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Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white?

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Re: Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white?

#131

Post by brc »

hugh3 wrote: post #127
brc wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small correction : Great Britain refers to the group of islands also referred to as the British Isles. Great Britain is a geographical reference. The full name of the UK is 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Hence 'British' is a generic term for anyone from the British Isles, although it tends to be used to describe English people, though technically Welsh and Scottish people are also British…

If we're going to be nitpicky and irrelevant, "Great Britain" != "The British Isles". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_the_British_Isle...

The comment wasn't meant to be nitpicky and irrelevant. Was just meant to be an interesting sidebar into the discussion of the term 'Great Britain'.

I guess I should have used a different tone or something. All my other comments I've done expanding something like this have generally been well received, so I'm at a loss why this one was taken so badly. Maybe it was the parent thread.

Re: Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white?

#134

Post by [deleted] »

patio11 wrote: post #27
BobbyH wrote: post #4

The post makes a good point, but it does overlook the fact that the "Godfather of Anime", Osamu Tezuka ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka ) was heavily influenced by Walt Disney and American animation. For instance, the Wikipedia article notes: "The distinctive "large eyes" style of Japanese animation was invented by Tezuka, drawing inspirations on cartoons of the time such as Betty Boop and Walt Disney's Ba…

I agree, manga characters are as white as Bambi is.

[deleted]

Re: Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white?

#135

Post by nl »

brc wrote: post #110
edanm wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, Japanese anime characters do not look western to me. They look Japanese, but that's probably because I'm used to seeing them in anime! I don't see how classic Japanese drawings have anything to do with it; different styles of drawing grew up in different cultures, I expect, and not just because of the different look of people from those culture. As for the baseball question, I don't think it makes much sens…

Small correction : Great Britain refers to the group of islands also referred to as the British Isles. Great Britain is a geographical reference. The full name of the UK is 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Hence 'British' is a generic term for anyone from the British Isles, although it tends to be used to describe English people, though technically Welsh and Scottish people are also British…

No sure why this is downvoted - it's correct, and it appears that the parent is confusing Great Britain and the former British Empire (where the popularity of cricket is widespread).

Re: Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white?

#136

Post by Gotttzsche »

restruct wrote: post #61
BobbyH wrote: post #4

The post makes a good point, but it does overlook the fact that the "Godfather of Anime", Osamu Tezuka ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka ) was heavily influenced by Walt Disney and American animation. For instance, the Wikipedia article notes: "The distinctive "large eyes" style of Japanese animation was invented by Tezuka, drawing inspirations on cartoons of the time such as Betty Boop and Walt Disney's Ba…

But that doesn't mean that large eyes means white. Black people generally have characteristically large eyes too.

anime characters clearly aren't black though

Re: Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white?

#137

Post by Gotttzsche »

Charuru wrote: post #112
BobbyH wrote: post #4

The post makes a good point, but it does overlook the fact that the "Godfather of Anime", Osamu Tezuka ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka ) was heavily influenced by Walt Disney and American animation. For instance, the Wikipedia article notes: "The distinctive "large eyes" style of Japanese animation was invented by Tezuka, drawing inspirations on cartoons of the time such as Betty Boop and Walt Disney's Ba…

I don't see the connection (and I don't think there is one) between large eyes and white people. If you look at anime, people of all colors have pretty much similarly sized eyes, white characters or Japanese characters. If the Japanese really perceive white people to have large eyes, then you would expect to see white people in anime to have larger eyes than Asian characters. That's not the case. Large eyes is a styl…

"If the Japanese really perceive white people to have large eyes, then you would expect to see white people in anime to have larger eyes than Asian characters. That's not the case."

chinese people often have slits for eyes

Re: Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white?

#138

Post by christonog »

byoung2 wrote: post #70
christonog wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I'm Filipino and light skinned, and the first thing people notice about me when I'm there is how light skinned I look. They associate this with beauty. People over there have this obsession with being white, with all the heart throb celebrities looking light skinned and "mestizo," and all the comedians and funny characters looking dark and more malay.

How's this for irony...My fiancee is Filipina, and she has become more tan since living in the US (we go to the Caribbean about once every two months). When we went to the Philippines this past May, she got lots of compliments on her tan from Filipinos. It turns out that her tan skin and the fact that she's with me (a light-skinned Black American) made her look more American, so being tan was more desirable in their…

That is indeed ironic. I've never heard of Filipinos complementing on how tan someone is, though there is a certain shade of tan called "kayumangi" that sort of exemplifies "Filipino Beauty." Filipino views on the various shades of skin color can get kind of confusing.

Re: Why do the Japanese draw themselves as white?

#140

Post by lhorie »

najirama wrote: post #111

This whole thread reeks of nonsensical, "things-we-cannot-say", Politically Correct, bullshit. Let us call a spade a spade shall we? Asians have a considerable and measurable white bias when it comes to aesthetics. http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/13/asia.wh... http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/26/local/me-whitening26 Couple the skin-whitening phenomenon with the double-eyelid surgery explosion wi…

>> Asians have a considerable and measurable white bias when it comes to aesthetics.

I'd be inclined to think you're painting targets around bullet holes there. There are procedures/products that are designed to make people look more caucasian, but you can't just ignore everything else and call it a bias. To give an example, the practice of wearing yukatas to matsuris is distinctly non-caucasian and far more common than, say, eyelid surgery.

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