TUJ Circle

The Communication Network of Temple University, Japan Campus

‘takoyaki’

Being Black in Tokyo (Part 2 – Black Women and Japanese Men)

Before I came to Japan, the one thing I didn’t want to be was unprepared.
Two weeks before getting on the plane to Tokyo, I might have gotten a little obsessive in my search for information on Japan. Useful language phrases, how to correctly use chopsticks (yes, there’s a correct way), how to make nikujaga, how to tie a kimono… and of course I spent hours upon hours locked in my room on Rosetta Stone pounding basic Japanese into my head, just to make sure I wouldn’t forget it when I arrived.

Maybe “obessive” isn’t a strong enough word.

However, no matter how much research I did on the internet, the one thing I could never find enough information on was how Japanese men feel about Black women.

And this was probably the question I cared about the most!

Do they think Black women are attractive? Are Black women “too curvy” for Japanese men? Why don’t I ever see Black women and Asian men together??

The information I found on the internet was very discouraging, to say the least. There were two types of websites.
The first type was always too open-ended. There were no personal testimonies of Black women in relationships with Japanese men. No data or statistics. Nothing but forums that asked “Do Japanese men date Black women?” … There were never any answers.
The second type was offensive and discouraging. These sites said Japanese men didn’t like Black women because we’re too dark, we’re not skinny enough, we’re too aggressive and blah blah blah.

However, I am happy to say, FROM MY EXPERIENCE, those awful websites are completely and utterly DEAD-wrong :)
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