Japanese variety shows thrive on imitators like this Louie Armstrong impression….
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Taro
I'm a pale, alien, quadruped who has worked for 25+ years at "Maybe-the-Largest Inc." in Tokyo.
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6 thoughts on “Blackface impression”
Oh… boy… make you kinda miss the acting quality of their gang bukake rape video…
Can’t beat the “oh sugggoyyyy*” face of the guests…
(*) which can translate here to “i’ve never seen them black people, but dis one don’t seems to be eatin’them babies, will call police anyway”
But the good thing is that in case of war with china/russia/any other developped country the japanese can’t be brought back to stone age… They never left it…
Although this performance may be seen by some folks ‘over there’ as ‘racist’ – such is not the case here. Here in NIPPON, an impersonation of well-known foreign musicians, actors, et al are usually done in a funny form of respect and admiration. And sometimes, such impersonations are also a way of the Japanese laughing at the Japanese because they know that, no matter how hard they practice, they can’t sing Engrish collectry! Hence the “I see them broom for me and you” in the above video of “Louis Armstrong” {O~v~O}
I’ll agree with Rob there. They do it out of respect and they seriously adore American icons, even ones like Paris Hilton. Yeah they are a bit ignorant in they don’t really know that people might find it offensive, but hey when you live on a tiny island thousands of miles from the culture you love… things get a little lost in translation. You have to admit though, they can get away with it like no one else.
Oh… boy… make you kinda miss the acting quality of their gang bukake rape video…
Can’t beat the “oh sugggoyyyy*” face of the guests…
(*) which can translate here to “i’ve never seen them black people, but dis one don’t seems to be eatin’them babies, will call police anyway”
But the good thing is that in case of war with china/russia/any other developped country the japanese can’t be brought back to stone age… They never left it…
i have no words.
Japanese TV considers this “all in good fun.” ;-(
See the comments at:
http://www.pliink.com/mt/marxy/archives/2005/08/blackface.html
Although this performance may be seen by some folks ‘over there’ as ‘racist’ – such is not the case here. Here in NIPPON, an impersonation of well-known foreign musicians, actors, et al are usually done in a funny form of respect and admiration. And sometimes, such impersonations are also a way of the Japanese laughing at the Japanese because they know that, no matter how hard they practice, they can’t sing Engrish collectry! Hence the “I see them broom for me and you” in the above video of “Louis Armstrong” {O~v~O}
I’ll agree with Rob there. They do it out of respect and they seriously adore American icons, even ones like Paris Hilton. Yeah they are a bit ignorant in they don’t really know that people might find it offensive, but hey when you live on a tiny island thousands of miles from the culture you love… things get a little lost in translation. You have to admit though, they can get away with it like no one else.
—> “Blacky” by Sublight Monster on flickr