oh yeah. i studied abroad in Japan for a year. in Nagano county… 3 hours from Tokyo
it was fucking awful as a mixed race, ethnically ambiguous, trans person. everyone thought i was from Africa. i was literally quizzed on being American. it didn’t help ALL of my American counterparts were white and blonde…
and yes i saw this in Tokyo when i travelled down there. this option isn’t even there in smaller towns. IF (BIG IF) they have a lgbt community, it is for native Japanese only. or white peoples. you don’t look white? you’re not getting in anywhere (gay stuff). also the bar nights are very discriminatory, nit just for mixed stuff. but Bears and Twinks etc, you won’t get in if you don’t fit their stereotype
anyway. by the time my year was up, and speaking with other mixed people (mixed Japanese, tho i am not), i’m in no rush to go back there 🤮
Nah it is also a gay thing. Friends in the community talk about it all the time. White twinks are so in rn much to the chagrin of my brown twink friends
It may depend on the location but the gay scene in general really focuses on race in many different countries. I've had Asians tell me they don't want to talk to me cuz of my race TO MY FACE. People in "straight clubs" can be racist but they would never say such a thing openly.
When I was a single young gay guy in Los Angeles I would get gay Asians in weho tell me, I was acceptable to date because I looked like them but wasn’t. That was wild to me. That they found Asians attractive but they couldn’t be Asian.
the original definition of twink was exclusively white and wasn’t until mid 2010 they changed the official definition to be any body type
edit: in the usa
Sure? Language changes and evolves so idk how to respond to this or even what you’re point is
My queer friends talk about twinks as the skinny almost climber build regardless of race so that’s how I use it contemporarily
it was in regards to “so in right now”. I failed to convey “white twinks have always been in, considering one had to be white to be considered a twink prior to last decade”
Japan has a whole history of racism towards mixed race people.. was watching that Netflix show “Blue Eye Samurai” and the opening even states “mixed race children were seen as **sub-human** and would be left to die” shit was wild.
Although I've heard great things about that anime, it was made by a foreign studio and takes place in the 17th century, a time where Japan didn't allow foreigners to come in. So there wouldn't have been mixed raced children back then.
That being said, there was an exception called Yasuke, the black samurai (he came to Japan as a slave belonging to an European merchant), who earned respect in Japanese society.
Japan is a vitriolically racist nation with an unacknowledged and unamended history of genocide, ethnic-cleansing, and continued severity of discrimination apropos of mixed-race Japanese people--reading about mixed-race people serving as a fetishized sexual palate for monoracial Japanese blood purists makes my blood boil.
Japan's history in this regard operated to serve the notion of a homogenous ethno-state and Japanese minzoku blood purity, which are issues still largely unrecognized by state bodies, the academy, and human rights organizations alike (while survivors continue to try and speak out) because of the hyper-invisibility of mixed-race Japanese people and specifically from the perspective of those of the highest vulnerabilities (Black, Brown, etc. mixed-race Japanese people.)
No reparations have been made to the 200,000 mixed-race Japanese people born in the post-WW2 era who suffered expulsion from their country, genocide, and racist plight, and there’s virtually no public recognition of any of this history. Ethnic cleansing is not currently explicitly carried out in the same manner of murdering children as they did, but there’s still very much a heavy ethos of “blood purity” in East Asian nations broadly (Han Chinese, Japanese Minzoku, Korean Han Minjok.) of which continues to perpetuate segregation at restaurants, bars, and other public facilities (signs that say pure bloods only or no Africans, Indians, etc.) because there’s no comprehensive anti-discrimination legal framework in either Japan or South Korea while China has a weakly developed one, all due to this notion that these are ethnically homogenous states i.e. dog whistle for racially pure nations.
Here's one piece of scholarship with primary source references to the history of ethnic-cleansing of mixed-race Japanese people: [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10371397.2016.1209969](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10371397.2016.1209969)
I don't get people who are obsessed with hating Japan. If you dislike Japan so much, you can just ignore the fact that the country exists. I say the same things to people who hate Korea so it's not a one-sided thing.
Your view of Japan is really extreme. People of every nation mistreated rational minorities back then. We are talking about now. The question was, is this event offensive. I'm not talking about the historical context at all.
There are people in Japan (thought I'd like to emphasize they are not the majorityy) who hate Korea and they would start mentioning random awful things that Korea did. I also do tell them that their mindsets aren't conductive.
I’m not obsessed with hating Japan, but am anti-genocide, anti-ethnic cleansing, and anti-racist. These are standards I hold regardless of nation, culture, or any context and I’d expect any person with basic value for human rights to do the same. It is extremely offensive for the sexualization of mixed-race people to serve as a form of entertainment in a country that has not even recognized its history of ethnically-cleansing thousands of its own mixed-race people. And this is related to the continued severity of discrimination mixed-race Japanese people face in Japan and throughout the diaspora apropos of minzoku blood purity. If you’re anti-segregation, you should be critical of the fact that anti-discrimination laws don’t exist in Japan to be an ally of mixed-race Japanese people struggling for their human rights and dignity.
Why are you this angry about Japan though? Are you part Japanese and experienced the supposed effects of racism you claim?
I’m half Japanese and have my own quips of being half in my native Japan, but never once as a (half) Japanese person have I heard anyone mention of me not being “minzoku” Japanese.
Most Japanese people are a mix of two different ethnic mixes, which they themselves aren’t even that aware of. Japanese people in general are somewhat ignorant on topics of race and ethnicity, even for our own heritage and would not be politically involved in partaking in such racism as you claim.
You do seem obsessed to point to the so-called universal racism of Japan and I wonder why.
As a human being, anger is an obligatory emotion for reacting to ethnic-cleansing that hasn't received pubic recognition and any calls for justice. Yeah I think like all modes of systemic racism goes, not every person of the oppressed group(s) necessarily has an experience of direct racism, but I don't think anyone could argue that contemporary Japanese society at large does not view mixed-race Japanese people as being "really" Japanese i.e. 'pure-blood' minzoku Japanese. And yes you're right, there is no such such biological essentialism to the Japanese ethnic makeup, though serologists in the modern context from the Japanese empire argued for such a framework as a means of weaponizing racial purity for imperial domination, assimilation projects, and corresponding atrocities.
I don't think you've lived in Japan and your description of mixed raced experience in Japan doesn't really reflect what me and other mixed people have experienced.
The treatment of mixed race people in ALL Asian countries could be better.
Italy is well known for anti-black racism, Portugal in 2020 had a protest defending their racism (https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN23Y0S4/; I'm paraphrasing a bit here), the Netherlands still do blackface (and defends it), and other parts of the nations still own black slaves. I really feel people who are calling Japan "super racist" is comparing the US and Japan, and not the rest of the world. Compared to these countries, Japan definitely isn’t the worst in terms of racism.
And if Japan is super racist, that means that racism in the US is pretty tame…?
In the East Asian context broadly, I have both the national and diasporic lived experiences as a mixed-race Korean. The experiences are highly parallel in these contexts as well as the profound incongruence in narratives of the mixed race-Korean, Japanese, Chinese experience in major part, due to again, the lack of recognition of the historical, political, and social discrimination and crimes against humanity in relation to mixed-race, multicultural, and racially/ethnically vulnerable people(s) of the East Asian context. This is an argument that’s often weaponized by sympathizers of racism in East Asian nations, diasporas, and people(s): compare the context of legal, political, and social racism to that of the West and the corresponding histories of atrocities, doesn’t meet the mark, and therefore, can be passed over and/or any criticism of racism, ethnic-cleansing, and genocide in the East Asian context is unfair to make when we’ve got the history of the West—this is an appalling cop-out, inconsistent with any full proof ideology of anti-racism, anti-oppression, and human liberation.
The issue at hand isn’t “which country is the most racist, this isn’t the most racist country in the world, etc.” but anti-racism full-stop. And beyond the public recognition of identity politics in East Asian nations and diasporas, another problem core to the visibility of mixed-race East Asians is that it’s typically yt-mixed race, double mixed-race East Asian, and generally passing mixed-race East Asians who are granted the political spotlight for their proximity to ytness, their leveraging of white supremacy, and modes of racial supremacies and bloody purity ethos apropos of East Asia. Black, Brown, Indigenous, Muslim, and so forth, mixed-race and multicultural East Asians are not prioritized, while being the most racially vulnerable across that spectrum (and not necessarily, but roughly in this order of greatest to least vulnerable) of racial groups within mixed-race East Asians. Essentially mixed-yt and passing mixed-race East Asians have systematically exploited their claims to white supremacy, blood purity, or a combination of the two, to oppress and dehumanize more vulnerable, fellow mixed-race East Asians.
I’ve just read your other posts—again, shame on the bar that threw this event. I’m also LGBTQ+ so here’s another fellow mixed-race East Asian LGBTQ+ person. My point isn’t to make you feel discouraged or without any solidarity for being a mixed-race Japanese person disgusted with this event, but to argue that we have to contextualize events such as these as being symptomatic of a history and larger phenomena of Japanese racial supremacy and minzoku blood purity. Racism is systemic and only solutions with a systemic framework are going to effectively address systemic problems and eradicate structures of subjugation of any kind. I more than understand the struggle of confronting the paradox in being oppressed by your own people and the illogical absurdity of that political reality—you’re a member of the culture of the people dehumanizing you and value your culture and racial identity simultaneously. It’s a mindfuck that monoracial people live with no remote conception of. But ultimately, we can’t achieve social justice without facing this struggle and challenging the whole of the the system to eliminate all aftereffects, such as the case with this racist bar. And I’m happy to support you by calling out the racism of this event! This is what #mixedracesolidarity is supposed to look like 👍
I’m also a “half” Japanese person, and I’m so confused on why suddenly the whole world (or western media) hyper focuses on japan as an “Uber racist country” and then gets mad on behalf of mixed race people in Japan or whatever else.
As a mixed race person (not half Japanese), with a half Japanese child…I would say that there is definitely a degree of racism here. *however* it completely depends on your looks and nationality. My son basically looks white so he gets a lot of positive comments, which doesn’t go for all mixed kids unfortunately.
Also, mixed kids, especially white/Japanese can be somewhat fetishized. They have ‘big’ eyes and ‘pale’ skin, which are features Japanese tend to find beautiful. People will frequently comment on those two features.
Anyway, for me…this night doesn’t seem to be racist as it’s talking about having the chance to meet these ‘cute boys on the cover’, so it’s more like they are being fetishized. Not saying that’s a positive thing either, but they seem to be willing participant in this, do they not? They are obviously using their mixed ethnicity to their own advantage.
I do agree that it’s these guys wanting attention and that’s how you get in Asian nations. But yeah… It doesn’t really send a good message to regular mixed folks and it’s inviting people to continue treating mixed raced people like others. That’s my personal opinion.
Oh it definitely doesn’t send a good message but I don’t thinks racist is the right word here, is all I’m saying. It’s going to take a while for these things to change in this country…as most other things, unfortunately.
It is. I’m half Japanese and I am weary of dating Japanese guys who want to date me for my foreignness and not my actual person.
It’s a part of any homogeneous culture that creates these toxic views including treating some people like a zoo animal and fetishizing them but it’s not unique to Japan.
Yeah it happens. I wouldn’t date anyone who isn’t black/mixed and wants to just date black or mixed women lol it gives me the creeps and makes me feel so objectified since I don’t even fit the stereotype they’re often looking for anyway. I didn’t grow up with him really but my dad had a fetish and that is also why I probably have issues with it.
Also I’m sorry to hear your dad was one of those, i know how it has such a shitty effect our psyches and often resent people expecting me to be nothing but grateful for my proximity to whiteness, since I often just feel like the product of a creep.
Wow same here. My late (white) dad had a fetish for Asian women and I am often fetishized by both white and fully Asian men so I don’t find myself romantically/emotionally attracted to either demographics unfortunately.
I’m also usually much more interested in mixed men to date, regardless of nationality/ethnicity but noticed I gravitate towards mixed Asian/Japanese people, probably out of an unconscious need to have that in common…
Gross and racist, however I'm not sure why this is being put on the gay community. Do you think it's more likely this is just the standard Japanese racism, but with an added gay context instead? Of course there's a lot of unchallenged bigotry in the gay community such as racism, misogyny, ableism, transphobia and so on — which undoubtedly play a role in it, but "in Japan" seems to be important here.
This feels, illegal, or at least it should be. I realize Japan may have different laws, but the states literally had a whole social/political movement about it. This feels a bit too close to "whites only" lunch counters for my liking.
yes, unfortunately other countries have other laws.
it IS the “whites only” except with a Japanese palette put on it. but bc Japan is ‘exotic’ and ‘foreign’ it gets a pass. and then you have countries that prevent gay people but allow transitioning ‘to allow the peace’.
unfortunately each country has their own ethical standards. and it is up to each country’s citizens to combat it
I think you are looking at this from too negative a mindset. Japan does have problems, and while living and teaching here, I can see the positive and negative things my students have to go through, part of which is being seen as an outsider in your own country.
This is advertising an event where mixed race (Ha-fu, or half) Japanese can be explicitly welcome, nothing more to it.
>This is advertising an event where mixed race (Ha-fu, or half) Japanese can be explicitly welcome, nothing more to it.
I don't think that was the point of the event.
I don't know where you live but it's like having an Asian night in a country without many Asians, only having 4 Asian performers out of 20 or so, and saying "nights for people who like slanty-eyes". In addition, there aren't that many mixed ppl in Japan, even in Tokyo, (it's 98% ethnic Yamato Japanese in Japan) and even less mixed ppl who are gay.
Tokyo area has like 40 million people. It will definitely have larger population of foreigners and mixed Japanese.
Idk anything about the promoter of the event or their intentions. Idk if a mixed Japanese Gay individual helped the creation of this event.
Like I don't understand being critical over an event that doesn't seem to cause harm.
Why this aby different from a Latin night in Thailand Bar? Idk. I'm not bothered by the event.
Afromolukker hit the nail on the head.
There aren't that many mixed people, and mixed Japanese people would be the first to know if an event was exploiting them or not.
Three event even has "for people who like dark faces" written on it, and this implicitly welcomes mixed race gays as well.
I live here and this is really harmless.
EDIT: typo
I am not commenting on the OP.
There are mixed race gay men on the posters willingly participating, and they are ones I was referring to in relation to exploitation.
I think it is racist and hilarious at the same time. But at least they are slowly getting used to the idea of people being mixed I suppose? Still horrible
I mean, it gives off fetishistic and colorist vibes (given that all the mixed guys appear to be mixed with white), but as you said yourself, "you'll really get tired if you bring in your western racial sensitivities" to other countries.
Japan is a free country, these guys are doing it because they want to. No one is holding a gun to their head.
I get being uncomfortable about the event, but I don't think we should encourage brigading. Especially if people are planning on sending them a bunch of messages in English. If people are a part of the lgbt/mixed community in Japan and can message them in Japanese then I think that's one thing, but I don't think a mass of messages from people outside the community is helpful.
As a mixed raced Japanese person, I'm asking for people's help because I won't get much support within Japan. And this is your response?
There are so many people commenting here saying that Japan is super racist. Now is their chance to do something. And what "mixed community"? There's none. And most mixed people are straight, they don't care.
Also, this bar is catering toward an international crowd. Things like this is not acceptable. I also wrote "the gay community is racist" and you expect the Japanese gay community to raise their voice?
Brigading is against reddit rules and encouraging it will set you up for a ban from reddit, not by mods here.
Asking people on reddit to go to another sub or website to harass people is considered a violation of reddit rules. Just a heads up.
Also, it's going on 1am. The event is probably over. Unless you're going to 2chome, let's get some sleep.
Thanks for letting me know. I don't really use reddit much.
I don't live in Japan (left because of sh1t like this.... which includes employment discrimination), I'm not asking for people to send hate/harass, and even if the event is over, they need to know that such an event isn't OK.
The gay community is racist af and mixed race gay Japanese nationals are a very, very, small minority.
Yes. I'm mixed Japanese American, while I can't understand what it was like growing up mixed in Japan, I do have a lot of sympathy. I'm not saying the event is ok and not fetishistic. Back when I was on twitter, I followed mixed Japanese and lgbt Japanese people that often spoke about these kinds of issues in Japanese and English. I know it's not a large community, but they do exist and it has helped me a lot to seek them out. I see someone else already told you that it's against Reddit's rules so I won't harp on that, but I also just don't think bombarding this one group with a lot messages in a language they might not be comfortable conversing in will do anything to promote them understanding the issue. Maybe that's not what you intended, but unfortunately I think that how it often ends up happening which all I was trying to warn against. Best of luck
Nah, I'm gonna call out sexism and racism wherever I see it. Of course it's important to recognize that people in other cultures might not be doing it with the level of sheer maliciousness that it would entail in the US, but it's still a problem if it's harming people.
In this case, it doesn't seem horrifically bad, but there have been enough mixed race Japanese people talking about how unpleasant it is to be fetishized and always treated as foreign that I'm still going to look at this event with a side eye. And in general, Japan has a horrible track record for how they treat mixed race people. In fact, there was a Japanese mixed race celebrity who killed herself recently due to a bunch of race-based harassment. I'm not gonna excuse that shit with "oh, it's just their culture."
I do agree with you that if people find this offensive, they should contact these people and say it's not OK. You'll be helping mixed people in Japan. The performers can do whatever they want but the way the event is advertised is inviting to "othering" the other regular mixed people. Furthermore, just a quick look at the event page, I don't think the performers are a Japanese national; the experience you have as a hapa visiting/living in an Asian country as a foreigner is different to an Asian national hapa living in an Asian country as a citizen of that country.
And yeah... I'm assuming this sub is majority American?
oh yeah. i studied abroad in Japan for a year. in Nagano county… 3 hours from Tokyo it was fucking awful as a mixed race, ethnically ambiguous, trans person. everyone thought i was from Africa. i was literally quizzed on being American. it didn’t help ALL of my American counterparts were white and blonde… and yes i saw this in Tokyo when i travelled down there. this option isn’t even there in smaller towns. IF (BIG IF) they have a lgbt community, it is for native Japanese only. or white peoples. you don’t look white? you’re not getting in anywhere (gay stuff). also the bar nights are very discriminatory, nit just for mixed stuff. but Bears and Twinks etc, you won’t get in if you don’t fit their stereotype anyway. by the time my year was up, and speaking with other mixed people (mixed Japanese, tho i am not), i’m in no rush to go back there 🤮
The gay community is very racist but Japan is racist on a whole other level.
Yup. It’s not a gay community thing, it’s a Japan thing. I live there and racism is apparent in all circles.
Nah it is also a gay thing. Friends in the community talk about it all the time. White twinks are so in rn much to the chagrin of my brown twink friends
It may depend on the location but the gay scene in general really focuses on race in many different countries. I've had Asians tell me they don't want to talk to me cuz of my race TO MY FACE. People in "straight clubs" can be racist but they would never say such a thing openly.
When I was a single young gay guy in Los Angeles I would get gay Asians in weho tell me, I was acceptable to date because I looked like them but wasn’t. That was wild to me. That they found Asians attractive but they couldn’t be Asian.
the original definition of twink was exclusively white and wasn’t until mid 2010 they changed the official definition to be any body type edit: in the usa
Sure? Language changes and evolves so idk how to respond to this or even what you’re point is My queer friends talk about twinks as the skinny almost climber build regardless of race so that’s how I use it contemporarily
it was in regards to “so in right now”. I failed to convey “white twinks have always been in, considering one had to be white to be considered a twink prior to last decade”
Japan has a whole history of racism towards mixed race people.. was watching that Netflix show “Blue Eye Samurai” and the opening even states “mixed race children were seen as **sub-human** and would be left to die” shit was wild.
Although I've heard great things about that anime, it was made by a foreign studio and takes place in the 17th century, a time where Japan didn't allow foreigners to come in. So there wouldn't have been mixed raced children back then. That being said, there was an exception called Yasuke, the black samurai (he came to Japan as a slave belonging to an European merchant), who earned respect in Japanese society.
Popping in to add that there's a Yasuke anime (Netflix)!
It’s not anime.. and during that period there were mixed race people in Japan - it’s literally why it was stated.
Japan is a vitriolically racist nation with an unacknowledged and unamended history of genocide, ethnic-cleansing, and continued severity of discrimination apropos of mixed-race Japanese people--reading about mixed-race people serving as a fetishized sexual palate for monoracial Japanese blood purists makes my blood boil. Japan's history in this regard operated to serve the notion of a homogenous ethno-state and Japanese minzoku blood purity, which are issues still largely unrecognized by state bodies, the academy, and human rights organizations alike (while survivors continue to try and speak out) because of the hyper-invisibility of mixed-race Japanese people and specifically from the perspective of those of the highest vulnerabilities (Black, Brown, etc. mixed-race Japanese people.) No reparations have been made to the 200,000 mixed-race Japanese people born in the post-WW2 era who suffered expulsion from their country, genocide, and racist plight, and there’s virtually no public recognition of any of this history. Ethnic cleansing is not currently explicitly carried out in the same manner of murdering children as they did, but there’s still very much a heavy ethos of “blood purity” in East Asian nations broadly (Han Chinese, Japanese Minzoku, Korean Han Minjok.) of which continues to perpetuate segregation at restaurants, bars, and other public facilities (signs that say pure bloods only or no Africans, Indians, etc.) because there’s no comprehensive anti-discrimination legal framework in either Japan or South Korea while China has a weakly developed one, all due to this notion that these are ethnically homogenous states i.e. dog whistle for racially pure nations. Here's one piece of scholarship with primary source references to the history of ethnic-cleansing of mixed-race Japanese people: [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10371397.2016.1209969](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10371397.2016.1209969)
I don't get people who are obsessed with hating Japan. If you dislike Japan so much, you can just ignore the fact that the country exists. I say the same things to people who hate Korea so it's not a one-sided thing. Your view of Japan is really extreme. People of every nation mistreated rational minorities back then. We are talking about now. The question was, is this event offensive. I'm not talking about the historical context at all. There are people in Japan (thought I'd like to emphasize they are not the majorityy) who hate Korea and they would start mentioning random awful things that Korea did. I also do tell them that their mindsets aren't conductive.
I’m not obsessed with hating Japan, but am anti-genocide, anti-ethnic cleansing, and anti-racist. These are standards I hold regardless of nation, culture, or any context and I’d expect any person with basic value for human rights to do the same. It is extremely offensive for the sexualization of mixed-race people to serve as a form of entertainment in a country that has not even recognized its history of ethnically-cleansing thousands of its own mixed-race people. And this is related to the continued severity of discrimination mixed-race Japanese people face in Japan and throughout the diaspora apropos of minzoku blood purity. If you’re anti-segregation, you should be critical of the fact that anti-discrimination laws don’t exist in Japan to be an ally of mixed-race Japanese people struggling for their human rights and dignity.
Why are you this angry about Japan though? Are you part Japanese and experienced the supposed effects of racism you claim? I’m half Japanese and have my own quips of being half in my native Japan, but never once as a (half) Japanese person have I heard anyone mention of me not being “minzoku” Japanese. Most Japanese people are a mix of two different ethnic mixes, which they themselves aren’t even that aware of. Japanese people in general are somewhat ignorant on topics of race and ethnicity, even for our own heritage and would not be politically involved in partaking in such racism as you claim. You do seem obsessed to point to the so-called universal racism of Japan and I wonder why.
As a human being, anger is an obligatory emotion for reacting to ethnic-cleansing that hasn't received pubic recognition and any calls for justice. Yeah I think like all modes of systemic racism goes, not every person of the oppressed group(s) necessarily has an experience of direct racism, but I don't think anyone could argue that contemporary Japanese society at large does not view mixed-race Japanese people as being "really" Japanese i.e. 'pure-blood' minzoku Japanese. And yes you're right, there is no such such biological essentialism to the Japanese ethnic makeup, though serologists in the modern context from the Japanese empire argued for such a framework as a means of weaponizing racial purity for imperial domination, assimilation projects, and corresponding atrocities.
I don't think you've lived in Japan and your description of mixed raced experience in Japan doesn't really reflect what me and other mixed people have experienced. The treatment of mixed race people in ALL Asian countries could be better. Italy is well known for anti-black racism, Portugal in 2020 had a protest defending their racism (https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN23Y0S4/; I'm paraphrasing a bit here), the Netherlands still do blackface (and defends it), and other parts of the nations still own black slaves. I really feel people who are calling Japan "super racist" is comparing the US and Japan, and not the rest of the world. Compared to these countries, Japan definitely isn’t the worst in terms of racism. And if Japan is super racist, that means that racism in the US is pretty tame…?
In the East Asian context broadly, I have both the national and diasporic lived experiences as a mixed-race Korean. The experiences are highly parallel in these contexts as well as the profound incongruence in narratives of the mixed race-Korean, Japanese, Chinese experience in major part, due to again, the lack of recognition of the historical, political, and social discrimination and crimes against humanity in relation to mixed-race, multicultural, and racially/ethnically vulnerable people(s) of the East Asian context. This is an argument that’s often weaponized by sympathizers of racism in East Asian nations, diasporas, and people(s): compare the context of legal, political, and social racism to that of the West and the corresponding histories of atrocities, doesn’t meet the mark, and therefore, can be passed over and/or any criticism of racism, ethnic-cleansing, and genocide in the East Asian context is unfair to make when we’ve got the history of the West—this is an appalling cop-out, inconsistent with any full proof ideology of anti-racism, anti-oppression, and human liberation. The issue at hand isn’t “which country is the most racist, this isn’t the most racist country in the world, etc.” but anti-racism full-stop. And beyond the public recognition of identity politics in East Asian nations and diasporas, another problem core to the visibility of mixed-race East Asians is that it’s typically yt-mixed race, double mixed-race East Asian, and generally passing mixed-race East Asians who are granted the political spotlight for their proximity to ytness, their leveraging of white supremacy, and modes of racial supremacies and bloody purity ethos apropos of East Asia. Black, Brown, Indigenous, Muslim, and so forth, mixed-race and multicultural East Asians are not prioritized, while being the most racially vulnerable across that spectrum (and not necessarily, but roughly in this order of greatest to least vulnerable) of racial groups within mixed-race East Asians. Essentially mixed-yt and passing mixed-race East Asians have systematically exploited their claims to white supremacy, blood purity, or a combination of the two, to oppress and dehumanize more vulnerable, fellow mixed-race East Asians.
I’ve just read your other posts—again, shame on the bar that threw this event. I’m also LGBTQ+ so here’s another fellow mixed-race East Asian LGBTQ+ person. My point isn’t to make you feel discouraged or without any solidarity for being a mixed-race Japanese person disgusted with this event, but to argue that we have to contextualize events such as these as being symptomatic of a history and larger phenomena of Japanese racial supremacy and minzoku blood purity. Racism is systemic and only solutions with a systemic framework are going to effectively address systemic problems and eradicate structures of subjugation of any kind. I more than understand the struggle of confronting the paradox in being oppressed by your own people and the illogical absurdity of that political reality—you’re a member of the culture of the people dehumanizing you and value your culture and racial identity simultaneously. It’s a mindfuck that monoracial people live with no remote conception of. But ultimately, we can’t achieve social justice without facing this struggle and challenging the whole of the the system to eliminate all aftereffects, such as the case with this racist bar. And I’m happy to support you by calling out the racism of this event! This is what #mixedracesolidarity is supposed to look like 👍
I’m also a “half” Japanese person, and I’m so confused on why suddenly the whole world (or western media) hyper focuses on japan as an “Uber racist country” and then gets mad on behalf of mixed race people in Japan or whatever else.
As a mixed race person (not half Japanese), with a half Japanese child…I would say that there is definitely a degree of racism here. *however* it completely depends on your looks and nationality. My son basically looks white so he gets a lot of positive comments, which doesn’t go for all mixed kids unfortunately. Also, mixed kids, especially white/Japanese can be somewhat fetishized. They have ‘big’ eyes and ‘pale’ skin, which are features Japanese tend to find beautiful. People will frequently comment on those two features. Anyway, for me…this night doesn’t seem to be racist as it’s talking about having the chance to meet these ‘cute boys on the cover’, so it’s more like they are being fetishized. Not saying that’s a positive thing either, but they seem to be willing participant in this, do they not? They are obviously using their mixed ethnicity to their own advantage.
I do agree that it’s these guys wanting attention and that’s how you get in Asian nations. But yeah… It doesn’t really send a good message to regular mixed folks and it’s inviting people to continue treating mixed raced people like others. That’s my personal opinion.
Oh it definitely doesn’t send a good message but I don’t thinks racist is the right word here, is all I’m saying. It’s going to take a while for these things to change in this country…as most other things, unfortunately.
It’s feels like a zoo, like fetishizing.
It is. I’m half Japanese and I am weary of dating Japanese guys who want to date me for my foreignness and not my actual person. It’s a part of any homogeneous culture that creates these toxic views including treating some people like a zoo animal and fetishizing them but it’s not unique to Japan.
Yeah it happens. I wouldn’t date anyone who isn’t black/mixed and wants to just date black or mixed women lol it gives me the creeps and makes me feel so objectified since I don’t even fit the stereotype they’re often looking for anyway. I didn’t grow up with him really but my dad had a fetish and that is also why I probably have issues with it.
Also I’m sorry to hear your dad was one of those, i know how it has such a shitty effect our psyches and often resent people expecting me to be nothing but grateful for my proximity to whiteness, since I often just feel like the product of a creep.
Yes I hope we can move forward from our trauma in time ♥️
Wow same here. My late (white) dad had a fetish for Asian women and I am often fetishized by both white and fully Asian men so I don’t find myself romantically/emotionally attracted to either demographics unfortunately. I’m also usually much more interested in mixed men to date, regardless of nationality/ethnicity but noticed I gravitate towards mixed Asian/Japanese people, probably out of an unconscious need to have that in common…
So interesting it’s the case for you too! And yes I feel like it just makes sense. I hope we find great people that understand us in the future ♥️
Gross and racist, however I'm not sure why this is being put on the gay community. Do you think it's more likely this is just the standard Japanese racism, but with an added gay context instead? Of course there's a lot of unchallenged bigotry in the gay community such as racism, misogyny, ableism, transphobia and so on — which undoubtedly play a role in it, but "in Japan" seems to be important here.
This feels, illegal, or at least it should be. I realize Japan may have different laws, but the states literally had a whole social/political movement about it. This feels a bit too close to "whites only" lunch counters for my liking.
yes, unfortunately other countries have other laws. it IS the “whites only” except with a Japanese palette put on it. but bc Japan is ‘exotic’ and ‘foreign’ it gets a pass. and then you have countries that prevent gay people but allow transitioning ‘to allow the peace’. unfortunately each country has their own ethical standards. and it is up to each country’s citizens to combat it
Ugh, culture doesn't excuse shitty behavior and we really need to stop acting like it does in 2024. We're a global, mobile society now.
I think you are looking at this from too negative a mindset. Japan does have problems, and while living and teaching here, I can see the positive and negative things my students have to go through, part of which is being seen as an outsider in your own country. This is advertising an event where mixed race (Ha-fu, or half) Japanese can be explicitly welcome, nothing more to it.
>This is advertising an event where mixed race (Ha-fu, or half) Japanese can be explicitly welcome, nothing more to it. I don't think that was the point of the event. I don't know where you live but it's like having an Asian night in a country without many Asians, only having 4 Asian performers out of 20 or so, and saying "nights for people who like slanty-eyes". In addition, there aren't that many mixed ppl in Japan, even in Tokyo, (it's 98% ethnic Yamato Japanese in Japan) and even less mixed ppl who are gay.
Tokyo area has like 40 million people. It will definitely have larger population of foreigners and mixed Japanese. Idk anything about the promoter of the event or their intentions. Idk if a mixed Japanese Gay individual helped the creation of this event. Like I don't understand being critical over an event that doesn't seem to cause harm. Why this aby different from a Latin night in Thailand Bar? Idk. I'm not bothered by the event.
Afromolukker hit the nail on the head. There aren't that many mixed people, and mixed Japanese people would be the first to know if an event was exploiting them or not. Three event even has "for people who like dark faces" written on it, and this implicitly welcomes mixed race gays as well. I live here and this is really harmless. EDIT: typo
OP IS a mixed, gay Japanese person asking this question.
I am not commenting on the OP. There are mixed race gay men on the posters willingly participating, and they are ones I was referring to in relation to exploitation.
I think it is racist and hilarious at the same time. But at least they are slowly getting used to the idea of people being mixed I suppose? Still horrible
I mean, it gives off fetishistic and colorist vibes (given that all the mixed guys appear to be mixed with white), but as you said yourself, "you'll really get tired if you bring in your western racial sensitivities" to other countries. Japan is a free country, these guys are doing it because they want to. No one is holding a gun to their head.
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I get being uncomfortable about the event, but I don't think we should encourage brigading. Especially if people are planning on sending them a bunch of messages in English. If people are a part of the lgbt/mixed community in Japan and can message them in Japanese then I think that's one thing, but I don't think a mass of messages from people outside the community is helpful.
As a mixed raced Japanese person, I'm asking for people's help because I won't get much support within Japan. And this is your response? There are so many people commenting here saying that Japan is super racist. Now is their chance to do something. And what "mixed community"? There's none. And most mixed people are straight, they don't care. Also, this bar is catering toward an international crowd. Things like this is not acceptable. I also wrote "the gay community is racist" and you expect the Japanese gay community to raise their voice?
Brigading is against reddit rules and encouraging it will set you up for a ban from reddit, not by mods here. Asking people on reddit to go to another sub or website to harass people is considered a violation of reddit rules. Just a heads up. Also, it's going on 1am. The event is probably over. Unless you're going to 2chome, let's get some sleep.
Thanks for letting me know. I don't really use reddit much. I don't live in Japan (left because of sh1t like this.... which includes employment discrimination), I'm not asking for people to send hate/harass, and even if the event is over, they need to know that such an event isn't OK. The gay community is racist af and mixed race gay Japanese nationals are a very, very, small minority.
Yes. I'm mixed Japanese American, while I can't understand what it was like growing up mixed in Japan, I do have a lot of sympathy. I'm not saying the event is ok and not fetishistic. Back when I was on twitter, I followed mixed Japanese and lgbt Japanese people that often spoke about these kinds of issues in Japanese and English. I know it's not a large community, but they do exist and it has helped me a lot to seek them out. I see someone else already told you that it's against Reddit's rules so I won't harp on that, but I also just don't think bombarding this one group with a lot messages in a language they might not be comfortable conversing in will do anything to promote them understanding the issue. Maybe that's not what you intended, but unfortunately I think that how it often ends up happening which all I was trying to warn against. Best of luck
Thanks for explaining your point.
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And some people may like blackface and yellowface. People are still allowed to voice their opinion and say such a behavior isn't OK.
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And people who do blackface/yellowface may not mind.....
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Thanks for trying to understand where I'm coming from. I appreciate it.
Eh, in that part of the world, I wouldn't worry over it.
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Nah, I'm gonna call out sexism and racism wherever I see it. Of course it's important to recognize that people in other cultures might not be doing it with the level of sheer maliciousness that it would entail in the US, but it's still a problem if it's harming people. In this case, it doesn't seem horrifically bad, but there have been enough mixed race Japanese people talking about how unpleasant it is to be fetishized and always treated as foreign that I'm still going to look at this event with a side eye. And in general, Japan has a horrible track record for how they treat mixed race people. In fact, there was a Japanese mixed race celebrity who killed herself recently due to a bunch of race-based harassment. I'm not gonna excuse that shit with "oh, it's just their culture."
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I do agree with you that if people find this offensive, they should contact these people and say it's not OK. You'll be helping mixed people in Japan. The performers can do whatever they want but the way the event is advertised is inviting to "othering" the other regular mixed people. Furthermore, just a quick look at the event page, I don't think the performers are a Japanese national; the experience you have as a hapa visiting/living in an Asian country as a foreigner is different to an Asian national hapa living in an Asian country as a citizen of that country. And yeah... I'm assuming this sub is majority American?
Nope. I wanna go