It was a conflict reminiscent of many others that have sparked racially-charged controversy in our era; a white mother and Utah resident posted pictures of her daughter’s Japanese-themed birthday party (neither the mother nor daughter are of Japanese descent), inadvertently triggering a storm of angry comments from Tumblr users who criticized her family for appropriating Japanese culture. Interestingly enough, the comments precipitated a contrary opinion supporting the party theme, so that viewers of many heritages (including Japanese) weighed in on both sides.
The mother of the birthday girl is also a co-author behind “The Gala Gals,” a party-planning blog that she writes with her sister. They introduce themselves in the blog:
“We are two sisters who firmly believe that Life is made up of memorable moments, and we intend to Simply Celebrate as many as possible! And we’d love to inspire you to Simply Celebrate Your Life too!”
Beneath their “About” section lies a long line of comments, many of which were posted by users expressing their opinion that the theme was racist. Some called her daughter’s white face paint “yellowface.”
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“This makeup is clearly reflective of traditional Geisha makeup which is yellowface and therefore racist,” says one comment.
“Furthermore, the girl is wearing a kimono, a garment that has for ages carried cultural significance. Assuming that she is white how can you think this is ok? And cultural appropriation isn’t a thing? What rock do you live under? I suggest you educate yourself on the differences between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation.”
One Japanese writer responded with the opposite opinion:
“I am Japanese, in Japan at this very moment. The only people who think culture shouldn’t be shared are racists like you.”
“A vast majority of Japanese people actually enjoy other people making an effort to spread and enjoy Japanese culture, and encourage it. Many make businesses in deliberately taking pictures of people in kimono. A common omiage (gift) for foreigners from Japanese people is traditional Japanese things such as kimonos, tea seats, shisha dog statutues, etc.”
“And to top it off, basically 80 percent of Japanese customs, traditions, and food, came from other countries. Japanese is an integration of different cultures, like America. Japan takes influences from places like Korea, China, Russia, and Europe. If Japan stuck to itself, there would be no tempura, Japanese tea, tea ceremonies, Kabuki, Japanese bread, Japanese curry, J-pop, cars, or modern fishing techniques. The picture is not ‘yellow face’ they are not making fun of Asians. In fact, it looks like they put extra care and research into their work.”
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(h/t) Bored Panda
