Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 61 posts

Re: A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

#31

Post by orthoganol »

hudstew wrote: post #19

There are a few things to keep in mind: 1) Ariana Miyamoto was chosen as Miss Japan by Japanese people. 2) The critics of Miyamoto are an extreme, vocal minority on Twitter and 2chan. 3) Although Japanese contestants often perform well at the international level, beauty pageants of this sort do not receive much attention within the country regardless of the contestant. 4) "Hafu" is a Japanese word derived from the En…

Yes, don't base it on the 'vocal minority', rather base it on the everyday experiences of Gaijins living in Japan: It's an extremely racist, xenophobic society, on a tier higher than the United States. Racism is deeply integrated into the average man's world view in ways that it is not in 21st century America.

TBH it's not that different from Korea or China in general, countries I've also lived in. Those 3 nations (ones I can speak for at least) are homogenous, not "nations of immigrants," they haven't had turf wars for minorities, civil rights & political correctness movements. Just the casual daily encounters experienced there as someone who is trying to live there (not someone who is clearly a tourist), would completely baffle any politically liberal, tolerant American.

Re: A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

#32

Post by slipjack »

vtlynch wrote: post #24

This entire article is about stereotyping, and the third paragraph is rife with the authors own stereotypes. "My confusion lasts only until Ariana opens her mouth. Suddenly everything about her shouts out that she is Japanese, from the soft lilting tone of her voice, to her delicate hand gestures and demure expression." What is this trash.

Extra points for Orientalist views of Japanese femininity.

Re: A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

#34

Post by JoeAltmaier »

beachstartup wrote: post #26
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not the word; its the meaning. I'm sure we don't appreciate all the subtlety the label 'hafu' brings to a person in Japan. Remember, here classmate committed suicide over it. I don't think the English 'half' would do that.

i think being 'half' racial in the US is an extremely complex and subtle experience of existence, and by entertaining the thought that this is somehow unique to japan is doing a huge disservice to the experience of being biracial or mixed in the US and anywhere in the world. the reason it is notable is because it is notable almost anywhere on earth.

So, what's the American word that universally summarizes that experience? That was the original assertion, that English has no such word. This wasn't some PC discussion about feelings and such.

Re: A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

#35

Post by MtrL »

RobAley wrote: post #6
beachstartup wrote: post #5

> There is no word like hafu outside Japan, uh, what? how about "half", the exact word that 'hafu' is supposed to emulate? you can't borrow a word from another language, and then claim it's unique to yours! i'm fairly confident nearly everyone on earth knows what it means to be 'half', or just mixed race/ethnicity in general. in fact there are even places on earth where mixed race is the norm. try going to brazil. FU…

A common, although often derogatory, term here in the UK is "half cast" for people (kids in particular) of mixed race.

It's actually half-caste, caste being an Indian term relating to position in society as far I'm in aware.

Re: A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

#36

Post by MtrL »

hudstew wrote: post #19

There are a few things to keep in mind: 1) Ariana Miyamoto was chosen as Miss Japan by Japanese people. 2) The critics of Miyamoto are an extreme, vocal minority on Twitter and 2chan. 3) Although Japanese contestants often perform well at the international level, beauty pageants of this sort do not receive much attention within the country regardless of the contestant. 4) "Hafu" is a Japanese word derived from the En…

I'd imagine the word sounds derogatory to the author as the term half-caste in the UK has the same meaning and has come to be viewed by some (or many, I'm not certain) as a derogatory word.

Re: A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

#37

Post by [deleted] »

orthoganol wrote: post #31
hudstew wrote: post #19

There are a few things to keep in mind: 1) Ariana Miyamoto was chosen as Miss Japan by Japanese people. 2) The critics of Miyamoto are an extreme, vocal minority on Twitter and 2chan. 3) Although Japanese contestants often perform well at the international level, beauty pageants of this sort do not receive much attention within the country regardless of the contestant. 4) "Hafu" is a Japanese word derived from the En…

Yes, don't base it on the 'vocal minority', rather base it on the everyday experiences of Gaijins living in Japan: It's an extremely racist, xenophobic society, on a tier higher than the United States. Racism is deeply integrated into the average man's world view in ways that it is not in 21st century America. TBH it's not that different from Korea or China in general, countries I've also lived in. Those 3 nations (o…

[deleted]

Re: A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

#38

Post by JoeAltmaier »

[deleted] wrote: post #37
orthoganol wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, don't base it on the 'vocal minority', rather base it on the everyday experiences of Gaijins living in Japan: It's an extremely racist, xenophobic society, on a tier higher than the United States. Racism is deeply integrated into the average man's world view in ways that it is not in 21st century America. TBH it's not that different from Korea or China in general, countries I've also lived in. Those 3 nations (o…

[deleted]

But not sufficiently to have significant genetic variation. So while technically true in some sense, not pertinent right?

Re: A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

#39

Post by jrs99 »

orthoganol wrote: post #31
hudstew wrote: post #19

There are a few things to keep in mind: 1) Ariana Miyamoto was chosen as Miss Japan by Japanese people. 2) The critics of Miyamoto are an extreme, vocal minority on Twitter and 2chan. 3) Although Japanese contestants often perform well at the international level, beauty pageants of this sort do not receive much attention within the country regardless of the contestant. 4) "Hafu" is a Japanese word derived from the En…

Yes, don't base it on the 'vocal minority', rather base it on the everyday experiences of Gaijins living in Japan: It's an extremely racist, xenophobic society, on a tier higher than the United States. Racism is deeply integrated into the average man's world view in ways that it is not in 21st century America. TBH it's not that different from Korea or China in general, countries I've also lived in. Those 3 nations (o…

Are you also a minority in the US? Did you live in different areas in the US? Were you physically attacked because of your race or sexual orientation in Japan?

Because if you're going by "casual daily encounters" that seem racist to you, do you ever wonder if a minority in 21st century america experiences the same?

Re: A beauty contest winner making Japan look at itself

#40

Post by jrs99 »

orthoganol wrote: post #31
hudstew wrote: post #19

There are a few things to keep in mind: 1) Ariana Miyamoto was chosen as Miss Japan by Japanese people. 2) The critics of Miyamoto are an extreme, vocal minority on Twitter and 2chan. 3) Although Japanese contestants often perform well at the international level, beauty pageants of this sort do not receive much attention within the country regardless of the contestant. 4) "Hafu" is a Japanese word derived from the En…

Yes, don't base it on the 'vocal minority', rather base it on the everyday experiences of Gaijins living in Japan: It's an extremely racist, xenophobic society, on a tier higher than the United States. Racism is deeply integrated into the average man's world view in ways that it is not in 21st century America. TBH it's not that different from Korea or China in general, countries I've also lived in. Those 3 nations (o…

To be on the same tier of racism as the United States, Japan has to start lynching its minorities.
Post reply on HN