Ken Tanaka, the video producer whose praises were sung loudly here a couple of weeks ago (when I took time out to share my thoughts on a video he produced called: “But We’re Speaking Japanese” ) has hit the airwaves again with the following video sensationally entitled: “Is Japan Racist?”

Have a look see:

Some viewers will undoubtedly lock in on the low-hanging fruit, the fact that in this follow-up video Tanaka has taken aim at foreigners here who default to cries of racism when their own ignorance of Japanese language, culture, customs or traditions is at fault. Their own stupidity has led to the erroneous conclusion that they have some how been victimized. Yep, Tanaka went THERE, or as one of my good friends put it, Ken Tanaka AKA “David Ury is an equal opportunity rabble rouser.”

I guess that would make me the rabble, because this video, as was the case with the previous, has indeed roused me, as have a number of his videos (I’ve been going through his channel…they’re awfully good btw, check them out here).

And while this is certainly important, for the misunderstandings resulting from these ignorance-prompted declarations serve as fodder for the dismissal of legitimate grievances, and undermine all intelligent debate and discussions of the issues that impact, to varying extents, all non-Japanese who have taken up residence here, I think the video raises another significant and consequential issue.

*****

So I got this tweet from Tanaka today informing me that the above video was ready for Freddy.  I couldn’t recall ever getting a tweet directly from him before so it caught me off guard a bit (not that any story with the words “Japan” and “race” in the title would long be out of my view… many people send me links to everything race-related like it’s their version of community service). But being directly from the source the tweet gave me a moment’s pause.

Then I followed the link and watched the video.

When I first heard the sentence that has become the title of this post, I didn’t even let the video finish. I replayed it immediately!

I was like, “Wait! Did he just say that?” And then I wondered was he joking when he did. I watched the video through to the end and, yep, humor, as usual in Tanaka’s videos, was used (and used well) throughout to illustrate his point. But, this statement, about the ease of life in Japan for specifically White non-Japanese, had little if anything to do with the video’s overarching message of racism in Japan being mostly due to under-active brains or overactive imaginations.

I Thought White People in Japan had it Pretty Easy…the words echoed in my mind

I mean, though he stated it rather matter-of-fact-like, boy oh boy oh boy, is it me or is THAT a loaded sentence? One that readers of LIY (and my first book: Hi! My Name is Loco…) have heard, in various iterations, a number of times over the years.

Moreover, the appearance of a non-Japanese, non-white guy at the end of the video, the writer Stefhen Bryan (author of Black Passengers, Yellow Cabs), seemed random on my first viewing. Even his ironic almost meta-questioning into the camera: 

Were these just thrown to see what would stick?

I doubt it.

I’ll finish this thought tomorrow morning…long day, I’m beat.

to be continued…

Loco