Black Tokyo Blip.fm

Black Tokyo is now broadcasting music to make you groove via Black Tokyo Blip.fm. So what exactly is a blip?

A blip is a combination of 1) a song and 2) a short message that accompanies it. The way you create a blip is to first search for a song that you want to hear (or a song that you want your listeners to hear), then add a short message (under 150 characters), finally you submit it. 

Check out Zurui’s favorite music and if you are  “blipping” be sure to let Black Tokyo know via an @BlackTokyo in your reply! If you like what you hear give Black Tokyo props on Blip.fm. Props are tokens of respect that can be given from one DJ to another – say for blipping a good song or being a good DJ in general. 

If you follow Black Tokyo on Twitter, you can also receive Black Tokyo Blip.fm updates! Be sure to send me your requests!

Sponsered by Kimono Girl.

Japan Times Blogroll: Black Tokyo

Black Tokyo by RICARDO BILTON:  Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Eric L. Robinson found himself docking in Okinawa in 1981. For the past two decades, Robinson, a Marine Corps veteran, has traveled back and forth between between Japan and the United States, gaining experiences and insights from each culture that he now shares with the readers of the blog Black Tokyo. Currently the sole writer for Black Tokyo, Robinson is dedicated to providing readers with news and information about Japan, much of it undiscussed elsewhere. Frequently controversial and invariably insightful, Robinson discusses in this interview with The Japan Times the experience of being black in Japan, the American military’s role in the country, and things that make you go “hmm.”

 

Eric L. Robinson of Black Tokyo

What is Black Tokyo all about? Why was it created?

What I do everyday is: (1) pass knowledge of my military, professional, civilian and educational experiences; and (2) help minorities discover another world. Black Tokyo was the avenue for me to do that. The site was actually created in January 1999 by Craig Hankerson and he let me come on as a moderator in 2001. I became webmaster in 2003, taking over ownership of the site in 2006. Craig was so busy at the time with what he was doing with his work, and I found myself spending more and more time on the site that I decided that I would love to own Black Tokyo and take it to a different level.

Your blog focuses on, among other things, the experience of black people living in Japan. Do you think that the experience of a black person in Tokyo differs from that of any other group of foreigner?

Yes! Of course, everyone has their take on living in Japan. When I was initially exposed to Japan, it was via the lens of an older white male. I remember telling my mother that I wanted to live in Japan after watching the TV special “Shogun” by James Clavell. While in high school and college, I read numerous books on Japan. None of the books were written by African-Americans.

When I came across the book and later the movie “Bedroom Eyes,” I was finally exposed to an African-American in Japanese literature and on television. I remember how upset I was that the black male was portrayed as a sex fiend, dope addict, U.S. military deserter and thief. The book and the movie, in my opinion, did not do much justice for Japanese women that dated or married African-American men. It just reinforced stereotypes!  Click here  to read the rest of the interview.

Do you tweet? Follow the writer, Ricard Bilton (Rbilton) and the Japan Times (japantimes).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rev. Joseph E. Lowery Benediction Angers Some

I thought my ears played a trick on me when I heard Rev. Lowery open his benediction with words from the Black (Negro) National Anthem, “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears….” Although many that are not Black may not know the words to James Weldon Johnsons’ song, Lift Every Voice and Sing, it seems that some have misunderstood the meaning of the rhyme at the very last part of Reverand Lowery’s benediction: “We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right.” When I was a kid we use to say: 

• If you’re white, you’re right
• If you’re yellow, you’re mellow
• If you’re red, your dead
• If you’re brown, stick around
• And if you’re black, get back.

What Lowery is talking about is institutional racism and the color preferences that existed in America, especially during his time. He is not talking to or about White people per se. To break this down further:

• Blacks getting in back refers to having to sit in the back of the bus and not having equal rights in America.
• Browns sticking around is the solidarity that was forming when Hispanics began to join with Blacks during the “revolution” of Black Power. 
• Reds being dead refers to the slaughter of the Native American and the plight they face in “their” land. 
• Yellow being mellow means that Asians were pacified especially after WWII (internment of Japanese-Americans and other Asians being lumped into the “Jap” category). 
• And finally, white being right refers to the preference and power that whites (as deemed by various Jim Crow laws and US government city, state and certain federal institutions) had/have in America. 

Listen to Big Bill Broonzy‘s song “Black, Brown and White” to hear the origin of Rev. Lowery’s poem. So please, before you slam Reverand Lowery try to understand where he and we (Americans) came from, ask somebody, do some research or just shut the hell up before you start bitching online! You’re messing up my groove! By the way, today’s inaugural speech is the first time a president has ever explicitly acknowledged “Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus” but non-believers as well. If that is not a good path to inclusion, I do not know what is! GOD (or whom/whatever you follow) BLESS US ALL!

A Change is Gonna Come

A few things came to mind as the day of service in honor of the Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to a close today. One was Dr. Martin Luther King’s Prediction.

Another was a song that I learned at a very early age during the Civil Rights Movement:  Lift Every Voice and Sing (The Black National Anthem) by James Weldon Johnson.

And finally, a song that could reflect the mood or hope that is sweeping the world:  A Change is Gonna Come

I’m counting down the hours until Bush lifts off from the White House lawn and the new Obama Administration begins to officially lift up the U.S.A. Of course it will be a take time to fix the numerous challenges in America but I think I am safe to say that after eight-years of not having prior proper planning which led to piss-poor performance, a lot of people believe that America will redeem itself at home and abroad.

A lot more people are now willing to work for CHANGE, are you? 

Books on Japan

I received an email from a college student asking me to recommend books on Japan. Below are five books that I use for research and teaching. 

1. The African-American Encounter with Japan & China, Black Internationalism in Asia, 1895-1945 (Gallicchio)
2. African-American Views of the Japanese (Kearney)
3. Japan Rising (Pyle)
4. Japan’s Reluctant Realism (Green)
5. Japanese the Manga Way (Lammers)

Click here for additional recommendations, and my views, on Japan! If you are interested in purchasing any of the books, you can order via Amazon (and help Black Tokyo earn a small commission which will be used to pay for website hosting).

Enjoy!

 

Amazon.com Widgets 

Mainichi Shimbun answers questions on Obama’s race

When I first read Yoshinori Nakai’s (Deputy Chief Editorial Writer, Mainichi Shimbun) article answering the question: “Is U.S. President-elect Barack Obama really black?” I thought: “Okay, this is really a dumb-ass question!” but then it dawned on me that some in America had/have/may have issues with Obama and his race:

1. “Is he Black enough?” 
2. “He’s not Black, he’s mixed/biracial.”
3. Racial identity equation:  white + black = black
4. “He’s half-white/mixed/biracial/other, so Black people should stop trying to claim him!” I call this the Tiger Woods Syndrome.
5. The Stanley Crouch comment in a New York Daily News column entitled “What Obama Isn’t: Black Like Me.”
6. “Black, in our political and social vocabulary, means those descended from West African slaves,”wrote Debra Dickerson on the liberal website Salon.
7. As written in Time: “Obama, for his part, settled this debate some time ago. “If I’m outside your building trying to catch a cab,” he told Charlie Rose, “they’re not saying, ‘Oh, there’s a mixed race guy.’” 

Commentary: What Barack Obama means to me

When President-elect Barack Obama and his family take up residence in the White House it means that he will move into every household in America. He will not be just some Black dude that moved in down the street in a predominately White neighborhood and his family will not become the new Cosby Show. The Obamas move on big time to prime time on the biggest channel watched by millions in the world.

I am a child of the 60′s and a US Marine Corps veteran that served and fought for America much like my father, uncles and cousins did during the Korean War and conflict in Vietnam. The biggest difference in the conflicts during my military service and theirs is that they fought wars abroad only to return home to fight various forms of in your face racism in America.

I am a product of the Detroit public school system and moved from the ghetto to the top flo’ (and at times back down) because others broke various glass ceilings. There was a school house in Little Rock, Arkansas that had its glass ceiling broken by some black children which ultimately allowed people like me, opportunity. There was a young lawyer that had only lost one case out of 30 who went on to become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice in American history. His tenacity ended segregation in public schools. There was a little ol’ woman that rode a bus and refused to give up her seat (and she was not the only one, just the most famous) that translated into people like her being legally allowed to do more than keep their seat. When I headed to a school full of people that I predominately saw on television, in magazines, downtown or at the “white” shopping center, it was like being in a different country. A glass ceiling broke in my house and let in the fresh air of hope when I accomplished things that a couple of generations in my family had not. They paved the way, I just followed the path. Like a young Barack, I had a mother that shoved when I need a push and a family that supported me when I needed.

As a 16-year-old college freshman exposed to something new, I made the most of it. Barack Obama attended the some of the best schools in America and is headed as uptown as one can go in America. I am sure that he will take advantage of being exposed to something new and that he and the in-coming First Lady, Michelle Obama, will expose something new to many in America and around the world.

A New Pride in America?

I read the Eugene Robinson (pictured above) piece, “Obama Campaign Instills New Pride” and felt the need to comment here at Black Tokyo. Mr. Robinson writes for the Washington Post. His column is distributed by the Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th NW, Washington, DC 20071. You can reach him at eugenerobinson@washpost.com. Please feel free to leave your comments!

Obama campaign instills new pride

Whoever wins this election, I understand what Barack Obama meant when he said his faith in the American people had been “vindicated” by his campaign’s success. I understand what Michelle Obama meant, months ago, when she said she was “proud of my country” for the first time in her adult life. Why should they be immune to the astonishment and vertigo that so many other African-Americans are experiencing? Why shouldn’t they have to pinch themselves to make sure they aren’t dreaming, the way that I do?

I know there’s a possibility that the polls are wrong. I know there’s a possibility that white Americans, when push comes to shove, won’t be able to bring themselves to elect a black man as president of the United States. But the spread in the polls is so great that the Bradley effect wouldn’t be enough to make Obama lose; it would take a kind of “Dr. Strangelove effect” in which voters’ hands developed a will of their own.

Zurui’s comment: Not only white Americans but other Americans that tend to vote Republican and not for a “normal” candidate.

I’m being facetious but not unserious. In my gut, I know there’s a chance that the first African-American to make a serious run for the presidency will lose. But that is precisely what’s new and, in a sense, unsettling: I’m talking about possibility, not inevitability.

Clam Magazine interviews Black Tokyo’s Zurui

Founded by film producer Andy Okoroafor,CLAM is a unisex magazine whose goal is to promote creativity, concepts and ideas in fashion, architecture, music, design, the arts, free-time, travels and African design…. these different themes are approached in two main areas: Lifestyle and Trends. 

Each subject is part of an original and conceptual artistic direction. The concepts are presented through the expression of the artists and creators coming from very different horizons.

The place accorded to the image is central: she wants to be unusual, so as to create constant surprise for the viewer.

Experimentation is one of the characteristics of CLAM which explains its layout: always changing, never fixed. Clam wants to encourage creative reflexion.The presentation is based on ideas and not the seasons. 
This concept confers to the magazine a collector’s status.

In the interview, Zurui discusses his background, life in Japan as a US Marine, expat worker, actor; and of course, the Black Tokyo website. You can purchase CLAM online or in: Paris, France; Italy, Sweden, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K. and in the USA.

Yajima Biyoshitsu

The talented and sometimes funny owarai duo, Tunnels, have recently hooked-up with DJ Ozma (former Kishidan band leader) to form and produce a temporary female trio called Yajima Biyoshitsu (Yajima Beauty Salon). The female trio is actually the three men in drag. Here is the official website.

The Yajima Biyoshitsu new song ties into a new Lotte chewing gum commercial (the CM schedule can be found here) starring actress Masami Nagasawa. The debut song, “Nihon no Mikata – Nevada Kara Kimashita,” debuted on TV the day before and saw a reportedly 14,000 chaku-uta (ringtone) downloads in the hour after its premiere, taking the #1 spot on the Recochoku daily charts.

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Now I do not mind comedy but I do mind the direction that the group, Avex and Lotte took in putting this commercial together.

According to the story line, the trio is supposedly made up of a family from Nevada, consisting of a 36-year-old former stripper named Margaret Yajima (played by DJ Ozma) and her two daughters, the 17-year-old Naomi and the 11-year-old Strawberry both played by Tunnels. The mother a.k.a. Black Bolt (her stage name at the shake joint) brought her daughters to Japan to look for their father, a Japanese barber or beautician named Yajima. 

I worked with the Tunnels twice in the late 90′s and their current comedy to me is mediocre at best. These guys are known for pushing the envelope or being over-the-top when it comes to stereotypes. To see DJ Ozma come out of retirement to do this gig is sort of a disappointment since I have been a fan of his since he was a leading the band Kishidan. Additionally, I have done a print, television and internet campaign for Lotte’s restaurant chain, Lotteria. 

Now unlike the Gosperats, no black face is involved in this current CM and it seems that men (on television) dressing up as women in Japan is sort of a norm. What I find extremely distasteful is the description of the faux black women, the implied teenage pregnancy and the husband that left the US (his family and his business) to return to Japan. What’s up with that?!