In McDonald's New Japanese Ad Campaign, The Wacky Foreigner Joke's on Americans
Put on your glasses or pop in your contacts and get a good look at the picture below, because this is what karma looks like:
Meet "Mr. James," new face of a McDonald's ad campaign in Japan. Mr. James is a Wacky Foreigner in Japan who speaks broken Japanese, wears the archetypal nerd uniform of glasses, a short-sleeved shirt with a tie, and ill-fitting khaki pants, has bad teeth, and--we're only guessing here--is probably someone who's never gotten laid. Sound familiar?
Clockwise from top left: Wacky Hiro Nakamura from Heroes, Wacky Engrish-Speaking Kentucky Fried Chicken-Grilled Chicken Lovers, I Survived a Japanese Game Show's Wacky Host Rome Kanda, Wacky Engrish-Speaking Six Flags GuyOh right. Usually THAT GUY has slanty-eyes.
Interestingly, there are some foreigners and non-natives in Japan riled up about this humiliating depiction of themselves, going so far as to compare Mr. James to Stepin Fetchit. Because there aren't enough positive depictions of beautiful and sophisticated foreigners selling things to the Japanese, apparently. Arudou Debito, née David Aldwinckle, an American who's become a naturalized Japanese citizen, writes:
"I think a strongly-worded letter from registered NPO FRANCA to McDonald's USA HQ regarding the issues of stereotyping here would be warranted. Hell, you think McD USA would start putting up a full-body "ching-chong-chinaman" with funny glasses and protruding teeth, saying 'Me likee McFlied Lice.' You think that would fly over there? If not, it shouldn't be allowed over here."Guess he hasn't seen this Six Flags commercial, which began running last year, or this KFC commercial for their new Grilled Chicken, which has been running all summer.
Karma's one wacky bitch, isn't it?
[Japan Probe: Mr. James: McDonald's Japan has a gaijin clown]
[Mr. James's Official Blog]
Follow Disgrasian on Twitter: www.twitter.com/disgrasian
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I think this article was written in the wrong spirit. I've seen dozens of comments on the web concerning Mr. James in which people have dismissed the offense taken by some foreigners in Japan as something deserved by anyone with White skin. As the adage goes, two wrongs do not make a right. Although small in number, there are non-Asian-looking people who grow up in Japan, including Whites. They of course speak natural, native Japanese, went to Japanese schools, etc. They're the counterpart to these two authors. Do they deserve to be stereotyped? Further, do people like me who arrived as adults and speak imperfect Japanese with an accent deserve to be stereotyped? I wouldn't dream of telling the authors that for whatever reason they deserved to be made the target of poor, base humor. If the authors are saying, "Now you see how it feels!", then yes, I agree. Living in Japan as a highly-visible foreigner has definitely made me more aware of the discomfort, pain, and even outrage caused by stereotypes. And because of that, I have become even less fond of the stereotyping I see in the U.S. It embarasses me that people in my country would continue to engage in stereotyping races and ethnicities, especially for entertainment. It should not be ok here in Japan, or there in the U.S.
please white person, stop being overly sensitive. you white people make fun of asians every chance you can possibly get. grow up and deal with life.
So, I guess all the Asian stereotyping in America also excuses the commonplace use of blackface in Japan too, huh? I love to see that argument.
Let's be honest with ourselves: no rational person is entertained by stereotypical ethnic images. Pulling a "Hey, get over it, it happens to me all the time" act isn't exactly the best way to go about explaining why these sorts of advertisements are wrong and hurtful. Instead of throwing this back in whitey's face, you could have made a much more positive impact by explaining this situation and using it as a springboard for explaining the very long and painful history of Asian stereotyping in Japan.
You have a huge platform, you ought to use it a bit more thoughtfully lest you sink into Fox News territory.
"the very long and painful history of Asian stereotyping in Japan."
I meant to say, '...in America."
While I do not particularly believe in the 'karma' concept put forth in this article, I definitely understand where the Disgrasian team is coming from. Why all the fuss over an advertisement that may or may not be racially offensive in a country thousands of miles away from America? Yet the American media itself continues to engage in racial stereotyping of Asians in the United States as the excellent examples above show. It is this double standard which Asian Americans find distasteful, that some Americans would get so riled up over ONE commercial thousands of miles away while stereotyping of Asians in the U.S. media continues.
I have seen a few of the 'James' commercials and perhaps it could be taken the wrong way. But for all of the hand wringing and outcry about Japanese racism and xenophobism, Caucasians are still at the top of the foreigner food chain in places like Japan. For every 'James' commercial there are others that feature Caucasian faces that have nothing to do with racial stereotypes. Not to mention the Caucasian celebrities and talent. By comparison why was there no outcry in the U.S. over the 'blackface' portrayals in Japan which happened not too long ago?
"Why all the fuss over an advertisement that may or may not be racially offensive in a country thousands of miles away from America?"
Because some people don't live in America...
Not 100 percent true. This story has been making the internet rounds, specifically websites like the Consumerist and Huffington Post here. If it was something ONLY people in Japan were making a fuss about, that is one thing, but most of the publicity and anger is coming outside of Japan. Really, things like these are just an excuse to go overboard and complain to the world about how extraordinarily 'racist' and xenophobic' Japanese are, plain and simple. There are plenty of other countries' where things like these happen but none get quite the world attention like Japan.
Again, why should people outside of Japan make such a fuss when asian racial stereotypes continue to abound in the U.S. media? Sure two wrongs don't make a right, but make sure your own affairs are in order before going on some crusades in some country thousands of miles away.
Interestingly, Japan has already been involved in some similar situations that happened in foreign countries. A T-shirt being sold at Wrigley Field depicting a Chicago Cub with slanty eyes saying "Horry Cow" in a dubious tribute to Kosuke Fukudome ended up on national news in Japan, and in Hungary, the Japanese government threatened to recall its ambassador in protest of a TV show that they said stereotyped Japanese people. Meanwhile, you regularly see Japanese entertainers on TV painting their faces white, wearing massive plastic noses, and speaking in broken Japanese -- you even see actors dressing up in blackface now and again. In Japan, it would seem that stereotypes are OK -- as long as Japanese people aren't the target. Which, interestingly and absurdly enough, seems to be the essential message of this blog post.
I, a long-term resident of Japan, can't recall ever having acted in a manner that would have "karma" returning such racial discrimination upon me, so the only conclusion I can come to is that you feel I deserve such discrimination simply because I'm white. That sort of undermines the message that discrimination is wrong, don't you think?
It would also be nice to discuss the context in which this campaign is being run: a country where, for example, it is perfectly legal for a landlord to tell foreigners point-blank they cannot rent an apartment due to the color of their skin. I could go on but this 250-word limit is killing me.
I am VERY disappointed in this article's tone "this is what karma looks like". I expected more from the huffington post.
1st, the writer obviously knows nothing of the situation of foreigners and naturalized japanese in Japan.
2nd, to say that this is karma is both ignorant and insulting. 4 examples of the "stereotypical asian" are shown as bad, but the same stereotypical white guy is justice? How about they are ALL BAD?
*I know: After Japan forces bomb Pearl Harbor, let's lock up ALL ASIANS - NOT JUST Japanese Americans!!! And let's tell them why: because people who look like you attacked us - yup, THAT will make a lot of sense! THAT would be KARMA.
Perhaps the authors of this article have an axe to grind, and are happy to see racism directed at someone other than themselves?
I'm a white American living in Japan, and I can see that you don’t get the joke here. These two “Disgrasians” are saying in a very funny way that it’s highly amusing to see white people in Japan getting upset over “stereotypes” that have traditionally been applied by white people to Asians.
Didn’t you follow their link when they commented that:
“Interestingly, there are some foreigners and non-natives in Japan riled up about this humiliating depiction of themselves, going so far as to compare Mr. James to Stepin Fetchit. Because there aren’t enough positive depictions of beautiful and sophisticated foreigners selling things to the Japanese, apparently
This whole thing reminds of one of my Japanese friends who insisted that "The Simpsons" was a racist cartoon that denigrated Japanese people. Why did she feel that way? Well, obviously because the Simpsons are yellow! She thought that the fact that the Simpsons are drawn with yellow skin was a slight against Japanese people.
I find both Mr. James and the Disgrasians hilarious.
I just read this terrible article and then my eyes fell out. Karma sure is wacky!
So let me get this straight..
Something happened in America that was offensive to Asian people, thus something that happens to un-related white people in an Asian country is 'Karma', thus these new victims deserved it? Is that what you are saying?
All your sources about these disrespectful acts towards Asians in America are speaking out against them, correct? So if these acts of disrespect towards Asians in America are wrong, and you say this act of disrespect towards whites in Asia is the same thing, shouldn't it also be wrong as well?
I can almost hear you chanting, 'nah, nah na na naaa!!' as you wrote this post. The appropriate way to go about this would be to try and use act in Japan as an example for Americans as to why this type of stereotyping is disrespectful, and thus try and gain further understanding and cooperations by both parties to put a stop to this type of stuff. But unfortunately, you are instead finding joy in other peoples suffering, which in fact contributes not to the greater good, but the greater evil.
I see they have a 'Flag as abusive' link for comments, to bad they don't have one for articles..
hit too close to home eh? go read your manga comics.
"and--we're only guessing here--is probably someone who's never gotten laid."
Pretty bad guess, considering the guy appears with an actress playing his daughter in many of the ads.
Right. In fact, if you weren't guessing and actually read the Japanese description, he's supposed to be a nice American dad from Ohio whose daughter came to Japan as an exchange student. He loves Japan so much that he can't stand it! And so on and so forth.
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