[Kristina]

Why do the cartoon characters in Japanese Anime have a very white appearance? Even characters who are supposed to be Japanese look white, which is strange because they even have the Japanese garb. They also draw the women with huge breasts and blonde hair, not characteristic of Japanese women. I have been told that the drawings are this way to create a variety of looks in the anime. Another person said the anime style originated from the Betty Boop cartoons in the United States. Neither 'excuse' convinces me, though, as you rarely see any brown-skinned characters to create 'variety.' It appears that the Japanese culture has an obsession with wanting to be white, which is evident in their media. Any comments on this?

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Name : Kristina, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 20, City : Washington, State : DC Country : United States, Occupation : Transcriber, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Carl]

Though not an expert on Japanese culture, I was fortunate enough to have a Japanese roommate in college. Through him I learned many things about Japan and the Japanese, one of which happens to be that white skin among females is highly prized. This is because high-status women did not do manual labor outside in the sun. Ainu-Japanese women are considered especially attractive because of their Caucasian features.

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Name : Carl, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 24, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Trader, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[DayTony25944]

There is also a large hip-hop culture in Japan, and if you go to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on any day of the week, there are more Japanese there than any other international tourist group. It's dismaying to see that you want to group any and all independently successful cultures in with white culture so that you can continue to use white racism to define the black world as necessarily poor, uneducated and oppressed. With so many more African Americans out there seeing their potential and working toward exploiting life to its fullest than ever before, it's a shame to see that there are still sisters like you who, if they saw an immigrant straight from Africa, reading a book, speaking in clear, concise English and not disrespecting his own people with the word n****r, would probably consider him to be 'trying to act white.' Go to a KKK meeting, they're big fans of calling their own 'race traitors' when they don't behave according to their standards of racial purity. The rest of us just want to live long and prosper.

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[AJ28972]

I don't have an answer for you, but I have noticed what you are talking about. To add to your question, I have always noticed how Asian culture seems to embrace Asian women dating and marrying white men. But if their daughter brought home, or even mentioned, a black man, they'd kill her. I find most very close-minded, prejudiced and racist toward any man who is not white. I have heard Asian men express negative feelings about this, too, yet all of them go after white women! It makes you think that they are very obsessed with Western culture, assimilation and becoming as white as they possibly can.

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[Jerry30747]

After World War II, the United States very much feared that the Japanese would declare 'solidarity' with blacks the world over, because Africa, once a 'land of kings,' apparently requires some outside Messiah to solve its problems and deliver it to a minimal level of international security and respect. So you can see how quashing this potentially deadly alliance was in our best interest as a race. We simply chose to win them over to our side by helping them rebuild their economy rather than dropping an extra dozen nuclear bombs on them. Meanwhile, we've also dumped billions of dollars into Africa, and it's like shoveling diamonds (excuse me) onto a patch of quicksand.

Director's note: Y? occasionally publishes postings that fall outside its normal guidelines to give users a taste of the extremely wide range of submissions it receives.

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[Yayoi]

I'm Japanese, and it's sad for me to read all those things. As far as cartoons, have you ever seen 'Draemon,' one of the most popular cartoons in Japan? Jyaian, a main supporting character, has a black face.

The fact is, here in Japan we have no concern about skin colors. If you come to Japan, you'll feel the sense of be de-colored. Nobody has prejudice concerning their colors. In Japan, people are valued not for their color but for their achievement in society, especially in the field of education.

Did you know that some Japanese try to be black because they think they would look more slim in black? They go to suntan studios even in winter and enjoy being black.

Living in one place and knowing only about it can confine our ways of thinking. We must know how the world really is. I must know how it is to live in the United States, where racial prejudice has a long history, but the situation is not the same everywhere in the world. You cannot apply U.S. ways of thinking to Japan. If you want to know about Japan; you must know how Japanese people think. This, of course, must be applied to me when I think of the United States.

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[Jallah]

What are you talking about, and whose number do you think you have? Your reply makes very little sense vis-a-vis the question posted. Perhaps you need to re-read the question and try again.

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[Gregory H.]

This is what you said in another post. It directly contradicts what you just said here: Yes, of course it's true Asians have racism toward blacks; my mother and grandmother say, ' If you come back home with n****rs, I would force you to go out of the house.' I cannot understand why people, even my mother, who have never been wronged by blacks, have strong racism against them. It's because people around us do, so we do.

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[Gregory H.]

Your unprovoked attack was both unnecessary and misguided. First, her question had nothing to do with blacks per se, but could only be tangentially related, and then only by someone seeking to provoke an argument. If you had read closely, you would come across with the idea that her question was more closely directed at wondering WHY the Japanese seem to be so infatuated with whites, i.e. why do they think whites are superior. Yet, knowing nothing about her, and failing to comprehend her easily discernible motive for the question, you felt a need to slander her. It is YOU who needs to check your blackness - we can and do have diverse interests, and that does not diminish one's blackness. Recognize.

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[Kyoko]

Japanese people have thought that 'fair/white skin' is beautiful for a long time. But we do not think about white people's skin when we talk about 'white' skin. More than 1,000 years ago, Japanese women put on make-up to make their skin 'white.' Even though we have yellow skin, we've been thinking that women's skin should be 'white.' It is because white skin looked noble - not like that of farmers, who got suntanned.

Japanese animation might have followed American cartoons or animations after World War II, so the characters, too, are still described like white people. But it does not mean that we all adore the looks of white people. Our generation does not really care about skin color. We think that a beautiful thing is beautiful, and a cool thing is cool. Japanese young people listen to Hip Hop, Rap, Rock'N'Roll, Reggae, Blues, Jazz, R&B, etc. - no matter what kind of culture/race/background makes the music. We like what we like. For example, young Japanese kids who love Hip Hop try to be like Afro-Americans, copying the hairstyle or fashion style of their favorite musicians.

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[Angela]

If you read the postings here at Y? Forum from the Asians who have commented, most of them admit that Asians do dislike dark-skinned people, and mostly blacks. You can write about Japan seeing no color if you want to, but it is obvious to the world how prejudiced Asians are to every other race except the white race. I have seen it here in the States and abroad. I am well-traveled, and I can tell you that the most narrow-minded and racist comments I have heard against the black race have come from Asians. One Asian in my old church actually shook my hand (meaning giving peace to another) and then wiped his hands on his pants. He didn't think I saw him, but I did. I don't know why Asians kiss white people's butts and try to be just like them, because they don't see you as equals, anyway (the racist whites, I mean). You need to wake up and deal with the prejudice in your own back yard before you tell other people to travel and see how nice and non-racist Japan is.

Here in the United States, Asian girls trip over themselves grinning and smiling at white men. Other than that, they walk around all bunched up together in packs with their noses up in the air, just like snobby white girls. It's ridiculous.

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[Justin26835]

Four things puzzle me about the question, 'Why do the Japanese seem to want to be white': 1) It's always seemed to me that the imitation in question is more of Americanism from Rock and Roll on up to Hip-Hop rather than whiteness, 2) Why wouldn't they want to imitate the dominant first-world culture of the past six or so centuries?, 3) Conversely, what would obligate them to favor blacks? Underdog appeal? 4) Why is it offensive or surprising that a white skinned culture has predominantly white skinned literary characters or whiteish asthetic values? How many African-Americans do you suppose a Tokyo native sees in their lifetime? Why should a mono-culture feel obligated to be multi-cultural? Also, you mentioned something about the explainations you've been given being 'excuses'. what do you suppose they need to be 'excused' from, presumably by you? what do the Japanese owe African-Americans? Solidarity? Genuinely curious.

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[CJ]

You might want to look up the definition of Humanist before declaring yourself one. Your anger is blinding you to the point it's preventing you from seeing what the actual question is. In your diatribe, are you responding to what you interpret as the questioner's internal racism, or is it your own? It would help to explain the intense rage that comes through, because I'm having a hard time coming up with another reason for such a strong response to the question as it was asked. There's a phrase: 'Never shoot in the dark, you might hit a friendly,' Maybe you should re-read the question, as well as your initial response.

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[Kristina]

You are obviously very confused on what I was asking. I was not insinuating that because Japanese are propserous and more academic that they are 'acting white,' for economic success and academia have nothing to do with that (although for some reason in the black world these elements are associated with 'being white.') What I was saying is that in their media they have their characters look white, EVEN if the characters are supposed to be Japanese. I mean, if Japanese people had blond hair, white skin, big breasts and round eyes of varying colors like Caucasians, there wouldn't be an issue. They don't naturally, so it looks as if they are 'sellouts' when almost all of their media portray these white images. In addition, although there are some Japanese who aren't racist (I have met some), you can see from their media that when they do have a 'black' character, it usually takes the same stereotypical view that white media over here has of them. And I do not want to be perceived by foreigners (of any race or culture) that just because I'm black I'm automatically associated with the hip-hop culture, because I am not.

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[Matt]

I'm not sure as to whether the characters in anime / manga are meant to look Caucasian at all, although I'm not Japanese myself, just something of an anime fan. I've seen Japanese scrolls in an art museum dating back 1,000 years or so that depicted characters with many of the features shown in anime, in particular the large round eyes. Other facial features shown in anime are more Asian than white, too. And as for blond hair, anime also often depicts characters with hair colors that aren't characteristic of any ethic group at all, like purple or green. So I'm not sure how many characters in anime are meant intentionally to resemble Caucasians.

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