New York City's first-ever Japanese heritage parade set for next month

Mr. Takei is the perfect choice for Grand Marshal.

Are they gonna block traffic for all 9 of the people who actually participate? I imagine 9 people marching with hundreds of Japanese people standing nervously on the sidewalk, watching.

Oh yeah, and it's going to quickly turn into pasty chunky anime cosplay day.

Very puzzled by this country. Very woke on one end, and extremely racist on the other end.

Boston has a Japan festival on the Common every spring. If you get there early, you can enjoy dozens of cultural booths set up with wares from around Japan, non-profits from Japan looking for exposure, and JAL and NHK running some raffles for plane tickets and whatnot.

After a few hours, it turns into Halloween. Overweight white people swarm the Common dressed up as pudgy anime characters, out-of-breath superheroes, chunky chamber maids, and flabby fairies.

I always feel bad for the Japanese attendees, and especially the organizers. It must be a bit of a gut shot to know that in the eyes of so many Americans, Japan simply equals the crap I described above.

THOMAS R MOUNTCASTLEToday  07:10 am JST

Mr. Takei is the perfect choice for Grand Marshal.

Absolutely. When I met him at a Trekkie convention in 1992, he already was a pioneer in Japanese-Americans in entertainment as well as a spokesperson for his generation that was interned during the WW2 era for racist reasons. During his acting career he portrayed good and bad characters, usually Oriental Asian (but not always, as in Shakespeare) but he utterly refused to take any role that lampooned his ethnicity or his race. He would not portray any of the dumb stereotypes like say 'the geeky awkward' or buffoonish type, none of that 'Ching-Chong' or 'Long Duc Dong' crapola. IOW, he broke the mold.

And it's all for the better. People like him have helped his ethnic group come a long way in America in terms of influence, enrichment and respect.

Yes, I'm a big fan of George Takei too. Oh my.

Oh yeah, and it's going to quickly turn into pasty chunky anime cosplay day.

Cosplay is actually explicitly mentioned in the submission form as not allowed

*"OUTFIT DETAILS: All marchers should wear Japanese fashion or Japan-inspired outfits. This includes wearing traditional garments like kimono as well as more modern fashion such as street fashion, Harajuku fashion, and Lolita fashion. Please note, this does not include cosplay. The Japan Parade is looking to welcome a large number of outfits inspired by Japan, but marchers cannot dress as actual anime characters."*

I created an account to respond directly to CaptDingleheimer.

As I know quite a few people who will curate + participate in the parade, I find it super offensive you diminishing the importance of this parade

Every. Single. Japanese / AAPI person I know in NYC has been harassed for merely existing (especially people who identify as female). Allow people to express pride and joy for their community without your crappy attitude. Your comment only perpetuates stereotypes (being too shy to be in a parade?? Tf??) thus further endangering the AAPI community here in NYC.

Anyone who is able to attend and support this parade, please do so! It’ll be amazing because Japanese culture is amazing. Have a great day!