...that I use for the nail salon they would never upload my picture - oooooh
they would only upload Japanese customer pictures or usually white foreigners
... oh those are clearly like back vocalists or whatever so they just like let us in backstage
and like gave us passes and we're just like (bowing)
I am just like "thank you so much"
Hey guys and girls on Ask Japanese it's your flashy fashion reporter CathyCat and today I have some special guests
Hi I'm Ebony I've lived in Japan about 13 years and I do music and entertainment
Hi my name is Fernando I've been lived in Japan about the same amount of time 13 years
I'm a multimedia producer and sound designer
so first of all 13 years oh my God you have a lot of things to share with us
and we had a video where we asked Japanese people what their opinions are of black people living here in Japan
and I wanted to do a little follow-up with you guys so I really appreciate that you're here today because you can now tell us 13 years
worth of experiences - if we can remember it alright -yes yes - exactly we're going to start ladies first
so what is it like as a girl in Japan what from your experience how has Japan been for you
I have a pretty big Network in Japan of other black people that live here and it's generally
the same but then I noticed that even under that umbrella things can really change like for example
for me I wear Lolita Fashion - yeah - I participate in Kawaii culture I'm short uh I'm curvy so I
feel like it really depends, it could be a lot of things like the pigmentation of your skin your
height your weight how you present yourself can really change your experience being in Japan as a
black person so from what I have experienced it's been overwhelmingly positive and the positive has
really outweighed the negative and yeah it's been fun - great this is one of the things and I always
curious about to ask is so you're originally from? - New York - New York comparing your life in New York
to your life in Japan as a black girl living what is easier?
uh I would say that I'm quite comfortable here I feel safe uh if things happen here that are discriminatory I never feel like my
life is in danger - okay - where I have friends in the states where they'll be certain situations where they are
like "I could get hurt" I could be killed things like that but I've never had that feeling in Japan
like while being black
- so you don't have that fear here? - Nooo!
what it's like an overwhelmingly positive thing that's happened to you or maybe a negative thing too give me one of each
There's a term called "Gaijin Smash" If you are familiar there have been many situations where
I noticed like because I am a black girl because I'm an African African-American girl uh I've been
let in VIP in clubs - what?!
I've met Japanese artists I've been to shoot things like that based solely on "oh wow you're from America and you're black that's great, do you want to come in..."
and I'm like "uh hai I guess so"
What you got VIP?
so that's happened before it wasn't on purpose I know smashes are usually on purpose but it was
like an accidental "Gaijin smash" everything so that's really positive and just like the people
who are genuinely interested in hearing about what life is like or what my culture is like things
like that I've met a lot of really kind people that way as well
Negative experiences?
Negative experiences well I mean just negative assumptions about um black people
in particular black women maybe opinions of us being like really fast loud and boisterous
or just things that people see in music videos and TV and they're just like "okay so everyone's like this"
and you're like "yeah but we're not all the same" so having to explain that to people can be a little bit annoying
I get my nails done a lot in Japan and I would notice on all of the Instagrams that I use for the
nail salon they would never upload my picture - oooooh
they would only upload Japanese customer pictures or usually white foreigners but I never saw like
my black hands on the Instagram even though I would go to the same nail salon
- and they always will take pictures afterwards that's what nail salons do afterwards they take pictures
Take pictures and like they would never take pictures of my hands or put it on the website and I was like
I'm noticing a bit of a pattern so things like that used to really bother me when I first came here
did you like ever bring it up or
I mean what is the the right way to bring it up you know I didn't want to cause trouble but
I started to bring my business elsewhere so now I go to a different one - exactly their loss!
look out businesses we have our eyes open
What kind of reactions do you get from the Japanese people
nothing special to be honest um in my experience it's very much like foreigners and Japanese it's never been
like "this is happening because you're a black woman in Japan" it's always like this
is happening because you are a Gaikokujin you are not a native Japanese person that's
been my overwhelming experience the very specific like black instances that I
would say things have happened there's so few, I've always just kind of had like "oh this is a foreigner thing"
I never really get like a "oh you're black" reaction it's like "oh I can't speak English" reaction - mh that one!
- We get that yes yes - but then once they realize I speak Japanese they're like "oh okay"
any kind of cliches you have encountered?
"oh wow Ebony-san you're from New York have you ever held a gun?" - oooooh - what!?
"Oh Ebony-san you're from New York oh wow..."
Sports basketball wow rap music you love rap music" and I'm like "oh yeah I do but like don't make assumptions"
just those types of things and I'm just like it's really annoying when they end up being true and I'm like
"well yeah it's true for Ebony but it's not true for like everyone" things like that
but they're it's mostly like silly stuff that you can laugh off - all right - yeah
is there any particular story you can tell us?
yeah so I do work in music and sometimes perform seeing things like that so I've actually been to concerts here for Japanese artists
as a customer I was not involved in production at all anything like that but uh
the artist and their management saw us there and they were assumed that we were involved in the production
because we're foreign, because we were black women they're like "oh those are clearly R B singers"
or "oh those are clearly like back vocalists" or whatever so they just like let us in backstage and
like gave us passes and were just like (bowing and laughing)
so we went backstage and ended up meeting like ...me and my friend she also works in music and we met um some musicians and stuff like that
and ended up really clicking with them and they're like no one was any the either wiser they're like "oh yeah you guys sing"
I'm like "yeah we do sing we're not really invited to this show but here we are now" and now we're all friends
Whoa that's ...you really had something really good happen then
it was so crazy yeah we were just like vibing with the artists and um ended up swapping like Instagrams and stuff like that
and I've done a couple jobs with a few of the artists now and like yeah, what do you do in that situation
you don't say no you're just like "oh uh" - thank you? - yes "thank you yes I am involved with production yes I would love to go backstage"
and yeah just as long as you're like respectful and kind people are not gonna have like a red flag up so that was really great - that is really cool
for girls who want to come here for girls of color who want to come to Japan any kind of advice or
kind of words of assurance you can give?
I think there's a happy balance between maintaining your morals and your pride and staying true to who you are
but at the same time respecting the culture and the people of the country that you're visiting and that you're staying and
you know I've been here for a really long time and it took me a while to find that sweet spot
the black women that I see that have trouble in Japan they always veer to one side too much or
the other too much and you know it's not going to happen, it your first day in Japan but just being
open-minded to certain experiences things might not always go your way there are sometimes when
you have to really put your foot down and then there's some times where you have to say Okay
"this is not my culture let me just go with the flow" so coming to Japan with an open mind and
just being ready for anything to happen I feel like you'll have a really good experience here
Compromise I think is maybe a word? -yeah absolutely um not always compromising but
just knowing, being able to read the situation and see what's necessary and what isn't
So concretely um you said going into one direction or the other too much what would you mean by that?
Okay so for example maybe a person who happens to be American and they want to do
everything in Japan the American way and "this is how it's done in my country and why would I change it"
"this is so annoying I hate this...." like that kind of energy is gonna make your experience
in Japan not great, just being open-minded to things being different and then the other end
"I want to do everything Japanese I'm going to do everything the Japanese way I'm only going to talk to Japanese people"
which is fine but "I'm gonna kind of like ice out other foreigners because I'm better than them and I'm here to learn" and like that kind of energy
where it's like "I want to become Japanese" we are always going to be foreign people in Japan we have to come to terms with that
you're not gonna turn Japanese magically if you live here 25 years and your nihongo is jyozu (= your Japanese is good)
so yeah that's what I mean about finding the happy balance in between the two dualities
have you had like another interesting interaction with Japanese people here?
I lived in Chiba prefecture in a very rural area there were virtually no foreigners there
and uh the Japanese people in that town had not ever really seen a black person before
so I actually had a next door neighbor who when they met me they were so excited because they
had never met a black person before and they ...and they would sometimes like leave me gifts
um like on my doorstep they'd be like "oh here's some pears that are in season and we thought you
might want to enjoy the local fruit" and I'm just like "thank you so much" like situations like that or in local
festivals in that town they'd be like "oh Ebony-san is here she's from America and she's black
and we want to show her what it's like here!" so that type of positive Ascension that's happened
kind of a lot here to be honest it's really nice
- Oh my God that sounds so sweet! coming to Tokyo or like more into Tokyo has that changed it all?
um I would say people in the countryside tend to do that a bit more but in the city it's more of like making friends with people my age
has been really interesting people in the same Hobbies um it's easier to do that in city like areas so
I have friends that we go to the same theme parks together or wear the same fashion together and
they're Japanese and they're always interested to learn what it's like in my country and about my
culture and what it's like being black and things like that
so there's a lot of like interest in you because like "I don't know much so please tell me" kind of thing? - absolutely
So in conclusion would you say it's been a very positive experience ?
super positive, so positive that I'm not going home I'm staying and I really encourage people who want to visit who are black
who are black women or you know they don't associate with the gender it doesn't matter I feel like your experience here
is going to change your life and it's going to be positive so please come!
Hey that's the word guys okay we are still gonna talk with both of them in some future videos so stay tuned on Ask Japanese
hit that subscribe button and also in the comment box down below are going to be some socials in case you want to find out
what these guys are doing I'll see you in the next video hit that subscribe button and I'll catch you soon on Ask Japanese, thank you thank you - thank you - Bye