Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

Title: Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

[Identities removed for review]

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

Abstract This essay critically examines representations of Blacks in Japanese media, or more broadly, in Japans social context. Despite lacking a Black population, historically insular Japan has a rich and unique tradition in depicting Blacks. The representations are generally negative, and Japanese society maintains and produces these kinds of images even today. It was the West that introduced negative imaginations of Blacks to Japan, which has domesticated the images by essentializing them for domestic needs. In this regard, this essay examines representations of Blacks, or more broadly a racial ideology, in a transnational context. The essay examines not only the images themselves but also the various social conditions that have enabled Japan to maintain and produce the images. Furthermore, the essay argues that the essentialized images have a firm function in constructing modern Japans racial identity and ideology.

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan Studies on the relationship between race and the media have perhaps most extensively examined images of Blacks. We pay attention to advertisements, news portrayals, entertainment, and sports to determine whether or not media under-represent or over-represent Blacks and to determine what kinds of roles Blacks play in the media (e.g., Greenberg & Brand, 1994). We also pay attention to representations from the past. For example, it has been widely acknowledged that images of Saartjie Baartman1 highly distorted her bodyin particular, her genitalia and buttocksand that the images exemplify our racist views could produce unrealistic bizarre representations of Blacks. Nederveen Pieterse (1992) calls such images white peoples images of blacks (p. 10). Other historical representations of Blacks include pickaninny and minstrel images, such as Topsy (in Uncle Toms Cabin) and Sambo (in The Story of Little Black Sambo). All these visual caricatures simplify and exaggerate certain body parts, such as lips. When we examine these unrealistic images, we tend to see them as artifacts from the past. Images like those of Saartjie Baartman, which functioned to biologically distance Blacks from Whites, seem to be not only bizarre but also products of a pseudo-biology reinforcing racial hierarchy. Pickaninny images exemplify this shift from a privileged status to a marginal one. They were common in childrens books, cartoons, and advertisements from the late1800s to the 1960s. However, in the United States, they grew out of favor by the mid-1970s. It is now unlikely that mainstream U.S. media, much beholden to a code of political correctness, would show them in anything but an unfavorable light. However, pickaninny images continue to appear in some contexts, including cartoons, or anime. An essay from the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia (2007) notes,

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

New anti-black images are also found in the popular childrens games Pokemon and Dragonball Z. The Pokemon character Jynx has jet-black skin, large protruding pink lips, gaping eyes, a straight blond mane, and a full figure, complete with cleavage and wiggly hips. Carole Boston Weatherford, a cultural critic, described Jynx as a dead ringer for an obese drag queen. Mr. Popo, a Dragonball Z character, is a rotund genie, dwarfish, with pointed ears, jet-black skin, and large red lips. He is a loyal servant.
Figure 1. Pokemon character Jynx To be inserted here Figure 2. Dragonball Z character Mr. Popo To be inserted here

Pokemon and Dragonball Z are two of the most popular and globally circulated lines of anime.2 3 Interestingly, these images are not produced in the United States, where pickaninny images were once mainstream. The contemporary images hail from an overseas society that does not have a Black population and that has had very little contact with Blacks throughout its history. How could the society and its people produce such images? How have they acquired the idea of pickaninny images? Or have they created such images from scratch? Why can they still produce them even in the twenty-first century? This essay critically examines images of Blacks in this particular country: Japan. As a part of the Western post-industrial copyright-industry system, Japan has become an important exporter of media contents. In particular, it has been the largest global supplier (60%) of cartoons, or anime (derived from animation) (Ong, 2003; Ministry of Internal Affair and Communications, 2003). Until these recent pickaninny anime characters became salient in the global media market, however, Western researchers had not substantively examined the ways in which the Japanese portrayed Blacks. The purpose of the current essay is to substantively and critically examine the development and the function of Japanese

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

images of Blacks. The essay focuses on Japans interaction with the West through these images and, thereby, situates a movement of racial images, discourses, and ideology in a transnational context. For example, the essay examines how the Western creation of Black images influenced Japan and how Black images from Japan made their way to the West. The essay argues that Japans possession of denigrating images of Blacks has been an important part of Japans racial identity and ideology. To contextualize the analysis, this essay chronologically analyzes related media representations of Blacks from various historical moments and historical events. First, however, the essay reviews some basic characteristics of Japanese society and media, such as demography and current issues and research regarding media representations of races.

Background Review Because this essay explores Japanese representations of Blacks under the assumption that Japanese society lacks, in general, racial diversity and, in particular, the presence of Blacks, the essay should first present crucial information regarding Japans racial demography. Among Japans entire population of 127 million, nearly 99 percent are nationals (125.5 million). It is important to note that Japanese law assigns nationality to newborns only on the basis of their parents Japanese nationality, not on the basis of the newborns place of birth. These conditions equate race with nationality (e.g., Befu, 1993). Moreover, Japan has traditionally practiced a very strict immigration policy.4 Thus, Japanese nationals are racially Japanese or Asians. About 1.24 million foreigners legally resided in Japan in 2000 (Ministry of Public Management, 2001a, 2001b).5 In addition, it is estimated that about 220,000 to 300,000 foreigners reside there illegally (e.g., Shimada, 1994, p. 25; Ministry of Justice, 2004;

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

Immigration Bureau of Japan, 2004).6 In total, foreigners constitute 1.2 percent of the countrys population. However, the majority (approximately 60 percent) of those foreigners are Koreans and Chinese and, thus, fall under the category of East Asians, whose phenotype is nearly indistinguishable from that of Japanese. The very few non-Asians, such as Whites and Blacks, who reside in Japan are presumably from the Americas, Europe, Oceania, and Africa. Their numbers are 47,000 (4.1% of the foreigners), 25,000 (2.2%), 6,800 (0.6%), and 4,600 (0.4%) respectively; the sum is 83,400, which comprises only 0.07 % of the nations entire population (Japan Statistics Bureau, 1999). Japans population substantially lacks a non-Japanese and a non-Asian presence; does it therefore follow that Japanese society and media seldom portray non-Japanese races? The answer is no. Previous research shows that Japan has made abundant use of non-Asian races in various representational contexts. Some research argues that the degree to which the Japanese media have portrayed non-Asian characters, such as Whites and Blacks in advertisements, has been disproportionately high in comparison to Japans demographic composition. For example, OBarr notes, The extraordinary number of foreigners appearing in contemporary Japanese advertising is one of its most distinctive features. First-time Western visitors to Japan quickly notice this; even Westerners who have lived there a long time continue to talk about it. But the foreign models do not occasion so much reaction from the Japanese, who are accustomed to it. (p. 173) One content analysis sampled 2,219 television advertisements from a weeklong period of five nationwide networks. Of those advertisements, 636 (29%) used a total of 1,385 non-Japanese characters, mostly Whites, followed by Blacks (Shimin-no terebi-no kai, 1991, pp. 16-24).

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

Insofar as very few people of those races reside in Japan, the proportion of those nonJapanese characters is quite disproportionate to the nations real demographic composition. Researchers have attempted analyze specific meanings that those non-Asian racial characters represent. They assume that the media might attach specific meanings to those nonAsian characters because the media intentionally use those non-present people. For example, Manabe (1994) concludes that the use of White models provides a sense of cheer, sophistication, the modern and the dynamic (p. 205). Ramaprasad and Hasegawa (1992) argue that Japanese advertising is more image-oriented than American advertising (e.g., fewer information clues). They also argue that such advertisements connote Western association by depicting Western characters and Western languages (Ramaprasad & Hasegawa, 1990, pp. 1029-30). White characters constitute one of the few most frequently used eye-catchers in such image-oriented advertisements (Suzuki, 1996). In contrast, some of the most negative images are of Blacks. The Blacks appear as dirty, overly sex-driven, childish, pitiful, and scary (Russell, 1991a; Kelsky, 1994). In Japans 1960s literature, Wagatsuma and Yonemura (1967) uncovered representations of Blacks as animal-like, subhuman, and overly sex-driven (pp. 96-110). Yamashita (1996) contends that, in Japanese literature, the images of Blacks fall into three major perception categories: cute (childish and primitive in a sense), scary, and pitiful (p. 737). Similarly, Russell (1991a) argues, Indeed, based on analysis of Japanese mass culture and surveys and interviews of Japanese, it is possible to distinguish three viewswhich I call the 3 Ksthat compete for space in the popular imagination, although with considerable overlap: kawaii (cute), kowai (scary), and kawis (pitiful), each ascribing to black people characteristics that rob them of their humanity and basic human dignity. (p. 419)

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

As reviewed, researchers have generally agreed that Japanese media have developed a clear dichotomy between White representations and Black representations. How did such a hierarchical racial dichotomy emerge in the Japanese context? For example, one might conclude that Blacks, being apparently distant from Japans history, are equally distant from the Japanese mindset. Africa is geographically distant from Japan, and the Japanese had little or no direct economic, diplomatic, military, or imperial relations with Africa. How did relatively absent relations yield highly negative representations? One answer to this question argues that Japan imported Western racial ideology (e.g., Russell, 1991a; 1991c; Goossen, 1990). Russell (1991c) argues that the Japanese have been heavily influenced by Western values and racial paradigms Japan acquired not only a taste for Western science but also for Western prejudice against Blacks and other subjected races (p. 5, 10). This assertion gives rise to yet a further question: Do the Japanese merely mimic the dominant Western racial ideology? And if so, what factors maintain Japans denigrating images of Black in the twenty-first century? Do any of Japans domestic social conditions help maintain the images? Or rather than mimic, did the Japanese create the images somehow by themselves? These are some crucial questions that the current essay explores in the following analysis.

Initial Contact With Blacks The very first appearance of Blacks in Japan was in the sixteenth century. Their appearance coincided with that of Whites in Japan simply because White Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch missionaries and traders brought Blacks, as servants, to Japan. Figures 3

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

and 4 are portions from large paintings on folding screens from the early 1600s. These illustrate Japanese depictions of Blacks first appearance in Japan.

Figure 3. Portuguese missionary and Black servant (part) - To be inserted here

Figure 4. Illustrations of various foreigners To be inserted here

The two images illustrate the Western racial hierarchy, as Thornton (1985) argues: ultimately, the few Japanese who did encounter these Africans saw them consistently in subservient positions, as compared to Europeans (p. 95). The Black figures play subordinate roles to the White figures. The caption for Figure 4s image names the two White figures but leaves the Black figure an unnamed, anonymous laborer. Furthermore, the caption reads, [They are] generally called kuronbo, the Japanese word consisting of kuro, meaning the color black, and -bo, a suffix meaning a subordinate, contemptuous, childish being.7 English interpretations for this specific term include black servant boy (Leupp, 1995, p. 4) and nigger. The far left-end of the caption is a proviso noting, However, this [the Black] came from a country of Blacks. Interestingly, the word that functions as the sentences grammatical subject refers to a non-human thing (i.e., a non-personal pronoun like it; not a personal pronoun like he or they). And this proviso suggests that the Japanese already knew that White Westerners had taken Blacks from a non-Western place. According to this brief analysis of the images, Japanese already perceived that Blacks differed from Whites not only in their phenotype, but also in their roles, statuses, and histories at this early stage.

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

Perception of Blacks During Westernization (1860-) Japans national seclusion, which lasted about 250 years, ended in the last half of the nineteenth century; at this time, Japan started to import Western culture and ideology to modernize the nation and the people. This process was Westernization and coincided with the emergence of Japanese peoples definite perceptions that Blacks racially differed from Whites. More precisely, the Japanese saw Blacks as members of an inferior race. One famous example of the imported racial ideology of Blacks stems from one of Japans contacts with White Westerners around the mid-1800s. When Commodore Perry revisited Japan in 1854, he presented a minstrel show (see Figure 5), which the Japanese found vastly entertaining (Russell, 1991b, p. 47). Leupp (1995) notes, the Americans presented black people to the Japanese as objects of humor when Perry returned to Japan to receive the expected acquiescence to the proposed USJapan Treaty of Friendship (Kanagawa Treaty). In Yokohama on 23 March 1854, Perry announced a minstrel show after dinner and drinks with his hosts (One diary referred to the event as an Ethiopian Concert). Crewmen in Perrys vessel, the Powhatan, put on black faces and sang Mistah Tambo and Mistah Bones to the apparent delight of the Japanese attendants. The show was a huge success. (p. 7)

Figure 5. Minstrel show in 1854 To be inserted here

Images of subjected Blacks made there way to Japan not only via Westerners, such as Perry, but via a few Japanese elites, as well. Having visited Western nations to learn about modern Western culture, these elites played a vital role in importing Whites ideological and practical treatment of Blacks. Leupp (1995) notes,

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

The depiction of Africans as subhumanby white people.. inevitably influenced Japanese views on race. While Japanese elites continued to question the moral or cultural superiority of the West, they tended to accept the linkage between whiteness, goodness, and progress. Once in the USA, the envoys fully imbibed the prejudices of the host towards Africans. Yanagawa Kenzabur matter-of-factly noted in his diary that The blacks are inferior as human beings and extremely stupid. Kimura Tetsuya, an attendant to one of the members of the embassy, recorded that the laws of the land separate the blacks. They are just like our eta caste. But [the whites] employ the blacks as their servants. The whites are of course intelligent, and the blacks stupid. Thus the seed of intelligence and unintelligence are not allowed to mix together. (p. 7; see also Miyoshi, 1979, p. 61) Thornton (1985) argues that two essential reasons explain Japanese peoples conclusion that Blacks are inferior beings. The first is Japanese peoples long-held admiration for lighter complexion.8 Wagatsuma (1967) stresses the role of this preference for lighter complexion: Long before any sustained contact with white Caucasoid Europeans or dark-skinned Africans or Indians, the Japanese valued white skin as beautiful and deprecated black skin as ugly. Their spontaneous responses to the white skin of Caucasoid Europeans and the black skin of Negroid people were an extension of values deeply embedded in Japanese concepts of beauty. (p. 407) Thorntons second reason is that the Japanese people were swayed by the fact that everywhere they went they met Blacks who were always slaves or in menial positions: the lowly status of Blacks was further reinforced by white opinion, which believed that Blacks deserved to be where they were (p. 96). In the Japanese mindset, these two reasons Japanese peoples traditional contempt for darker complexion and Japanese peoples

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perception that Blacks invariably occupied a subordinate statuswere consistent with each other and supported the conclusion that Blacks were racially inferior to other races. The establishment of this conclusion in Japan fulfilled a psychological need among the Japanese. If Blacks occupied the very bottom of the racial hierarchy, then Japanese were superior. When the Japanese started their radical modernization, which was essentially Westernization, they had to admit that they were subordinate to White Westerners simply because Japan seemingly trailed behind the West in regards to technology, education, and military. At the same time, however, by maintaining the perception that Blacks (and other dark-complexioned races) were lower than Japanese on the racial hierarchy, Japanese could maintain a sense of superiority. Even if they had to admit their subordinate position to Whites, they could identify racial groups whose status was lower than theirs. This function satisfied many Japanese peoples ethnic pride (Russell, 1995, pp. 14-15).

Japanese and Black Africans: Top and Bottom on the Non-White Racial Hierarchy Once inferior images about Blacks had established themselves in Japanese culture, the references to Blacks subordinate racial status complexly helped fulfill many Japanese peoples longing for a sense of racial superiority. After Japan had acquired a certain level of national might, such as military strength especially after Japans victory in the RussoJapanese War (1904-1905), a curious racial narrative arose. Japanese were the most superior non-White race; that is, among all the non-White races, the Japanese were best able to modernize and to Westernize their own society and, hence, were not only able but also obliged to enlighten and to rescue other non-White peoples. This narrative served primarily to rationalize the imposition of Japanese imperialism onto nearby Asian communities.

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According to this view, Chinese and Koreans could not modernize their societies by themselves; therefore, Japanese had to enlighten them. However, in this Japanese imagination, their superior status and noble role in rescuing other non-White people went further. Its farthest end was to rescue Black Africans. Not unlike many Japanese novelists, the Meiji novelist Shunro Oshikawa created Japanese heroes who played a noble role in rescuing and liberating Black Africans oppressed by Westerners (Fujita, 1990).9 He is regarded as one of the founders of the Japanese adventure novel (Waseda to bungaku, 2004). His depictions of Black Africans are not necessarily wholly negative. Rather than portray Africans as incapable, he notes that they were merely behind simply because they had not been exposed to (Western) civilization. His illustrations reflected the idea of the noble savage, developed extensively in Great Britain in the late-1700s and the early-1800s. Of enormous appeal to Japanese readers, his stories fundamental storyline positioned the Japanese as the most superior nonWhite race and as generous saviors of needy Black Africans, who were at the bottom of the racial hierarchy. This type of narrative satisfied Japanese not only by assigning to them a higher racial status than the one assigned to Black Africans, but also by connoting that the Japanese were ethically superior to or nobler than White Westerners. This logic rested on the idea that the Japanese, having never exploited non-White peoples such as Black Africans, would never do so in the future and, indeed, would voluntarily rescue Black Africans. Therefore, in their imagination, Japanese used Black Africans to fulfill the former peoples sense of superiority over both Black Africans and White Westerners. Nevertheless, the Japanese have never undertaken any actual rescuing of Black Africans. Japanese just consumed Black Africans to satisfy this sense of superiority in the Japanese imagination.

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Domesticated Re-representations of Blacks In Japan, a notable domesticated perception about Blacks is that they have remained primitive until nowadays. Images of this primitiveness were originally imported from the West to Japan through some limited channels, and the nearly total lack of actual contact with Blacks has fossilized these negative images in the Japanese mindset. One of these limited channels through which Japan acquired certain Black images from the West was the series of films about Tarzan (Fujita, 1990). Of the 42 titles, 40 were screened in Japan between 1919 and 1984. As is widely known, the films depict many Black Africans as savages and even as cannibals. Shusaku Endo, a leading Christian novelist of Japan, talks about the films influence on his mind. He visited France to study Catholicism in 1950. On his outbound trip to Europe, he was terrified of staying in his assigned cabin aboard the ocean-going vessel because he had to share the cabin with a group of Black Africans. He even imagined that the Blacks would eat him. Endo summarizes the powerful role of the Tarzan films: at that time, the only concerns occupying my poor mind [regarding my perception of blacks] stemmed from the Tarzan films. I would be a laughingstock now. However, in 1950, many Japanese youths knowledge about Africans came only from the Tarzan films, from nothing else. (Endo, cited in Fujita, 1990, p. 341)

Furthermore, a number of Tarzan-like stories were domestically produced in Japan. One of these was a series of adventure novels, Baruba-no Boken (The Adventures of Baruba), that Yoichiro Minami produced between 1948 and 1951.10 The main character, Baruba, is essentially a version of Tarzan domesticated for Japanese readers. A child of a White American pharmacologist and a Japanese wife, Baruba is separated from his parents in an African jungle where animals raise him. The storyline is nearly identical to that of Tarzan.

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The story frequently depicts Black Africans as his enemies, whose distinguishing characteristics are barbarism, stupidity, idleness, and superstition. The half-Japanese protagonist and his allies, the noble wild animals, cooperatively fight against and subjugate these Black Africans. The series became very popular and is still recognized as a classic Japanese adventure novel, which has implanted a dream of adventure in Japanese youth (Ikeda, cited in Fujita, 1990, p. 347). 11

Depictions and Uses of Blacks by Humane Japanese Authors Not all of Japanese society has come to recognize the racism in Japanese authors use of such images of Blacks, including Black Africans. Often, the Japanese mind recognizes the authors of these images as humane. This section discusses why many Japanese have considered both the authors humane intellectuals and their works humane literature despite their stereotypical depictions of Blacks. Furthermore, the section argues that in the Japanese context, the literary works stereotypical depictions of Blacks as subhuman have conversely reinforced Japanese peoples recognition of the writers as humane. Perhaps, the most well-known and influential case of this Tarzan-like depiction of Blacks and Black Africans is a series of cartoons by Osamu Tezuka, the legendary founder of the Japanese graphic novel, often called the Father of Japanese anime.12 Because of his prominent position and the immense worldwide popularity of Japanese cartoons, he and his works, such as Astro Boy, enjoy widespread recognition that extends beyond the field of cartoons. In particular, he is known as a cartoonist whose works cover a variety of human issues, such as death, peoples use of medicine, anti-Semitism, and the depths of human psychology. One of the underlying themes of his major work, Astro Boy, is an identity

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struggle of the humanoid main character. This character possesses a more humane personality than the malicious real-human characters in the story, but as a humanoid, he is never truly accepted by humans and society. However, such humane depictions do not apply to Tezukas Black characters. He repeatedly employs images of barbaric Africans in his works (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Excerpt from Tezukas cartoon To be inserted here

In this illustration, the Black Africans are barbarians practicing their custom of beheading. The lines in the balloons read, The king has to check your head and King, I caught a White girl. Should we behead her and dry it? Russell (1991a) explains Tezukas anti-Black bias: Few would deny the enormous creative legacy of cartoonist Tezuka Osamu (19281989), whose work, as Sukarai Tetuso, professor of contemporary social history at the Tokyo College of Economics, has pointed out, often revolves around the themes of prejudice and discrimination. Yet, judging by those works in which blacks appear, even Tezuka was unable to recognize his own antiblack bias. Tezukas portfolio of blacks is a virtual bestiary of grotesque, from deformed, witless domestics to bulbouslipped, banjo-eyed savages, that recapitulate the image of blacks that once dominated Western illustration. Yet the author who championed the rights of oppressed robots and others as only imagined outside in works such as Tetsuwan Atom (1952-1966; Astro Boy in the United States) consistently rejected the humanity and equality of black people. Indeed, one is left sadly to conclude that for Tezuka, Atom and his alienated brethren (Leo, Black Jack) serve less as metaphors of dejected humanity writ large than the racial insecurity of Tezuka and Japan attempting to come to terms with its outsider status vis--vis an idealized West. (p. 419) First, his depiction of Blacks has an astonishing similarity with recent Japanese anime characters, such as Mr. Popo in Dragonball Z and Jynx in Pokemon (see Figure 1 and 2 on page 2 or Appendix). Tezuka, however, was not unconsciously depicting Blacks as savages.

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During his mid- and late career, because of his legendary status in the world of cartoons, his works were exported to foreign markets. This was the first historical moment when Japanese anime was introduced overseas. Then, his stereotypical depictions of Blacks soon gathered critical attention. Yet, he never perceived that his depictions were problematic, and he was unwilling to change them. In the mid-1960s, when NBC was to air one of his masterpieces in the United States, network executives told him . that his depiction of blacks in Jyanguru Taitei (Jungle Emperor) was offensive, [but] Tezuka displayed little concern. Although he complied with demands that he redraw his Africans for the American market, subsequent remarks reveal that he viewed the changes as unreasonable and unrealistic. Exactly how unrealistic surfaces in Tezukas illustrated account of the meeting, Kami no Toride (Paper Fort, 1983).13 The final frame, rendered in a thought-balloon, shows four black primitivesnow depicted as sophisticated and Caucasian-likeencircling a wretched, dwarfish white hunter with a bone in his nodes. Tezukas concluding lament, Sama ni naraneena (This wont do at all.), clearly offered as a commentary on the unacceptability of such a role reversal, serves to remind the readers that Tezuka, a man praised for the fecundity of his imagination, could not seriously conceive of rendering blacks as anything other than subhuman. (Russell, 1991a, p. 420)

Figure 7 is Tezukas self-portrayal in the context of this dialogue.

Figure 7. Tezuka and NBC; Self-portrayal To be inserted here

The aforementioned novelist Shusaku Endo has also garnered a reputation as a humane novelist with a strong Catholic background.14 However, on a number of occasions, his depictions of Blacks have offended people. The autobiographical piece Ran no natsu (Summer in Rouen) concerns his experience in studying Catholicism in France in 1950. While

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studying there through a fellowship provided by the Catholic Church, he met a Black student from Africa. But when the Black student offered his hand to Endo, he naturally and quickly withdrew his own hand because of a strong psychological aversion (Endo, 1968, p. 33; see also Wagatsuma & Yonemura, 1967, p. 95). His actual experience in associating with Blacks in France did not change his perception of Blacks. Although Endo did not depict Blacks as simple subhumans as Tezuka did, his depictions remained married to the idea of savages. In 1973, Endo produced a piece entitled Kuronbo (Nigger). The piece is historical fiction featuring a Black character, Tsunba, in the sixteenth century in Japan. Endo depicts Tsunba as childish and shameless and uses scatological humor (Russell, 1991b, pp. 62-63). On one occasion, because Tsunba looked so unusual and strange to the Japanese eyes, some Japanese took him and displayed him in front of Oda Nobunaga, the ruler of Japan at that time. Oda asks whether or not Tsunba can do any performance. Tsunba responds to the question thusly: The Negro took up the drum and gazed on it happily like a child. After tapping experimentally on it with his fingers two or three times, his body began to sway and he started to sing in an unfamiliar language. Nobunaga watched the strange dance. The Negro was violently swaying back and forth, jumping up and down, and thenand then suddenly in front of the powerful Nobunaga, the unheard of happened. Bu, bu, bu, Pu, pu, pu At first, no one knew where the sounds were coming from. But after a while, the realization dawned on the crowd. The two missionaries blanched. The sounds were being emitted from the Negros buttocks. In rhythmic tones, high and low, strong and weak, [the Negro] was farting. (Endo, 1973, p. 21; Russell [Trans.], 1991a, p. 7) Then, the ruler Nobunaga Oda, who is known for his short-temper, grows infuriated. He declares, Such insolence! and Kill him! However, the Christian missionary who brought

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Tsunba before the leader desperately tries to protect the Black man by saying, He is a Black that lacks courtesy and etiquette by nature please forgive him. It was not malicious, just an innocent act (Endo, 1973, p. 21). This type of depiction of Blacks in Japanese literature manifests itself in many other works. Kuronbo (Nigger) and Shiiku (The Catch) by Kenzaburo Oe (1981), who won the 1994 Nobel Prize in literature, are perhaps the most scatological pieces in the history of modern Japanese literature.15 16 The latter work depicts a Black American soldier who, after parachuting into Japan, is captured in a Japanese farming village during the Second World War. Japanese villagers encage him and village children, in particular, take care of him just as they would take care of their domesticated animals. Oe notes that this piece is a depiction of the Japanese village itself and of interactions among the villagers. However, the Black character plays a distinct rolethat of an unusual object, something beyond the villagers everyday life. His presence induces a variety of unusual incidents that would never take place otherwise. All centered on the Black character, the incidents disclose to the reader the villagers psychology. Goossen (1990) argues that among the villagers acts and psychology, what is most shocking is that the piece vividly illustrates a variety of fetishisms in the sexuality of children. And Blacks are the main subject of their fetishism (p. 535).17 In addition to the sexual interaction between the Black POW and village boys, important elements of their fetishism, especially of their pre-genital fetishism, are the Blacks urine, excrement, and body odor. The village boys are fascinated by the strength (e.g., volume and odor) of the Blacks excretions, and this fascination exemplifies the ambivalence that the Black POW generates in the minds of many Japanese villagers.

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For the boys in particular, the Black is an ambivalent being. According to the story, he has the adult body of a Black, one that is stronger than the bodies of many Japanese adults; but the boys also see him as a childish being or even as a subhuman. Thus, the Black is sufficiently child-like or sufficiently subhuman to convince the boys that they can control him; all the while, the Blacks mature body, often represented through his aforementioned strong excretions, brings to light the underlying ambivalence of the Blacks status. This ambivalence, involving the strategy by means of which a power fascination of desire is both indulged and at the same time denied (Hall, 1997, p. 353) stimulates the childrens fetishism. For example, while taking care of this captured animal, the village boys take his excretion to the compost site. But this task, which would be mundane in relation to farm animals, becomes a secret and sacred ritual for the boys. The Blacks excrement becomes a sacred object to be brought to an altar (p. 538). Goossen provides one crucial reason for the ongoing permissibility of such representations in Japanese literature. He notes, If an American novelist wrote a similar scene or used Oes style to describe blacks in general, Americans would harshly criticize the novelist as an extremely atrocious fabricator of racially discriminatory myths. What kinds of elements does Shiiku possess to avoid such criticism in the Japanese context? Put more straightforwardly, why does not Shiiku received almost no criticism? One of the important reasons is that blacks are extremely rare in the face-to-face encounters of Japanese. For example, if [such a story] replaced blacks with minorities who were more familiar to Japanese (minorities such as Koreans and Chinese or outcaste burakumin or whites), the piece would leave a much more unpleasant aftertaste [among Japanese readers]. However, because the black soldier depicted by Oe is very much an outsider for the villagers (and for Oes Japanese readers), whose perception of the soldier remains distant from the existence of the soldier, Oe was able to treat the black soldier as a totally

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mysterious being, as an otherworldly thing that drops from the skies. [In contrast,] in Western literature, the era of Joseph Conrad reflects a distant past [in relation to 21stcentury readers], and it is unlikely that black characters [in literature from the Wests age of imperialism] would strike [todays Western readers] as a mysterious symbol. (1990, pp. 536-537)18

This passage aptly describes how the domestic context of Japan permits such uses of both Blacks and images of Blacks. Sexualities and fetishes themselves are universal themes. However, to express these themes, the Japanese context not only allows but indeed requires that Japanese authors use Blacks as a vehicle therein. In this context, Japanese authors have felt no considerable need to be politically correct when depicting Blacks. However, if the authors had known that their works would be translated into English and widely disseminated in the United States, the authors might have substantively changed their depiction of Blacks. It is also crucial to note that many of these works depict Blacks merely as nameless beings. Their Japanese names are equivalent to English-language terms like nigger and boy, although many Japanese characters and White characters in the same stories are addressed with neutral or even complimentary proper nouns. In Kuronbo, Endo uses the term kuronb (nigger) as the name for his Black character. Despite being the storys only Black character, the author refers to him frequently as a nameless nigger. While many of the storys non-Black characters exhibit a distinctly human identity and perhaps greater agency, the Black character does not. The author depicts the Black in order to represent a race or even a species, that of the nigger. We should note here that Endo follows this same pattern in the aforementioned autobiographical piece, Ran no natsu. Whereas the author addresses the other Japanese characters and the White French characters by their own neutral or complimentary names, he addresses the Black students merely as kokujin (Blacks), not by

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

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their proper names. Rather than articulate a personal identity of these Blacks, he designates them by their race alone. These narratives seem to operate under a cultural requirement that they designate Blacks as racial entities and as nothing else. The current studys review of this literature brings up one crucial question: do these Japanese authors perceive Black characters (whether fictional or autobiographical) as having the same status as the non-Black characters. The answer is no. One can rigorously conclude that the authors, regardless of their intentions, depict Black characters as subhumans or, at least, as dramatically and inherently subordinate to other Japanese and Western characters. A subsequent question arises in light of these conclusions: why have these and other Japanese authors depicted Blacks in such a way? It is ironic, but important to note, that the three authors, Tezuka, Endo, and Oe, have received considerable recognition for the humaneness of their works and their attitudes (e.g., Goossen, 1990, p. 539). How can this ironic twist be explained? One could argue that depicting Blacks as savage actually enhances the humaneness of their thoughts and actions. For example, Tezuka draws a clear contrast between his Black characters and his White characters. By depicting savage Blacks, he stresses the noble and the humane natures of White Westerners. In Kuronb, Endo stresses the humane nature of the White Christian missionaries who rescue the pitiful Black. They first rescue him from slavery during their travel to Japan; they again rescue him from the anger induced by his childish and scatological acts in front of the Japanese ruler. The key to this argument is that humane thoughts derive only from Japanese and White Westerners, not from Blacks. This stark contrast essentially means that the authors and their readers recognize only Japanese and White Westerners as human; being subhuman, Blacks are a mere tool by which the non-Blacks exhibit their humanity.

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Despite the works insulting aspect, the authors have attracted little related criticism. Indeed, the authors have maintained their perceived status as prominent humane intellectuals in Japanese society. This fact implies the deeply rooted racist mindset among many Japanese; perhaps, they do not even realize the racism of the works. This ignorance or innocent racism is an important key with which we can better understand why Japan still innocently produces racist images of Blacks today.

Reaction to External Forces Problematizing Japanese Representations of Blacks As the event involving Tezuka and NBC indicates, sometimes these Japanese authors garner criticism. However, the criticism comes almost always from overseas. The domestic Japanese population, which lacks a substantial presence of Blacks, has almost never problematized these representations. A more salient case that illustrates this characteristic of Japanits nearly non-existent Black population and perhaps the ignorance of Japanese peoplecan be seen from a particular discussion regarding the banning of The Story of Little Black Sambo. As in many other places around the world, the work has long been a classic in Japans juvenile literature. When the city of Nagano bid for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in the early 1990s, the city decided to ban the citys book owing (e.g., public libraries) to its potential to draw negative overseas publicity, which in turn might compromise the citys bidding effort. Thus, the ban rested on an internal fear of external criticism of the work, not on any internal criticism of the work. Many Japanese never sincerely understood why the book could be problematic, and the city withdrew the ban soon after the Games were over. The citizens seem to have had no hesitancy in keeping the book in childrens playrooms (e.g., Nagae, 2005). In this regard, a kindergarten teacher noted,

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what is most important is how [Japanese] kids feel about the book. Whether this is discriminatory or not is what adults arbitrarily think. I read the book several times in my kindergarten. Although it is a relatively long story, the kids whose ages range from 2 to 5 listen to it very seriously. [The most important reason for our decision to keep the book] concerns the [Japanese] kids enjoyment of it. (An anonymous respondent, cited in Mori, 2004)19 The story may still bring joy to her kids; however, she completely ignores the effect that their exposure to the books images of Blacks might have on the children. Perhaps, she does not mind the possible negative effects. One possible reason for her one-sided assessment of the work is that her perception of Blacks differs little from the books depiction of blacks. Furthermore, it is problematic that she prioritizes her kids enjoyment of the book over the books denigration of Blacks. Her domestic concerns have a higher priority than her humanistic responsibilities.20 A similar story further explains why Japanese permit and, indeed, promote such images of Blacks. The following image was taken in an established department store, Sogo, in central Tokyo in 1988.21

Figure 8. Black mannequins in a Tokyo department store in 1988 To be inserted here

The two mannequins clearly show exaggerated pickaninny-like features. However, the first person to publicly acknowledge the problem was an American newspaper reporter. Again, the Japanese had never realized that such a representation could be a problem. Examining the context for these representations raises a few important considerations. First, Japanese either did not notice or did not care that these representations could be problematic in the eyes of foreigners. The proof is that only an external (overseas) voice

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identified the images problematic effects. In the case of these mannequins, both the department store and the manufacturer of the mannequins denied that they had any intention to discriminate against Blacks (Shapiro, 1988, p. A18). There responses to the Washington Post reporter did not sound like mere excuses; the representatives of the two businesses seemed to express genuine surprise that the image could pose a problem. A more serious consideration is that the source revealing the problematic nature of the image. It was an established American newspaper, not a Black. In the Japanese mind, the Washington Post is an established respectable American medium. And in the Japanese mind, any established respectable American entity conjures up images of racially White people. What would have been the response of the businesses Japanese representatives if, rather than a (White) journalist for a respected Western newspaper, a Blackaffiliated with no established entityhad brought the problem to the representatives attention? If merely ignorant of the images negative connotations, the Japanese in charge would have withdrawn the image regardless of who the source was. Consider the possibility that the Japanese would have ignored the information if it had come from a Black person or from a relatively powerless African newspaper. Why might this possibility be the case? To answer this question, consider the case of banning The Story of Little Black Sambo for the Nagano Olympics; here, the primary concern of Japanese was that visitors and international media would perceive the city and its people as racists; not that the books treatment of Blacks was perhaps despicable. The Winter Olympics traditionally have had nearly no Black participants, and most participants, visitors, and media audiences have been Whites from Europe and North America (Tajima, 2004). So the most precise assessment of Naganos ban is that it reflected Japanese peoples concern about White

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Westerners perception of Japan, not generally of foreigners perception of Japan. The city lifted the ban as soon as the Olympics were over, the books treatment of Blacks not being a concern in the Japanese mind any more. Thus, why would the same Japanese mind take seriously a nameless Black persons objection to the Black mannequins in a Tokyo department store?

Today Japanese peoples essentialization of Blacks still exists in the Japanese media today. The following is an advertisement that a local subsidiary of a world-wide sporting-goods company released in 1999.

Figure 9. Salomon shoes To be inserted here

The central theme of this advertisement is the wide versatility of the shoes. The large caption on the right reads, [Since I experienced the shoes,] I cannot go anywhere without them. And the promotional caption on the bottom-left reads, The shoes are fully functional for anyone who walks, from a walk around the neighborhood to a global exploration. Salomon is committed to protecting the feet of anyone who walks. The use of this Black figure implies that even a primitive human, once he experiences the function and the comfort of Salomons shoes, cannot live without these brand-name shoes. Classic representations of, and notions about, subjected races are apparent in this ad. The advertisement represents the Black figure, who exhibits no specific national attribution, as a mere underdeveloped and primitive being generally representative, himself, of SubSaharan Africa. The captions connote how versatile the shoes areall the way from a casual

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

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walk to a world exploration. This versatility apparently can cover even Blacks, who, lacking modern equipment, have perhaps been barefoot hunters or warriors in the wilderness (note that he has a spear). Some honest reflection on the image and its contexts should provide considerable evidence that this Black figure functions to designate the bottom end of the range of the products versatility. An outstanding issue is the degree to which this kind of representation is permissible in multi-racial societies today. This particular image of the spear-wielding Black appreciator of hiking shoes resembles what Nederveen Pieterse (1992) characterizes as Western representations of Blacks, particularly Black Africans, in the arena of colonial ethnography between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Fujita (1990) examines Japanese adventure stories situated in Sub-Saharan Africa and finds a rich resemblance with British adventure stories set in the same vast swath of Africa (p. 333). However, such images are not permissible in todays multi-racial societies, where being racially sensitive is crucial. Even if being politically correct is not an issue, this representation-based ridiculing of Blacks would likely ruin any associated promotion and would, at the very least, constitute a public-relations disaster for the company. But these drawbacks are not a concern in the Japanese market, many of whose buyers and sellers still consider Blacks to be inferior outsiders or non-existing people or subhumans.

Summary and Conclusion This essay not only examines black representations in Japan but also identifies the role that Japans own social conditions have played in the unique maintenance and development of these images. It is reasonable to argue that Japans images of Blacks were originally imported

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan

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from the West and that they reflected Western racial ideology of the time. However, in support of their perceived needs, the Japanese have nurtured those images. For example, Japanese have used the images to maintain Japans own hierarchical racial ideology, which identifies Japanese as superior to all other non-White races. Japans demographics play an important role herein. That Japan lacks racially diverse groups, which could act as civil watchdogs, helps create and preserve tolerance for negative representations of non-Japanese. Historically, Blacks have been absent from Japanese society, an absence that has allowed the Japanese to freely produce negative images of Blacks, even today. Evidence of this permissibility lies in Japanese audiences acquiescence and tolerance regarding the images. Tezuka repeatedly depicted essentialized images of barbaric Blacks most notably, Black Africansto contrast the Blacks general inferiority with heroic White or Japanese characters. Over the course of four decades and into the present, almost no domestic Japanese group has criticized his representations. As the episode regarding The Story of Little Black Sambo indicates, the Japanese mind still does not quite understand why such representations of Blacks can be a problem. And Japan keeps producing and maintaining those images. For a long time, because of its insular nature in both demography and language, Japanese media products have been consumed only domestically. This condition has also allowed the Japanese to maintain their images of Blacks. Nonetheless, owing to the increase of global exchanges of ideas, people, and media products, larger and larger overseas audiences are consuming the Japanese images of Blacks. The very first examples that the current essay mentioned, Pokemon and Dragonball Z, are only two of many salient cases.

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These pickaninny-like images seem quite outdated, and many people would wonder why they still exist and why they are coming from Japan. However, this essays overriding argument is that Japan has a rich history in maintaining these images. These are very much Japanese creations. While discussing anime and its global spread, Price (2001) argues, A funny thing about anime: no matter how popular it is in the West and how universal it just might be, there is no way to disguise its very Japaneseness. Anime is deeply imbedded in all aspects of Japanese society: Folklore, legends, history, religion, moral assumptions, and aesthetic standards, to name a few. Fans around the world might be surprised to know that anime is created with only the Japanese audience in mind. (p. 156) These pickaninny-like images well represent what Price argues. The images are imbedded in Japaneseness. Japanese history, moral assumptions, and racial ideology are all important parts of Japaneseness and all draw strength from the images, insofar as they function with only the Japanese audience in mind. This essay is a case study of race, racial imagination, and racial ideology in a transnational context. Racial imagination and racial ideology regarding a particular race can exist in a society that seems to have no direct ties to the racial group. However, or because of no ties, the societys domestic environment can allow its people to freely domesticate and develop their racial imaginations. They neither have to consult with reality nor fend off criticism from the subjected racial groups. Such domestic consumption of racial images (images of racial otherness) functions for the societys domestic needs. It is reasonable for us to predict that societies other than Japan have similar domestic uses of racial otherness. These other societies uses could provide us some highly fossilized racist images that no longer correspond to multi-racial societies mainstream perceptions of

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the contemporary objects of those images (for example, mainstream Japanese medias pickaninny-like images and contemporary mainstream American perceptions of Blacks). However, images that are fossilized in one society (e.g., the United States) may be unmistakably contemporary in another society (e.g., Japan), and we can learn about the images functions in the latter societies. Examinations of those fossilized but contemporary images and how people consume them in different contexts constitute a worthwhile research focus in todays unprecedented movement toward globalization, where people and cultural goods can no longer be completely isolated.

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Notes:
1 2

1789-1815 Pokemon was originally a video game (1996). But soon after, it also became a cartoon anime TV program (1997). Pokemon hatsubai-kara 10 nen (10 years since Pokemon was first released). (2006). Nikkeiryutsu Shinbuun, p. 11. Between 1997 and 2001, 15,414 people on average were naturalized each year; however, 96 percent were Korean and Chinese who had resided in Japan for generations (Ministry of Justice, 2001). The latest Census as of summer 2004. Ministry of Justice (2004) estimates that the number of illegal foreigners residing in Japan peaked during the early 1990s. The highest number was 298,646 in 1992. Some argue that the particular term kuronbo might not have any derogatory connotations (e.g., Leupp, 1995, p.3). However, it has contemptuous and childish connotations in the contemporary lexicon. And what is more important is that these blacks were illustrated as anonymous beings and merely called by this generic term. They were not perceived as human beings having active agencies. Passages in The Tale of Genji (1005) frequently make note of the Japanese admiration of white skin, such as, she was very white, and Lady Dainagon was very small, but as she is white and beautifully round. . Dower (1986) notes, any reader of the eleventh-century Tale of Genji is aware of the scorn to which dark-complexioned individuals might be subjected (p. 209). Shunro OSHIKAWA (1876-1914) Yoichiro MINAMI (1893-1980). He also used another pen name Norimasa IKEDA. The image of Tarzan film can be seen from later years. In his best-seller, Almost Transparent Blue (1981), popular novelist Ryu Murakami features a black woman as a nameless character: The black woman sat on top of me. At the same time her hips began to swivel at tremendous speed. She turned her face to the ceiling, let out a Tarzan yell, panted like a black javelin thrower Id seen in an Olympic film (p. 54). Osamu TEZUKA (1928-1989). He was also an MD. This translation is by Russell. However, the correct translation is Gods Fort. Shusaku ENDO (1923-1996) The Japanese title literary means to raise or to breed, and the title for the two English translation editions are The Catch and/or Thing. Oe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994. Russell (1995) also notes that Japanese perception about sex and sexual desire of blacks is pathological (p. 28). Translated by the author of this essay Translated by the author of this essay

5 6

10 11

12 13 14 15

16 17

18
19

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20

Writer and critic Akira Nagae reported that, as of 2005, the book was being sold without any mention of the previous controversy (Nagae, 2005, p. 9). Sogo is a nationwide department store.

21

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Manabe, K. (1994). Koukokuno shakaigaku [Sociology of advertising]. Tokyo: Nikkei Koukoku Kenkyujyo [The Research Institution of Japan Economy Newspaper]. Ministry of Internal Affair and Communications. (2003). Nihon-no anime tokei [Statistics of Japanese animations.]. Retrieved September 2004, from http://www.soumu.go.jp/snews/2003/031225_8a.html. Ministry of Justice. (2001). Natulaization statistics 1997-2001. Retrieved August 2004, http://www.moj.go.jp/TOUKEI/t_minj03.html. Ministry of Justice. (2004). Honpo-niokeru fuhoutzairyushasunituite [Statistics about illegal foreigner in Japan]. Retrieved February 2, 2005, from http://www.moj.go.jp/PRESS/040326-2/040326-2.html. Ministry of Public Management. (2001a). Monthly Statistics of Japan. No. 486 p. 15. Ministry of Public Management. (2001b). Population Census 2000. Retrieved, September 1, 2003, from http://www.stat.go.jp/data/kokusei/2000/kihon1/00/hyodai.htm. Miyoshi, M. (1979). As we saw them. Berkeley: University of California Press. Mori, K. (2000). Chibikurosanpo Q & A [Questions and Answers about The Story of Little Black Sambo (Sampo)]. Retrieved September. 25, 2004, from http://zenkoji.shinshuu.ac.jp/mori/sampo/sampoQandA.html. Murakami, R. (1981). Almost transparent blue. N. Andrew (Trans.). Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd. Nagae, A. (2005, May 15). Natsukashii ehon-wo yonde kanngaeru [Reconsidering with reading a dear picture book]. Asahi Shinbun, pg. 9. Nederveen Pieterse, J. (1992). White on black: Images of Africa and blacks in Western popular culture. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press. OBarr, W. M. (1994). Culture and the ad: Exploring otherness in the world of advertising. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Oe, K. (1981). The catch and other war stories. Tokyo: Kodansha International. Ong, H. H. (2003, November 2). J-pop to the rescue: Cultural exports from movies to fashion are ringing in the dollars both at home and across Asia. Straits Times, pg. not indicated. Price, S. (2001). Cartoons from Another Planet: Japanese Animation as Cross-Cultural Communication. Journal of American & Comparative Culture 24(1-2). 153-169. Ramaprasad, J. & Hasegawa, K. (1990). An analysis of Japanese television commercial. Journalism Quarterly, 67(4), 1025-1033.

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Ramaprasad, J., & Hasegawa, K. (1992). Informational content of American and Japanese television commercials. Journalism Quarterly, 69(3), 612-622. Pokemon hatsubai-kara 10 nen [10 years since Pokemon was first released]. (2006). Nikkeiryutsu Shinbuun, pg. 11. Russell, J. (1991a). Narratives of denial: Racial chauvinism and the black other in Japan. Japan Quarterly, 38(40), 416-428. Russell, J. (1991b). Nihonjin-no kokujinkan [Perception of blacks among Japanese]. Tokyo: Shinhyoron. Russell, J. (1991c). Race and reflexivity: The black other in contemporary Japanese mass culture. Cultural Anthropology, 6(1), 3-25. Russell, J. (1995). Sabetsuto henken-ha donoyoni tsukurareruka; Kokujin sabetsu , hanyudaya ishiki-wo chushin-ni [How discrimination and prejudice constructed: With focusing on discrimination against blacks and anti-Judaism]. Tokyo: Akashi Shoten. Shapiro, M. (1988, July 22). Old black stereotypes find new lives in Japan. Washington Post, pg. A18. Shimada, H. (1994). Japans guest worker. R. Northridge (Trans.). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. Shimin-no terebi-no kai [Citizens of analyzing television] (FCT). (1991). Terebi-ga utsusu gaikoku-to nihonn-no kokusaika [How television portray foreign countries and Japans internationalization]. Kanagawa Japan: FTC. Suzuki, M. (1996). Genjitsu-wo tsukuridasu souchi: imeji CM [A device of creating reality: Image CM]. In T. Inoue, C. Ueno, & Y. Ehara (Eds.). Hyougen-to Media [Presentation and media] (pp. 150-165). Tokyo: Iwanami. Tajima, A. (2004). Amoral universalism: Mediating and staging global and local in the 1998 Nagano Olympic Winter Games. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 21(3), 241-260. Tezuka, O. (1977, reprint) Janguru taitei [Jungle Emperor]. Tokyo: Kodansha. Thornton, M. C. (1985). Collective representations and Japanese view of African-descent populations. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 6, 90-101. Wagatsuma, H. (1967). The social perception of skin color in Japan. Daedalus, 96, 407-443. Wagatsuma, H., & Yoneyama, T. (1967). Henken-no Kouzo: Nihonjin-no jinsyukan [Structure of prejudice: Racial perception of Japanese]. Tokyo: NHK Books.

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Waseda to bungaku [Waseda University and literature]. (2004). Retrieved 2004, December, from http://www.littera.waseda.ac.jp/sobun/o/oo056/oo056p01.htm Yamashita, S. O. (1996). Ethnographic report of an African American student in Japan. Journal of Black Studies, 26(6), 735-748.

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Appendix Figures to be inserted

Figure 1. Pokemon character Jynx

(Source: Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, 2007).

Figure 2. Dragonball Z character Mr. Popo

(Source: Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, 2007).

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan Figure 3. Portuguese missionary and black servant (part)

36

(Source: Nanban byobu, Nanban Art Museum (Kobe City Museum,)

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan Figure 4. Illustrations of various foreigners

37

(Source: Kohler Art Library (reprint), Madison, WI)

Figure 5. Mistral show in 1854

(Source: Kohler Art Library (reprint), Madison WI)

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan Figure 6. Excerpt from Tezukas cartoon

38

(Source: Jyanguru Taitei [Jungle Emperor], (1977, reprint), p. unknown)

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan Figure 7. Tezuka and NBC; Self-portrayal

39

(Source: Tezuka (Kami-no tride), cited in Russell, 1991b, p. 87)

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan Figure 8. Black mannequins in Tokyo department store in 1988

40

(Source, Shapiro 1988, p. A18)

Transnational and domesticated use of racial hierarchy: Representations of Blacks in Japan Figure 9. Salomon shoes

41

(Source: NAVI 1999, Nov. p. 50)