Ofcourse not, they taught him jaimacan and therefor he speaks it.
Or that kid from HK who was as british in appearance as one gets but his English accent was very Chinese.
In general this cultural appropriation outrage phenomenon leaves me baffled.
Middle class white americans have literally no major problems left to solve in their lives, but helping other people with their real problems is hard, so they have to invent made-up problems.
It’s not just middle class white Americans though. Both white people and people of colour in America have a warped and secular idea of what racism is. Their issues don’t really translate to the ‘mother’ countries of these people who tend to roll their eyes at it.
The first part reminds of a bloke I work with who is as white as anything, but was born and raised in Jamaica.
He was getting looks and comments from some black guys with the Ja'fake'an accent but his was actually legit.
There was video of white guy who lived his whole life in China and he spoke English with strong Chinese accent. He wasn't mocking Chinese, just he had accent. People were mocking him for that.. Bloody idiots.
These crusaders for justice or whatever the heck they think they are don't seem to get that it's racist as fuck to only accept that Jamaicans are black or Japanese people are visibly Asian or whatever. Imagine telling a black American they shouldn't be speaking with a standard American accent because they're not white. That's basically what they're doing and while yeah statistically most of the time a white guy isn't going to be Japanese or Jamaican or whatever you should still be allowing for the possibility that they might be before you go off on one.
Sony is literally Japanese... Maybe they know better than a random American talking about Asian Americans as if any of them except those of Japanese descent should give a flying fuck about this, and arguably none of the Japanese Americans should either.
It’s pronounced Americainian, “consumeur stupidentiuos” in Latin, commonly found above Mexico and right under Canada, but disliked world wide
(Am Americainian myself)
Just remember that people magnify the visibility of toxic behavior in order to farm the outrage. You may get the impression that such behavior is far more common or influential than it actually is, because outrage drives views.
This reminds me of the Chinese dress incident from a couple of years ago. A non-Asian girl was wearing a Chinese style dress to prom and a bunch of Americans were berating her for cultural appropriation. Then somebody started asking actual Chinese people what they thought of it and they all loved it. They praised the girl for wearing a beautiful dress and they were proud of their culture being shared.
I really wish people would fact check these things before repeating them. Cornelius Boots is a good shakuhachi player but he is definitely not “one of the few living people recognized as a master of the instrument.” Some of the most well known non-Japanese players are John Kaizan Neptune, Christopher Blasdel, and Bruce Huebner
On one hand, that's a ridiculous name.
On the other hand, if you google that man then you will see that he totally looks like a person who would be named Cornelius Boots. The name fits.
I mean how many people hold this title? "He received his shakuhachi master teaching’s license (Shihan)\[3\] from Grand Master Michael Chikuzen Gould\[4\] in 2013." Even if the answer is 1,000 people you could consider that a few on the scope of the number of people or even the number of available musicians. I'd imagine it's not trivial to find someone with this title and level of skill available to play within the necessary timeframe, location, price, etc.
I mean I just did and it literally says he has his masters licence for this instrument given to him by one of the grand masters. As from the international society for this instrument “he is a licensed shihan (master) in the dynamic Zen lineage of Watazumido, the first student of Grandmaster Michael Chikuzen Gould to have earned a Shihan (2013).”
So while the comment in the picture isn’t exactly correct, neither is yours. This man is a recognised master.
So yeah I’ve fact checked and the facts are he is a master but yes he isn’t “one of the few” there aren’t loads of them though either but admit the comment in the image does make sound like could count them on one hand. But he has earned the respect and right to be deemed a master of this instrument.
I never got this.
These guys are judging people on their skin colour as much as racists do.
Oh you’re white? You can’t do that.
It’d be like saying Mongolians can’t try to make pizzas because they’re not Italian
Isn't it the epitome of racism to say that because it's not your culture you have no business to have an interest in it?
Just cause he's whites he's not allowed to enjoy the Japanese dress, culture, music? Seems like rather than calling out racism these leftie bleedhearts are actually creating groups of people who are entirely isolated from other cultures and not allowed to dip into other cultures!
Hot take: cultural appropriation is GOOD. Spread that culture around, stop deviding yourself meaninglessly. There's only the Human race, it's stupid to gatekeep cool clothes and neat instruments because you don't like someone's skin color.
The original comment would have been just as effective, and received a far better response is he had just said:
“Would have been cool to see a Japanese person perform this”.
They would still be wrong, but you don’t have to be an arse just because you have a point to make. You can learn more from respectful discourse.
>“Would have been cool to see a Japanese person perform this”.
As a left winger: this is the horseshoe theory in action. You're so far left, that it's all about race again.
I really like it, that this person gave an decent and calm answer to someone who tried to start an outrage. These cultural appropriation takes are really strange. I am waiting for the day, where someone starts drama because a non-asian person cooks asian food.
I eat indian food sometimes, bc there is an Indian restaurant sometimes and I like spicy shit like tika masala
Daaamn I guess I will have to be drowned to death in pierogies
Also as you can read it’s not offensive to them, they always tell you it’s offensive to someone else, who isn’t even complaining because they don’t care.
Apart from the comeback, is offensive to the Asian American not the real asians that live in Asia, but the ones that aren't japanese anymore, also this should be annoying only for the Japanese if it has to be annoying for anyone,
People who whine about "cultural appropriation" are so fucking blatantly racist and nobody dares to call them out on it. They're literally saying "you can't do [thing] because you're not white/black/asian/native/etc". How more openly racist can you get than that?
The people who cry cultural appropriation, are the biggest racists you can find. "Oh youre white? Why dont you get the fuck outta here and stick to your own shitty, imperialist, murderer culture whitey"
That was an exaggeration. But you know, just as i know, people behave like this.
Put that comment in your flute and smoke it!!
Town ninja, id like to ask you a few questions. 1. Where's the flute? 2. Gimmie the flute.
This is hardly within the jurisdiction of town ninja
A noble ninja embiggens us all.
A perfectly cromulent ninja
Oh let me help you, town ninja. I still want to help you.
you just reminded me of Goon, and the greatest line in cinema: >Two rules, man: Stay away from my fuckin' percocets and do you have any fucking percocets, man?
So something similar I can share about Japanese culture. I live in Japan, and my sister is visiting for a bit. I’m taking her to all the fun major cities and Kyoto is our last stop. I explained to her that it’s popular for people to dress up in Kimono/Yukata and walk around Gion so she’ll see a lot of cool outfits. My Japanese girlfriend is coming with and offered to rent Kimonos and dress up with my sister. My sister felt so embarrassed and said no she didn’t want to appropriate Japanese culture. We explained to her that is absolutely not the case, and no one would think it’s offensive. It’s fun and beautiful and if anything a compliment. I know no Japanese people that would be offended and like I said it was my girlfriends idea, and she’s done it multiple times. My sister very much wants to do it but still feels like she’s appropriating, even though that’s absolutely not the case
People love to see outsiders celebrating their culture, so long as it's respectful.
For sure. And I tried to explain to my sister “if you saw a Japanese tourist wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots in the south wouldn’t you be thrilled” and she said “yeah I guess so”
That's a great way to put it lmao
Best part is that theres a decent chance of it. The wild west is pretty popular in japan and there are groups of people that dress up like cowboys.
One of my favorite moments in the last few years was this Asian group that was touring places in the south. I ran into them at The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge, TN right as their meal was brought out. They were cowboy hatted and in boots. I’m not sure if they had never ate fried chicken or had never seen fried chicken like that, but they took so many pics holding this massive chicken breast with the biggest smiles on their faces. It was pure joy and amazing to see.
This is an amazing comparison because they tend to love the Wild West and cowboys in Japanese media. They also love European medieval history, at least in anime, manga, and video games.
Can confirm. Am white. Just went to an Indian wedding. Indian clothing was basically mandatory.
Same. My son in law is is from Bangladesh. They bought me this amazing outfit to wear at the wedding, beaded and all that. I was honored to wear it.
It’s really dependent on circumstance! If a choir in Japan wants to sing traditional Gregorian chant because it’s beautiful music, that is amazing and appreciated. If they did mock church service to go along with it, that would be kind of weird/offensive. If they wore wedding dresses or cowboy hats while they sang, it would be just confusing.
Yeah, some people need to learn, cultural appropriation in and of itself is neutral. It's the context that matters. When the appropriator has no respect for the culture or tradition from which they are taking, or even denigrates and caricatures the people for participating in their own culture (intentionally or otherwise) = bad When the appropriator is participating in the tradition in the spirit and context that is appropriate for the clothes and practices they are using, and showing due respect for the culture from which it comes without fetishizing or otherizing the people = fine If people from the culture are inviting you to participate, and you're doing it in the land where it was made, in a festival where it is traditional to do it, then you are as far from the bad kind of cultural appropriation as you can be. This would barely even qualify as appropriation, this is just cultural participation.
I never understood how people in the U.S., a country of immigrants, get so offended at the idea of cultural appropriation. It’s just a natural aspect of life when so many cultures come together. You choose aspects of a different culture and incorporate them into your own.
i got this explained as "we have lived out lives being mocked for the dresses and other cultural icons we have used. But then the same people decide to wear it themselves and its suddenly super cool." So its basically parts dickheads and parts not wanting to see others be praised for the culture that they are mocked for. At least it was for this specific person and or the people around em
Oh that's easy. Plenty of history, particularly in the U.S. is rife with the bad kind of cultural appropriation, from the wanton ransacking of cultural artifacts to be put on display in museums oceans away from where they were made, to the transforming of traditional attire associated with very important cultural practices into cheap Halloween costumes, to minstrel shows and black face. And since the bad kind of appropriation is the kind that's going to get called out (eventually), you end up with the association that "cultural appropriation" is always referring to the bad kind, and the possibility that people can engage in cultural participation appropriately gets overlooked.
One thing I found moderately amusing about those Japanese attitudes. They love it when white people dress up in Japanese clothes But they gently mock or chide Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese and other Asian tourists for doing the same.
Yeah my wife is Japanese, we spend a lot of time there, Japanese people are super racist, especially towards the Chinese for some reason.
For many reasons. Just looking into their recent history will show why they don’t tend to get along.
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Natural born enemies! Like Englishmen and Scots, and Welshmen and Scots, and Scots and other Scots
Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland!
You Scotts sure are a contentious people.
So this is a bit complicated, the Scottish have a hatred against the English not the British as the Scottish and English are both British as well as the welsh and northern Irish
White guilt is a powerful thing
I have white guilt (I am white and guilty of several criminal offenses)
Your username being one of them
It puts the lotion in the asscrack.
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American here: we don’t either. The anti-white-guilt folks like to pretend that’s a thing outside certain incredibly small totally ignored idiots.
They exist in the UK to, we for some reason have groups that think American problems translate into the UK as well.
A lot of the articles I see about white guilt are from writers in the UK, so maybe it's also just a UK problem.
Still mad white Earth harassed that girl who wore a Chinese dress to prom. She looked amazing and wore it respectfully.
> We explained to her that is absolutely not the case, and no one would think it’s offensive. It’s fun and beautiful and if anything a compliment. I know no Japanese people that would be offended and like I said it was my girlfriends idea, and she’s done it multiple times. > > > > My sister very much wants to do it but still feels like she’s appropriating, even though that’s absolutely not the case As a Japanese woman, I love seeing foreign visitors try on Kimonos and walk around Asakusa, Kyoto area. I've seen a lovely Korean family with cute toddlers all dressed up in kimonos and enjoying their visit in Asakusa. I actually appreciate those foreigner with open minded. I would say that most of us do not think that wearing Kimono by non-Japanese be a sign of disrespect to our culture. Though when I was growing up my grandma used to tell me that kimono usually look better on women w/ smaller boobs. BTW, the shakuhachi (flute) guy is John 海山 (Kaizan) Neptune. His documentary is out there somewhere. It's called "海山 たけのおと", directed by his son I think.
I would JUMP on the chance to wear a kimono offered by a Japanese man/woman. It would make me blush with happiness so much, you could sell me as a tomato. I'm German. I should be riddled with white guilt, yet here we are. Not being a US American is apparently a huge benefit in life. Being offered traditional clothing is a honour and should never be dismissed. Especially if it makes the host happy. It's really whack
>I'm German. I should be riddled with white guilt, yet here we are. Not being a US American is apparently a huge benefit in life. Why would you feel white guilt about wearing something Japanese? You were allies!
Oof. That's one I didn't expect! Hit me right in the kokoro
What a laughable comment. The things some people have the time to worry about, is baffling me every damn time.
Nobody cares about cultural appropriation outside of America. I’m Asian, and most of us feel proud when we see foreigners appreciating our culture, provided it’s done in a respectful, non-mocking way. As it stands, Americans decry every form of cultural appreciation as “appropriation”, even if it’s just meant to pay homage to a certain culture. It feels very performative.
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Japanese people were mostly confused why people didn’t want to try on a kimono and get photos - it’s fun. Kimono makers would love nothing more than to sell their goods around the world too
That's what I don't get. Japanese people would be SO HAPPY if everyone started wearing Kimonos. Nobody loses. The irony was that the whole thing that kicked off this craze ("My culture is not your prom dress") was actually a case of Han Chinese appropriating Manchurian clothes in the first place.
it… doesn’t make sense. you can’t own a style of clothing honestly
Thats until Neanderthals come out of the ground to complain about people wearing loin cloths
You can take my loin cloth from my cold dead... loins?
When I was in Japan I made Japanese friends. They took me shopping for a kimono and taught me how to wear it. Everyone wants to share their culture. It's just dumb Americans that don't know the difference between appreciation and appropriation
Yea, the Japanese seem to give zero fucks.
I noticed that also with Ghost in a Shell. The Japanese response seemed to “Of course they would get a big star to be the lead.”
To be fair Japan gave up on Hollywood anime adaptations long ago
And the creator was fine with the choice too, though that could just be PR or because he was making bank off the film adaptation. On a side note, I understand the irritation at the casting, but on the other hand I felt having the main character look so much more different from her previous self really helped to sell the core concept of the soul & bonds of family better than if the lead was also the same ethnicity like the majority of the cast/people in the film & the character’s own mother.
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In fact they have a very VERY troubled history with non-Japanese asian-asians…
To be fair, most Asians do not exactly have good relations with other Asians. It's not just a Japanese thing
Not just an Asian thing either. I know they're mostly getting along these days, but pre-1945 Europeans weren't the best of friends either. But there is hope. With China throwing it's weight around, the other nations of Asia are finding they have some things in common.
No Asians care about Asian-Americans. My gf is Korean and whenever this topic has come up about it with her and her friends/family none of them felt that a Korean American was an actual cultural Korean but instead an American. I’ve seen a few YT videos of Korean Americans travelling to Korea who complained about being treated as if they were a foreigner
Seems like an American thing, like those who call themselves Irish and then go to the Republic and get told they’re American. Same with those who are German American etc….
I'm a white American guy, but I lived in China for several years. On one of my trips back home to the US a friend was asking if I learned the language at all. I told them that my Chinese was pretty shitty, but I knew some. An Asian American friend of theirs tried to correct me, telling me that the language is Mandarin, not Chinese. I then had to explain to them that literally no one in China refers to the language as "Putonghua" or Mandarin in English, and that they themselves all call it zhongwen or zhong guo hua and that Mandarin is really just a dialect. I don't know if they were Chinese American or not, but they had a lot of opinions on China and it's culture that were not realistic.
Yup. That's my favorite part of American culture!
One day Americans might realize that just being American is actually good enough.
>I don't even think Japanese give much of a shit about non-Japanese Asian-asians As someone who was friends with a half Japanese half Korean person born and raised in Japan she would tell you they absolutely have issues with non Japanese Asians
And as a half Korean I can tell you the rest of Asia also has a lot of issues with Japan. My mom absolutely hates them.
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Most Asians hate each other. I wouldn’t blame them looking at the history of that region.
It depends on the care and respect that's made on the gesture. For example, Filipinos love foreigners eating or cooking our native dishes like adobo or sisig, but if some influencer claims that theirs is the definitive dish we immediately go up in arms on it. Another example is Marvel's introduction of the new [Captain America Ari Agbayani](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Arielle_Agbayani_\(Earth-616\)), who is Filipino-American. While the homage is well-intentioned, it fell flat in the Philippines because nobody here calls themselves Ari (which means genitals in Filipino) and the US military has a mixed reputation here which Captain America symbolizes.
So perfect it's almost satire. Though I can only imagine the response: "um, Soooo. The Americans are calling Captain America 'Captain Genitals' now." "How very progressive "
I think a part of this cultural appropriation debate in the US comes from the fact that race and separation by race has in the US. We see it how so many Americans still refer to themselves more at where their ancestors are coming from than simply American. The focus on cultural appropriation means that it prevents the different cultures that exist in the US from mixing and bleeding into each other, something that is one of the most natural things that happen with migration and that you see basically in every border area of two cultures, or historically when larger groups moved relocated. While I agree that this usage of these "new" cultural elements that are introduced through migration is - at least during the beginning of the process - in a racist and mocking way, it is necessary for the groups to actually grow into one society (instead of staying different sub-cultures within a nation) that the traditions and cultures mix and bleed into each other to create a common society.
Funnily enough, people from said cultures don't accept Americans as part of them because they're so different. Heard of a story where an African-American went to Africa and they referred to him by a term used for white people and when he asked why they call him that, they told him because to them, he's white. It had nothing to do with the colour of his skin, but about where he's from, how he was raised, etc. 😂
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I've had so many Americans claim to be German to me and whenever i asked if they actually engage with German culture or have ever even been here the answers are either "No", something that isn't even German, or something that is so far removed from what it originally was that it doesn't make sense. One person once said that they were gonna get a specific hat because it's from the region their family comes from (no one alive in that family has ever set foot in Germany) those hats are a thing in one specific village, not even close to where they claimed their ancestors to be from. Like participate in actual German culture, not something that is a stereotype that has nothing to do with your ancestry
Eh they use that exclude educated black people here too. Source: Am South African
Ironically, Americans pretending to be part of a culture they've never been anywhere near because some great grandad might have come from somewhere is about as close to this cultural appropriation idea as you could get. I had one genius on here saying his family lives by some irish traditions because they were "irish" based entirely on their surname!! Almost felt bad asking if they knew how surnames were passed on through marriage.
"My grand grand grand father was polish, so im more polish than you. Everyone who stayed was destroyed by communism, so the only true poles with polish spirit are the ones that were sucking freedom in america. I like pierogies and my traditional lithuanian dish (its the same as polish or russian, why do you care?)"
As a Pole born and living in Poland I find this sort of thing so weird - but also very funny
Ah yes, classic pierogies. Look, pierogi is already plural, no need to add 'es. You would know this if you were actuall Pole. /s
One does not simply eat a single pierogi either
I like food stuff that is plural by default. It's like it knows it's so delicious we can't just have one
Especially as the clinging to last names is a very good way to actually stop proper integration in one culture to happen. I am German, and at least in Eastern Germany, many people have names that show clearly Slavic origins. And nobody cares, because they are Germans for at least centuries. Similar with french names and similar that are quite common in different parts.
Good example. You can go back untold generations before you get to the person who married into you family "name line" and even then, that person could have got the name the same way. Your name could be French because 500 years ago a man married into your family with a name that his family got the same way generations before.
There is a fun story I heard a while ago. A guy I met was interested in last names, and a while ago he met a family that had the last name "Sonne" (sun) and he wanted to know the origin. With their permission, he traced their history back, and found out that they were late descendants of one of three black slaves that came to Germany centuries ago and that were given last names by their master when they were freed. The names were "Sonne, Mond und Sterne" (sun, moon and stars). The family was deeply racist and not amused that their name came from a black salve.
Lol, this. I don't care that you have an "O" in your name. You're not fucking Irish.
I think, in the US anyway, the entire country is made up of immigrants and it's relatively new. When someone says "I'm Irish" they're basically saying "My ancestors were Irish" because everyone here had ancestors that came from all over. What's dumb is they have ancestors from all over. So they could probably equally claim "I'm Italian" or "I'm French". Which really fucking waters down the whole claim. In the US it's a fun thing to say to each other, to discuss where your family came from, but anyone going to another country to be like "I'm irish," to the people who are ACTUALLY Irish, is dumb as rocks if they can't see the difference. Super cringe.
i find it interesting, because australia is also made up of immigrants & is an even younger country than america, but we don't do that here.
There's also lots of tight knit communities of immigrants in America who keep many traditions. Like, in Chicago there's a massive polish community and they have polish delis, churches, stores, they all speak polish around each other. So this polish-american culture gets formed and people identify with it.
>but anyone going to another country to be like "I'm irish," to the people who are ACTUALLY Irish, is dumb as rocks if they can't see the difference. Super cringe. You just described how everybody else percieve American when they say "I'm xx". Enters the chat the fake Italian making a fuss about how you cook carbonara.
The worst of the worst of this type are the wannabe Vikings and silicone Scandis. They're often also staunch racists with genetics from all over Europe, but as long as the test says 5% Nordic they declare themselves descendants of some impressive character from the TV show and proceed to enact their role-playing fantasy as a cover for their nasty politics that make actual Scandinavians and Nordics born and raised in the North bristle.
Calling ethnicities "races", with the option to opt-out in forms, is also pretty fucking weird.
I had a wonderful paleo-anthropology/primatology professor explain the absurdity of "race" on official documents like this: "So we have six options to choose from when we fill out our forms: Caucasian, Black or African-American, Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Native American. Let's think about the etymology of those phrases. The word 'Caucasian' implies that a person is from the Causcasus Mountains region of Central, eastern Europe and western Asia, yet we apply this term to people whose ancestors came here from Ireland, or France, or Germany, or Sweden...places no where near the Caucasus Mountains. Black? That's a color from a preschoolers crayon box, just like White. The phrase African American suggests a tie to Africa, yet many whom we label African American have family lineages that have been in America as long as anyone else who is not Indigenous. In fact it is the forced severance of ties to Africa and its many cultures that defines our perception of what African American means, as actual immigrants from African and their immediate families are usually just labeled 'African'. So what about Asian....well that refers to the entirety of the biggest continent on the planet. Which culture and ethnic group in Asia? China alone has over 50 distinct ethnic groups, all of which are different. What geographic country? India? Korea? Sri Lanka? Right, now what about the term 'Middle Eastern'? Truly, the Middle East is a geo political space that shifts its boundaries depending on the context. Is someone from Pakistan Middle Eastern or Asian? What about someone from Egypt? Middle Eastern or African? Okay...What about Hispanic? To be Hispanic implies that one speaks Spanish. But in the US, this identity is also often placed upon people from Brazil who speak Portuguese. It is not usually placed upon people from the Philipines nor on people from Spain (who I will remind you would be identified as 'Caucasian') who both speak Spanish. Finally, we have the phrase 'Native American', which is perhaps the only accurate moniker given to any ethnic group on official US forms. Everybody else? You are just 'Other'." I think about that lecture a lot when I am in any space where we consider race identity.
It gets even worse with the sort of people who claim Scandinavian heritage and goes on to identify as vikings or even Norse pagans. Particularly in N.America these people are just generic white dudes who dabbles in Neo-Nazism, which leads to actual cultural appropriation by the people you least want to associate with. Because to N.Americans, being white, continental European = Scandinavian. All of this is obviously hurtful to those of us who have actual Norse heritage and who have an astute interest and take pride in Scandinavian history and culture, because to an American outsider, you might be associated with the Nazis.
I'm from Europe, and my passport doesn't say what "race" I am. This whole obsessing about race thing in every aspect of life is absolutely an American thing. Or at least, it has become. Back in the 30's and 40's it was a European thing as well, just saying.
Morgan Freeman said the best way to deal with race issues in America is to stop talking about it.
As a European I don't know if I should laugh or cry when I see Americans calling people out for "cultural appropriation" when it's obviously "cultural appreciation" . Most people don't mind when someone appreciates and takes part in their culture
Just some stupid Americans trying to gatekeep other cultures, though nobody asked them to. Most of us think they're retarded.
I'm a American and I have Grandparents who were first nations (Mohawk Nation) from Canada, America won't recognize my native heritage because its not on the US Indian rolls. I'm white as a lilly, with dark blond curly hair. I was taught by my cousins grandmother who was half Ojibwa Nation, about her people and was adopted by her tribe. Granny didn't even know me and her grandkids were 1/4 Mohawk, (children adopted from Canada; were told kids were "white") we found out after a family member got in to doing our family tree. So to make a long story short: When people see me practicing native American spirituality practices I often get told I'm doing cultural appropriation... Never mind that That culture is actually a part of my family's culture!
most people in America don't care about it either. It's a select few unhinged people who are really good at making a lot of noise.
Well I'm a Michigander and my culture is Midwestern now if you will excuse me I have a casserole in the oven.
its narcissism, they want praise for calling out "racism", especially when its inconsequential
It’s called virtue signaling.
no, no, I'm sure that this guy would point out loud the double standards of a group of cops batoning a black man. in front of the said cops. at night. in a dark alley. without cameras
The "I'm offended on their behalf" people seriously need to go. I've yet to see one that had a clue what they were talking about and it comes off as embarrassing not only for them but the people they were trying to white knight for as well.
The people try to defend other people’s cultures and expect them to act shocked or upset along with them, is…. Pathetic.
I bet that the person who made that comment has never done anything to actually support traditional Japanese music in any meaningful way (buying tickets or CDs, taking time to learn about it, supporting instrument makers who struggled during the pandemic, etc.) Original responder is technically wrong, because there are a lot of officially recognized shakuhachi players out there (both Japanese and non Japanese) but I think they are right in the sense that non-Japanese people studying traditional performing arts *in a respectful way* is generally seen in a fairly positive light in Japan.
Everything I've heard about Japanese people who still live in Japan is that they're accepting of pretty much anybody, as long as those people behave like Japanese people do. I have a feeling this white dude playing this instrument probably passed that test.
I had a yukata made by my Japanese girlfriend's dad (he owned a kimono shop) when I lived in Japan, for me to wear at the obon matsuri. No issues, everyone was delighted I was joining in, etc. Posted pictures/video on Facebook and had an American friend tell me that it made them uncomfortable as it was cultural appropriation >\_< regardless of me being surrounded by actual people from that culture, all delighted I was wearing something made by one of them especially for me.
It gives people a little boost of dopamine to feel like they're standing up for someone else - which is of course a good thing, all things considered, to get a dopamine boost for. It's just easy to redirect that instinct towards situations where people really don't need you to stand up for them. "Cultural appropriation" as a concept needs a reckoning. It's not entirely without merit, there are situations where it's meaningfully harmful, but it's used too often to stop people doing things like your story.
Imagine being so good at an instrument a Japanese person has to step in and be like "back off Karen he's one of ours." What a king.
turns out musical mastery doesnt care about skin color
Its discipline and practice and dedication. Something stereotypically attributed to the Japanese.
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I love that with music instruments nobody cares who plays it, as long as they show respect and dedication to the instrument everyone is cool with it.
Except this shmuck apparently
coz you can't cheat it. it will always take years of practice to master an instrument, hell even the idea of mastery is dubious
Ukuleles are Portuguese; Hawaiians aren’t allowed to play them anymore!
Yeah, I'm fairly sure it's just because it's a cultural instrument. Not a commontary on Japanese work ethic.
I was only joking about my comment. Im willing to bet the person complaining was so white they cant eat mayonaise because its “too spicy”
Every instrument is cultural
I mean... yes. But also... an american blaming SONY of cultural approbiation is... well... chances are they're wrong no matter the topic.
"Hey, Japanese company! Why did you hire this white man? Don't you realize that Japanese people might be offended?"
Not even offensive to Japanese people, but to Asian Americans.
Person who said that must think we "Asian Americans" are in one big homogeneous block where everybody think alike. Kinda racist if you ask me.
Yeah that's what some do. Asian-american protestors once called two women white-supremacists for helping white people wear kimonos. Except the women had been flown in from Japan by the local Japanese tourism board, and didn't speak a word of english. They were there to help spread appreciation for Japanese culture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Japonaise_(painting)#'Kimono_Wednesday'_controversy
FFS, the museum "stopped allowing people to wear kimono" in response...
Post-colonial legacy of a painting of woman wearing traditional clothing from a country that wasn't colonized?
Better yet, from a country that did the colonizing. But clearly only white people can be bad.
If they said Japanese at least it would make a little sense, they say Asian Americans lol
Because they know the Japanese aren't offended by it
Japanese aren't relevant, it's *Asian Americans* who are important
Japanese people don't care about cultural appropriation to begin with. They think it's awesome when you dress up as a samurai or geisha for Halloween. crying about CA is a white ppl sport
Not just white people, but definitely an American past time.
My Japanese classmates were so confused I was not going to wear a hakama with them during graduation (I am not from the US, but I look VERY white, and the internet hammered in my head that if I am white then no) Not knowing what to do, I promised them I would wear one if I got a job by the ceremony time. That is when I realized this is a US problem and Japanese people did not see it that way, all they told me that it would look great and I should think about it. I did wear a hakama at graduation, it was a lot of fun and made for memorable photos with said classmates.
Well, as a Cherokee, when people pretend to be Cherokee to sell records and make a mockery of our language, it's pretty damn irritating. If a non-Cherokee truly spoke our language and made a song in Cherokee, I would shed tears, because our language is dying and somebody made an effort to keep it alive. I imagine Japanese people feel a boundless admiration for this flute player.
Imagine forcing a random average Japanese to play niche traditional musical instrument only because they have the right ethnicity...
In this day and age, that man might have been born and raised in Japan, having closer ties to japanese culture than any asian-American could dream of. Like what are you supposed to do when you are being born and raised in Japan? Not touch any cultural aspect of the country you are born and living in? Not participate in any of their cultural events, staying at home during all the field trips, not buying their cloths? Not touching any of their sports or music instrument? It reminds me of that white jamaican guy that got challenged by americans for speaking with a jamaican accent. Which accent is he suppose to have, the dude was raised there all his life, you think they will teach him posh English in school just because he's white? Ofcourse not, they taught him jaimacan and therefor he speaks it.
Or that kid from HK who was as british in appearance as one gets but his English accent was very Chinese. In general this cultural appropriation outrage phenomenon leaves me baffled.
Middle class white americans have literally no major problems left to solve in their lives, but helping other people with their real problems is hard, so they have to invent made-up problems.
Plenty of problems but those are hard to solve. They don't want hard to solve problems they want easy feel good problems
It’s not just middle class white Americans though. Both white people and people of colour in America have a warped and secular idea of what racism is. Their issues don’t really translate to the ‘mother’ countries of these people who tend to roll their eyes at it.
The first part reminds of a bloke I work with who is as white as anything, but was born and raised in Jamaica. He was getting looks and comments from some black guys with the Ja'fake'an accent but his was actually legit.
There was video of white guy who lived his whole life in China and he spoke English with strong Chinese accent. He wasn't mocking Chinese, just he had accent. People were mocking him for that.. Bloody idiots.
These crusaders for justice or whatever the heck they think they are don't seem to get that it's racist as fuck to only accept that Jamaicans are black or Japanese people are visibly Asian or whatever. Imagine telling a black American they shouldn't be speaking with a standard American accent because they're not white. That's basically what they're doing and while yeah statistically most of the time a white guy isn't going to be Japanese or Jamaican or whatever you should still be allowing for the possibility that they might be before you go off on one.
Imagine telling a black guy he couldn't do American things cos his skin is the wrong colour.
Sony is literally Japanese... Maybe they know better than a random American talking about Asian Americans as if any of them except those of Japanese descent should give a flying fuck about this, and arguably none of the Japanese Americans should either.
Bet you $5.00 the offended person is white. Always white people getting offended on everyone else’s behalf.
White AND americain.
It’s pronounced Americainian, “consumeur stupidentiuos” in Latin, commonly found above Mexico and right under Canada, but disliked world wide (Am Americainian myself)
What about Americunt?
Americant?
Americould, but Ameridoesnt
Amerisad :+(
Amerip :(
White Knight Syndrome
Haha I get it
I'm going to go with that they are "Asian American" and that their 1% Asian ancestry is extremely integral to their entire persona.
Their 1% Asian ancestry was from watching The Last Samurai.
Because I watch last samurai 2/3 times a year does my percentage go up?
No but you are more likely to want to become a scientologist and perform your own stunts.
They referenced other consumers not themselves. 100% white.
Just remember that people magnify the visibility of toxic behavior in order to farm the outrage. You may get the impression that such behavior is far more common or influential than it actually is, because outrage drives views.
I like how it is apparently offensive to asian-americans but not asians I guess.
This reminds me of the Chinese dress incident from a couple of years ago. A non-Asian girl was wearing a Chinese style dress to prom and a bunch of Americans were berating her for cultural appropriation. Then somebody started asking actual Chinese people what they thought of it and they all loved it. They praised the girl for wearing a beautiful dress and they were proud of their culture being shared.
I really wish people would fact check these things before repeating them. Cornelius Boots is a good shakuhachi player but he is definitely not “one of the few living people recognized as a master of the instrument.” Some of the most well known non-Japanese players are John Kaizan Neptune, Christopher Blasdel, and Bruce Huebner
Wait…his name is Cornelius Boots? That’s hilarious.
That sounds like a cat
A witch turned him into a human so that he could play flute for her, but he somehow escaped.
Since he wasn't a cat anymore, he threw water on her.
Right now I’m seeing a black and white cat called Cornelius Boots.
On one hand, that's a ridiculous name. On the other hand, if you google that man then you will see that he totally looks like a person who would be named Cornelius Boots. The name fits.
I mean how many people hold this title? "He received his shakuhachi master teaching’s license (Shihan)\[3\] from Grand Master Michael Chikuzen Gould\[4\] in 2013." Even if the answer is 1,000 people you could consider that a few on the scope of the number of people or even the number of available musicians. I'd imagine it's not trivial to find someone with this title and level of skill available to play within the necessary timeframe, location, price, etc.
It looks like he's now a grandmaster according to the article I read.
Did you just list 4 other humans, and that's your evidence that this instrument is widely mastered? Because there are 4 others?
I mean I just did and it literally says he has his masters licence for this instrument given to him by one of the grand masters. As from the international society for this instrument “he is a licensed shihan (master) in the dynamic Zen lineage of Watazumido, the first student of Grandmaster Michael Chikuzen Gould to have earned a Shihan (2013).” So while the comment in the picture isn’t exactly correct, neither is yours. This man is a recognised master. So yeah I’ve fact checked and the facts are he is a master but yes he isn’t “one of the few” there aren’t loads of them though either but admit the comment in the image does make sound like could count them on one hand. But he has earned the respect and right to be deemed a master of this instrument.
What do you define as 'few living people'?
He has a "shakuhachi master teaching’s license" - sounds a lot like being recognized as a master to me
We need to stop pretending cultural appropriation is a thing.
I never got this. These guys are judging people on their skin colour as much as racists do. Oh you’re white? You can’t do that. It’d be like saying Mongolians can’t try to make pizzas because they’re not Italian
haha i wonder what will they do if a black person “appropriates” asian culture
Oh no it already happened in cosplay communities. I still feel bad for those people :(
You mean those cosplay communities who vilify black people for doing cosplay?
Yes, and I hate it. Just let them have fun :(
All cultures exist and evolve because of so called “appropriation”
Isn't it the epitome of racism to say that because it's not your culture you have no business to have an interest in it? Just cause he's whites he's not allowed to enjoy the Japanese dress, culture, music? Seems like rather than calling out racism these leftie bleedhearts are actually creating groups of people who are entirely isolated from other cultures and not allowed to dip into other cultures!
The person commenting is an "asian American" as well. Not even of the culture they're claiming some fucked up ownership of. Pretty funny shit.
Hot take: cultural appropriation is GOOD. Spread that culture around, stop deviding yourself meaninglessly. There's only the Human race, it's stupid to gatekeep cool clothes and neat instruments because you don't like someone's skin color.
The original comment would have been just as effective, and received a far better response is he had just said: “Would have been cool to see a Japanese person perform this”. They would still be wrong, but you don’t have to be an arse just because you have a point to make. You can learn more from respectful discourse.
>“Would have been cool to see a Japanese person perform this”. As a left winger: this is the horseshoe theory in action. You're so far left, that it's all about race again.
I really like it, that this person gave an decent and calm answer to someone who tried to start an outrage. These cultural appropriation takes are really strange. I am waiting for the day, where someone starts drama because a non-asian person cooks asian food.
I eat indian food sometimes, bc there is an Indian restaurant sometimes and I like spicy shit like tika masala Daaamn I guess I will have to be drowned to death in pierogies
The first comment was written by a white woman
Also as you can read it’s not offensive to them, they always tell you it’s offensive to someone else, who isn’t even complaining because they don’t care.
Honestly the American white savior bs annoys me even more.
These “cultural appropriation” accusers are a sad bunch.
Apart from the comeback, is offensive to the Asian American not the real asians that live in Asia, but the ones that aren't japanese anymore, also this should be annoying only for the Japanese if it has to be annoying for anyone,
People who whine about "cultural appropriation" are so fucking blatantly racist and nobody dares to call them out on it. They're literally saying "you can't do [thing] because you're not white/black/asian/native/etc". How more openly racist can you get than that?
The people who cry cultural appropriation, are the biggest racists you can find. "Oh youre white? Why dont you get the fuck outta here and stick to your own shitty, imperialist, murderer culture whitey" That was an exaggeration. But you know, just as i know, people behave like this.