Masks of famous faces in Japan are seen at a toy/mask shop not far from Ameyoko in Tokyo on Monday.
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Masks of famous faces in Japan are seen at a toy/mask shop not far from Ameyoko in Tokyo on Monday.
© Japan Today
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some14some
is this business run by LDP?
Serrano
I recognized Abe, Bobby, Ishiba, Aso and the panda right away.
TheDevilsAssistant
Is that Anonymous in front of Abe?
gas07lisa
@bass4funk Bobby doesn't represent entire racial community. People are cleaver enough to know that Bobby doesn't represent black people, Bobby is just Bobby, and Bobby is intentionally trying to be a clown, just like other people on "variety TV shows" do. I don't understand because I'm not black? Fine, you can say that. But I know black people in Japan who have no problems with Bobby or with Japanese people laughing at Bobby.
NeoJamal
why, these are just the freshest ingredients for the most un-PC political cartoon ever to be drawn.
WilliB
Who is the black guy, Bobby Ologun?
OssanAmerica
Nobody mentioned the Guy Fawkes (Anonymous) mask in the center.
bass4funk
Why is everyone giving hoserfella thumbs down?? What he said is absolutely true and as a result Japanese think it is OK to make Sambo and Shine masks from yesteryear thinking it is perfectly cool and harmless, but they are making fun of an entire racial community. If you are NOT Black you would and cannot understand how inflammatory it is to do something like that. Basically, it is saying, making fun of Blacks and in a stereotypical style is perfectly acceptable.
gas07lisa
I don't get it. How does making a mask of Bobby become making fun of entire racial community? How does it lead to making a mask of Sambo?
bass4funk
Because it represents racism at its fullest, if you are not black, then you will not understand, simple as that. Study about black racism and Jim Crow and the mockery of blacks in the states and around the world.
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/
bass4funk
@gas
That doesn't mean anything, maybe to a small few it means nothing, but to the majority of Blacks, sorry ,it means a lot! it's rude, vile and insulting! I know Blacks that are Muslim, that are Christians and they have different opposing religious views, they don't all agree, point is, one thing that they all have in common is skin color and to the Japanese, who cannot differentiate it doesn't matter, the taunts, the insult are still there. You cannot say that sculpture doesn't insult black people! Look and compare the other sculptures, they look authentic, but the Black one looks like a complete comical caricature of Sambo! IT IS an insult as to how Bobby portrays himself and acts like a loon on J-TV, do you think Brad Pitt would lower himself or would they make a sculpture of him looking like a clown? He wouldn't stand for it. And reading your comments shows that you really don't understand the pain and level of insensitivity that it causes seeing something like that. Also, you think in the US, that kind of image would be acceptable? I can assure you 110% absolutely NO WAY!
gas07lisa
@bass4funk
Until I read your post, I didn't know Sambo or Jim Crow and I honestly thought this sculpture isn't insult to black people. Bobby does this kind of facial expression on TV so this mask (if you google search Bobby's image, you'll see). and majority of Japanese people don't know Sambo and Jim Crow so they probably have no idea this face is an insult. (Bobby actually posted a pic of his mask on his blog and he probably doesn't know Sambo or Jim Crow either) But it is ignorance and Im sorry that ignorance hurts you but you can't expect everyone to be same as US and everyone to have equal level of sensitivity. Well, whatever I say means nothing because Im not black but google search "Bobby Ologun mask" and there are some English websites about this and you will find posts which agree with you and disagree with you.
Serrano
No doubt these masks are made by Ogawa Rubber Co. in Saitama.
BigDan
I'd never heard of this Bobby Ologon guy but did some research on him.
He's not a Black American but an African.
He apparently has not had the same, long-term experiences of racism as have others so all that "Tom-ing around" probably doesn't bother him as much as it would others.
I understand that by Japanese standards that he's loud and aggressive, that part I like.
hoserfella
The entire black community in Japan can thank Bobby Oregon (sp?) for promoting himself as a clown on a weekly basis and much of the soft racism like what we see on the left.