1. Changes over time
2. Racial minority/ racial majority
difference
3. Life is good

Masters Dissertation title‘Japanese Perceptions of the Black
Other and the Role of Blackness inJapanese Society’

“Blacks are good at singing anddancing, a little wild and …lazy I
guess.”rd(3 Year female Japanese university student,English major)

Attitude Survey One - Top five traits
assigned to black men
MusicalAthleticBig
Scary
ViolentAttitude Survey One - Top five traits
assigned to black females
MusicalAthleticBig
SexyViolent

https://jp.pinterest.com/pin/329325791476111977/Chris Hart

http://chris-hart.net/yoyaku/

Dante Carver

http://remix-model.co.jp/talent/dante-carver/

Michelle Obama

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ミシェル・オバマ

Venus & Serena Williams

http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Venus+Williams/Serena+
Williams/Marc+Jacobs+Spring+2006+Front+Row/bIhhcn-oI1e

Dr. Wangari Maathai

http://www.tottenhamtrees.org/wangari-maathai.html

Black Feminist Theory
 Lived experience as a criterion of meaning Use of dialogue in assessing knowledge
claims An ethic of caring An ethic of personal responsibility
Collins, P.H. (2000), Black Feminist thought: Knowledge,
consciousness and the politics of empowerment

Research Questions
 How do Black women living in Japan
perceive their experiences?
 How have these experiences changed
over time?

Data Collection
 Questionnaires
 Interviews (1-2 hours long) Terminology‘Black’ as an all encompassing term
Any black women of African descent,including biracial peopleNameAge

Length of time inJapan

Age

Country ofbirthOccupation

Type of Location

Stacey31

6 years

31

JamaicaEnglishUrban

Jamaica

TeacherEnglish teacher/

Urban

GambiaWellness coach
Hair stylist/

Urban
Urban

VioletBintou

3240’s4 years
23 years

3240’sCamille27

3 years

27England

model
English teacher

Theresa

26

1 year26

EnglandEnglish teacher

Urban

Laura

36

3 years

36

USMother/

RuralUrban
RuralAnn
Annabelle

38
43

13 years
10 years

38
43

USUS

Homemaker
Charity worker
English teacher/Charity worker

Karen

20

5 months

20

US

Exchange student

RuralAngela37

10 years

37

US

English teacher

Rural

Carol

40’s

17 years

40’s

US

Writer/

RuralTeacher

Reasons for coming to Japan
Interest in culture and language (8)Work (6)Family issues (3)Study (3)Concerns prior to coming toJapan

Racism“I was worried I would be viewed and treatedthe same way as I was treated in America;
basically having the same stereotypes forced
upon me.”(Karen, US, 20, Exchange student, 5 months in Japan

Comments made by Nakasone“Since there are black people, Puerto
Ricans and Mexicans in the UnitedStates, its level of intelligence is lower
on the average.”(September 28, 1986; Clarence Page
Chicago Tribune)
http://www.aflo.com/email_magazine/
email_magazine20070927.html

Reaction to Nakasone comments“As a child I had seen news stories
about blacks being seen as inferior but
it didn’t bother me.”(Angela, 37, English teacher, US, 10 years inJapan)

Staring

Career Options

Language

Distance from Family

Hair and beauty care

Interactions with Japanesepeople

“It was so hard for me... When I
had my son I was pregnant andanywhere I go even the hospital
they were not so nice to me,…”(Bintou, 40’s, hairstylist, Gambia, 23 years in Japan)

“…because I’m from Africa maybe,
and they look down on Africa."(Bintou, 40’s, hairstylist, Gambia, 23 years in Japan)

“They always tell me, you arelucky to be in Japan.”(Bintou, 40’s, hairstylist, Gambia, 23 years in Japan)

It was so hard for me... When I had my son I was
pregnant and anywhere I go even the hospital they
were not so nice to me, because I’m from Africa
maybe, and they look down on Africa. They always
tell me, you are lucky to be in Japan.
(Bintou, 40’s, hairstylist, Gambia, 23 years in Japan)

Bintou reflecting on arriving in Japan 23 years
ago:“ You know in those days black women werevery rare. Everywhere I went people would stareat me and ask me too many questions, laughand point at me, so that was a big problem forme, it was hard at the beginning.”(Bintou, 40’s, hairstylist, Gambia, 23 years in Japan)

“I was obviously gawked at (stared at) but I
ended up living in a city that’s quite
notorious for foreigners so for the mostpart, I felt that I was treated fairly well.

(Theresa, 26, English teacher, UK, 1 year in Japan)

There were the occasional few people who didn’t know
how to behave however. They would fall silent whenserving me, or feel the need to revert to what little
English they possessed to accommodate me. Somepeople would even pretend that I didn’t exist.”(Theresa, 26, English teacher, UK, 1 year in Japan)

“I was obviously gawked at but I ended up living in acity that’s quite notorious for foreigners so for themost part, I felt that I was treated fairly well. There
were the occasional few people who didn’t know
how to behave however. They would fall silent whenserving me, or feel the need to revert to what little
English they possessed to accommodate me. Somepeople would even pretend that I didn’t exist.”(Theresa, 26, English teacher, UK, 1 year in Japan)

“Compared with how African Americans aretreated in America I was treated relatively
well…ultimately when I was treated differently,
for the first time I felt like it had nothing to dowith skin and just the fact that I was notJapanese. It was honestly refreshing.”(Karen, 20, Exchange student, US, 5 months)

Once I was turned down for a job in an English
school because they wanted a white person. Butthat experience just made me try harder tosucceed.
(Camille, 27, English teacher, England, 3 years inJapan)

So I'm sitting down and folks are talking tome about their travel experience about 45
mins ago and this Japanese lady says shereally enjoyed Los Angeles because she stayed
there for a month ....
(Kadeidre, 30’s, U.S, 3 years in Japan)

Her (34 years old) : I stayed there for onemonth
Me: oh okay nice, what did you do?
Her: I did a lot and I made a lot of friends fromall over.
Me: that's niceHer: but my host mother said it's a lot of
native African Americans near so maybe Ishould stay away because they are very
dangerous people so when I heard the police
in my neighborhood she said…

…the "native African Americans" are doing
something, wow kadeidra! I was so scared ofthem. I was thinking oooooh! don't kill me
no, no, don’t talk to me!
(everyone nodding and agreeing) so, so, so,so.

Me: Are you scared now?
(Blank stares) from everyone.
Guy: why , what?
Me: I'm African American too, you didn'tknow.

Room Quiet for 2 mins everyone staring at mevery intrigued and child like.
It seemed they were in awe I was black. As if I
was in a BLACK costume. Mind you they know
me very well and know I'm from the States.
People have no filter with Black people, they say
whatever the hell they want.
(Kadeidre, 30’s, U.S, 3 years in Japan)

Interactions with otherforeigners

Positives“I have made some amazing friends from aroundthe world from living in Tokyo. From Nepal, NewZealand, German to South Africa and many
countries in between. I have met such a diversity ofinteresting and passionate people.”(Annabelle,43, English teacher, US, 10 years inJapan)

Negatives

I never experienced overt racism nor white supremacy
before I moved to Japan. So, I never knew I could beviewed as inferior or unworthy because of my ethnicity.
Most of the Caucasian foreigners I’ve encountered areconfused or uncomfortable with my bearing.

(Violet, 32, Jamaica, 6 years in Japan)

Negatives
Without a doubt, the staring, the pointing, the looks of
discomfort, the licking, (it was a little kid who thought
perhaps I taste like chocolate), etc. Can be disconcerting
but from my experience the most off-putting andbordering on racist comments I have received whileliving in Japan have not come from Japanese people.
(Ann, Charity worker, US, 37, 13 years in Japan)

Mothering in Japan
https://jp.pinterest.com/agarciabelgrano/africanas/

Very hard not easy at all… you know how kids are theywant to move around and play. I took them to a park
once to play and the other kids, they ran away fromthem. They took time to play with them because theyare different. Some even cry and some of the good
mother try to talk to their kids to play with them, butsome of the horrible mothers just took their kids away.
(Bintou, Gambia, 40’s,mother of two children now intheir 20’s, 23 years in Japan)My kids make friends so easily. WheneverI take them to the park I feel I can take arest because they just run off and play.
(Laura, 30’s US, Mother of two boys 3 & 5,
lives in rural Japan, 3 years in Japan)

Children's cultural identity

“I don’t know how to teach my son to be ablack man.”(Laura, 30’s, US, mother of two boys 3 years inJapan)

…but my daughter- she doesn’t think she is Japanese, but
the way she does things is really Japanese. For seijinshiki I
wanted her to wear traditional African dress, but she saidno mummy, because I’m a foreigner I will stand out andkimono will look more cute. The Koreans wear theirtraditional dress but she doesn’t want to, and that bothers
me… I worry that my kids will lose their culture.

(Bintou, Gambia 40’s,mother of two, 23 years in Japan)Black Female
Beauty:Changing
Perceptions
https://jp.pinterest.com/zarifaseyyal/dance-movement-in-art/

What is the image of a beautiful woman in Japan?
What kind of features (hair, skin, etc.) are seen asbeautiful?
Do you think that the image of female beauty ischanging in Japan?

Bintou: An early modeling experience“Though I have some jobs in some places, many
companies they reject me because I’m black and I
remember one company told me I would look
beautiful if I was white. Yes I experienced this a longtime ago, ‘Your face is so beautiful and small, if you
were white you would be more beautiful’.
(Bintou, Gambia 40’s, 23 years in Japan)

“Japanese seem stuck in an image of beauty thatis based on their image of Caucasian looks:
white skin, blond, straight hair, “big” blue eyes,thin body, etc. I have none of the looks thatmany Japanese seem to find beautiful but never
have I been more proud or happy with mybeauty and how I look.”(Ann, 38, US, 10 years in Japan)

http://www6.nhk.or.jp/drama/pastprog/detail.html?i=2918

Changing Attitudes“Because of my job, men and women they will talk to me
and many of them say they wish they had been born black.
They say black people are good, black people arebeautiful…”(Bintou, Gambia, 40’s, 23 years in Japan)

“You know I think the problem was a long time ago
these Japanese people they didn’t know about blackpeople because of what white people were teachingthem about black people ... But now they’re(Japanese people) are travelling and they know
different.”(Bintou, Gambia, 40’s, 23 years in Japan)

Feelings about life in Japan“I love Japan! From the opportunity to
discover an entire culture on a daily basis.”(Annabelle, 43, US, 10 years in Japan)

http://blog.art.com/artwiki/~/monica-stewart/

“I love who I am even more living in Japan”(Ann, 37, US, 13 years in Japan)“More sure of myself as a person and as anAmerican.”(Carol, 40’s, 17 years in Japan)

Opportunity“I love the independence I have here…I’mliving the life I’ve always wanted really and I
wouldn’t have been able to get that back homebecause the standard of life back home isreally expensive. Living in Japan feels easy,
despite the language barrier.”(Theresa, 26, English teacher UK, 1 year in Japan)

Opportunity“I have my own business here. I could never
have done that in my country.”(Bintou, Gambia 40’s, 23 years in Japan)A sense of freedom“ In Japan I feel like I am characterised by myforeign-ness but that’s a pretty broad category
so I feel more free.”(Theresa, 26, English teacher UK, 1 year inJapan)

Safety“Peace! Nobody stealing, no guns. Rape
unlikely. I am from a big city and to worryabout my purse… every 5 minutes wasdraining.”(Laura, 37, US, 3 years in Japan)

Online Community: Black Women in Japan

https://www.facebook.com/groups/322557231281481/“One of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is bybuilding communities of resistance, places where we know
we are not alone.”(Bell Hooks)

Nina Cornyetz, (1994) Fetishized Blackness: Hip
Hop and Racial Desire in Contemporary Japan
Ian Condry (2006) – Hip Hop Japan and thepaths of Cultural Globalization
John Russell,(1991), Race and Reflexivity: TheBlack Other in Contemporary Japanese MassCulturehttps://darkskinisbeautiful.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/eyes-wide-open-the-re-awakening-ofour-beautiful-black-women-by-sonya-mckinzie/

http://dga.rutgers.edu/current-students/sigma-lota-rho

http://parasolsandwellies.blogspot.jp/2013_07_01_archive.html

https://jp.pinterest.com/camouflage44/natural-hairstyles-for-black-women/
http://paposeriodemulher.blogspot.jp/2014/07/mascara-de-hidratacaocaseira-para.html?spref=pi