whether we want it to be or not, #BlackHair is often Political, especially in its’ natural, unstraightened state. combine this with #Blackness itself...
cw: rape apologism …so i just had lunch with someone who is essentially a random woman who chased me down at a train station last week because she admired my locs and wanted me to start locs for her. had this woman not been a black woman, had she not been an older black woman, had she not been literally beaming from ear to ear just looking at my locs, so earnest about wanting to start locs herself and having nowhere to turn– had it not been for all those things AND had we not been in Japan, i wouldn’t have given this lady the time of day. especially since she made me miss my train. but she was and we are and so there i was, meeting this over zealous woman at a cafe for lunch because #AfroHairSolidarityInAsia✊? if only the conversation had steered clear of politics, things would have been fine. i…
anonymous asked: Hey! Since you’re living in Japan and are a Lgbt Person of colour, do you get discriminated or something like that? (Cuz You’re not white (asian) or because you’re lgbt+?) I want to move to Japan (or south korea) and I’m also a poc and Trans*, so I wanna know how it is to live there as a Lgbt+ Person of colour. (Sry for my english haha it’s not my first language~) hi. 🙂 ahhh, this is a complicated question with complicated answers, but the short of it is “yes” regarding discrimination / prejudice based on race and “yes and no” regarding discrimination / prejudice based on sexuality / gender. you might be interested in checking out my #black in japan tag and / or #LGBTQIA in Japan page for more information, but generally speaking… life for me in Japan may or may not be anything like what life for you…
blaqueer: so, you know that saying “laughter heals the soul”…? well, i certainly wouldn’t go that far, but it did make for a good, even if “childish”, way to pass the time on Snapchat at work today. at the very least, it’s better than getting annoyed or frustrated, as per usual. see: original post bitmoji and Snapchat make for Tumblr-worthy reactionary screenshots, apparently.
queernigga: since conversation about blackface in japan is springing up again and summa y’all want to act brand new as if this is isolated and never happens let’s talk about the original mascot of Calpis, used from the 1920s until the fucking 1980s. Lemme also link one of my old videos about an experience with blackface drag in 新宿二丁目。 literally walked past a vintage ad for Calpis with this character on it yesterday at an antiques store in Kamakura; that was my first encounter with Calpis’ history with this character. can’t say i was surprised, but definitely disappointed. to this day, not only blackface but also redface and yellowface (re: depictions of people of other asian ethnic groups) is still very much alive and well in Japan– especially in the 芸能界 / entertainment industry. and without fail, every time something like this happens– if it even makes it into the…
posted with the permission of a friend, the above gem is but one of many examples of antiblack racism, transphobia and binarism that my friend is subjected to regularly on Grindr in Osaka and Tokyo. sharing it here as i often hear of this kind of thing happening on Grindr in English speaking countries, but see little about it beyond that. antiblackness is not unique to America or other English speaking countries, it is universal. and least there be any false assumptions made based on the above example being in English, my friend receives similar messages from non-English speakers in Japanese and has also received such messages during their time living in South Korea. this is Old News that is apparently Breaking News to some, but rest assured it most certainly is not Fake News.
queernigga: !!! So my friend sent me this video on growing up and dealing with antiblackness in Japan and it’s SO. REAL. It’s only in Japanese (sorry non-Japanese speakers). I encourage you to watch and share. For students of Japanese language – the dialogue is super clear and you might be surprised at how much you understand! 人権啓発ビデオ 「わたしたちが伝えたい，大切なこと ～アニメで見る 全国中学生人権作文コンテスト入賞作品～」（1/4）【差別のない世界へ】（字幕あり） i really like this up until the “you should make yourself vulnerable and explain yourself and your hurt feelings to your bully” and the subsequent, mildly offensive optimism of said bully responding with “oh geez, i never thought about or noticed your feelings. i’m sorry! i won’t do it again” bit– but eh. i’m a jaded as all fuck black gaijin living in Japan who has zero experience actually going through the Japanese school system as a student. i would say that. that aside, i do like this video. it’s easily the best…
…soooo, i just had a 1.5 hour conversation with a random Nigirian guy at Starbucks and i need to let off some steam. so, as you’d predict, i met random Nigirian guy completely randomly when i got off a train one night after work and he came chasing after me to strike up a conversation. me being the overly nice person that i am who finds it hard to say “i’m tired, go away.” ended up engaged in a short conversation with him. he seemed like a nice enough guy and i couldn’t help but feel for his situation of being the sole non-Japanese person at his workplace and not having anyone to talk to because he can’t speak Japanese. when he asked to keep in touch after i finally got up the nerve to tell him i had to go i obliged, although i knew well enough by now not to…
aaahhh, more annoying Japanese TV. despite what i said (in Japanese) while letting off steam livetweeting on Twitter, i know it’s not fair of me to expect anyone, let alone this guy (Jun Soejima, an actor / “talent” btw), to react any certain way or educate the people around him on behalf of other black people in Japan. i really don’t actually expect that or anything else of him, despite my whining, but it does admittedly annoy me when people on Japanese TV just laugh off some really shitty, problematic stuff that people say or do to them, be it re: racial issues, trans issues, or anything else. they’re in a difficult situation and have all kind of things to consider when they react to something, whereas i can huff and puff at the TV saying all the choice words i like without consequence. i get that…. but meh. it was…
anonymous said: Hi, I’m also a black agender person from the states. What do you think about the treatment of black people specifically in Japan? hmm…. i’m finding this question really hard to answer because it’s so…. vague? and open-ended? hmm… i could respond to this with a really long winded answer, but i’m tired and should be in bed, so i’ll give you an abbreviated one! while Japan in has internalized antiblackness issues just like anywhere else, i don’t think that Japan (as a whole) treats black people any specific way. there are people who fetishize or idolize black (specifically black American) culture / music / people… these people are really fucking annoying to run into, but for the most part people are respectful and curious in a healthy way. aside from the aforementioned fetishists, i’d say the most troublesome thing that a black person encounters in Japan that…
