TUJ Circle

Being Black in Japan (Part 3 – The Dancing Jigger Toy[2])

• Author: Jasmine Louis (Click to see my profile)
• Posted: July 28, 2009, 2:39 pm
• Categories: Campus Life, Japan Life, TOPICS, Tokyo Life
• Tags: african american, black, black women, campus, culture, dancing, female, history, japan, japan campus, japanese, japanese food, jigger, learning japanese, nihon, nihongo, okonomiyaki, racism, student, study, study abroad, temple university, tokyo, tuj, yakisoba
• 1 Comment »

[This is Part 2. Click here for Part 1.]

Yes, I was uncomfortable beyond words.

I had a slew of different thoughts that kept hitting me at 1,000,000 MPH. The most important thoughts/questions were:
Why did he show ME that toy??
Doesn’t he understand where that toy comes from?
Doesn’t he understand the history behind toys like that?
Does he not know how many Black people have died to fight racist things like that?

More importantly, I wouldn’t even be here in Japan studying Communications and Japanese if it weren’t for my parents and grandparents who fought for their rights and the rights of their children.

But I couldn’t say any of that. Not only did I not know how to say that in Japanese, but I was completely speechless. What do you say to a toy like that in such a friendly environment?

(more…)