1y ago

The Asian diaspora was a mistake

Of course, I say this as a diaspora Asian of sorts.

Noizumi is half-Japanese, and she found herself thinking, “Why am I so excited that my daughter has blue eyes? What’s the big deal about that? And why am I so excited that I have a baby who looks more white?”

This is the kind of statement that would get a white celebrity cancelled for saying it, but apparently it's just a fun tidbit for Netflix.

In their early creative conversations that would eventually span 15 years, they started spinning a tale about how “back in the Edo period starting in 17th-century Japan, it would’ve been illegal to be white.

Wtf based Edo period.

Idk if the series is as good as they say, but how the fuck did they think that publishing any of this was a good idea?

62 comments

Why am I so excited that my daughter has blue eyes? What’s the big deal about that?
Internalised racism and white supremacy maybe
- if she had left it there, unusual eye colors are neat. but she just had to keep going
  And why am I so excited that I have a baby who looks more white
  cringe
  
  When the global empire rewards people for a physical appearance that aligns with the Supremacist Ideal, it isn't unreasonable for a parent to think "Wow! My kid really dodged a bullet, by looking like someone the Aristocracy will not actively seek to exterminate."
  Its an instinctual survivalist response. I wouldn't want my kid targeted for ethnic cleansing either.

Every sentence is twice as racist as the last one lmfao.
These people really looked at their 3/4 white child and said "I LOVE how white it is. Also Japan Samurai!!"

Yasuke >>>>>>> "blue eyed samurai"
- I love references to Yasuke. His life is just such a fun story. It feels so innocent in a way. Imagine seeing somebody who looks really unusual and literally just not knowing why. You haven't really heard stories of people who look like this. Nobody's got any racist tirades they can go on. It's just a novelty. He may as well be from another planet as far as you're concerned. I think it demonstrates quite well that racism isn't some kind of ingrained behavior that's inherent to humanity. The natural reaction to somebody who looks different is to be like "Huh, that's neat. I wonder if he wants to be friends." You have to be taught to be racist and afraid of the unknown.
- huh that's not what i meant to do but i'm going to leave it alone
  
  That's kind of beautiful, actually. Thank you for the art!
- Flying Lotus could soundtrack himself taking a shit and I'd still probably watch it
- People like Yasuke and General Ganibal are very interesting to me because Gamers love to screech about "historical accuracy" as if Africans would have been killed on sight back then but irl it's like "Cool, a person with black skin. Let's make him a samurai or general if he's good at his job."

Ugh, they could have just made it a genuine romance and it would have been...still problematic...but at least potentially a good exploration of early colonialism and it's complexities.

Some asians talk about mixed race people like they're breeding dogs
- It's extremely off-putting. I heard one mom-to-be say that she hopes her child "wins the genetic lottery" of blonde hair and blue eyes.
  Ick.
  
  Or how people describe a child as "a good mix"
  Ew

Noizumi is half-Japanese, and she found herself thinking, “Why am I so excited that my daughter has blue eyes? What’s the big deal about that? And why am I so excited that I have a baby who looks more white?”
What the actual fuck. Blue eyes can look cool, but why tie it in with race? What the fuck
- Almost all Japanese people have dark brown eyes. The only other eye colours you might see are light brown or green and those are only in pretty specific regions of the country.
  Because of this blue eyes are viewed as a distinctly caucasian-ancestry thing.
- I'm guessing that being allied to the Nazis then being under American occupation gives you certain ideas about physical features and race.

It's a natural reaction to the American social dynamics. Asian Americans instinctively understand that they'll always be a foreigner in other American's eyes (and their own eyes as well due to internalized racism). They wish the best for their children, which means fitting in by being white. Getting a white spouse is a deliberate defense mechanism against a hostile society as well.
Racialization of national and personal identity isn't a problem only in Israel.

I am a brown guy and wore colored contacts for a phase in my life. It was for myself, and yes admittedly it was an icebreaker for the ladies if nothing else.
But it ended up really creepy and sad how people only noticed me then, specifically in terms of how not-brown I looked and what my possible genetic background might be. And if I revealed that they were "fake" (in their words), some of them were really harsh about me trying to be someone I can't be.
I don't wear them anymore.

More like White worship was a mistake. Lots of non-white people talk like this and it's gross. These types will pass up gorgeous poc for some mediocre or ugly white person just so they can have kids with lighter skin and colored eyes. The kids usually grow up with a number of mental health issues too.
- Yeah, the title is mostly a joke. I don't really care if someone is gonna date some mid-looking person of another race, but this kind of white worship is so fucked up for the kids and it's just not fair.
  
  I actually do mind if they date someone mid-looking after trashing people of their own race as being ugly for having darker skin. It shows they view their partner as nothing more than a breeding mule for their white looking children. I have people like this in my family and I've lost any patience for this kind of bullshit.
- The kids usually grow up with a number of mental health issues too.
  What is the intended implication of this statement? Are you trying to imply that dating someone because of the colour of their skin (instead of going for someone more fitting, regardless of their skin colour) leads to dysfunctional relationships which have negative impact on their children?

Noizumi is half-Japanese, and she found herself thinking, “Why am I so excited that my daughter has blue eyes? What’s the big deal about that? And why am I so excited that I have a baby who looks more white?”
- And instead of asking herself deep introspective questions, she just went "YAY WHITE BABY!'
  
  Principal Skinner: Should I reflect on my reflexive celebration of whiteness?
  Principal Skinner: No, it's just great to be White.

back in the Edo period starting in 17th-century Japan, it would’ve been illegal to be white.
Sounds like America in 2023. /s
- : "Nooo, you mean le heckin' Based Japan was once WOKE!? NOOOOOOO!"

what the fuck?
Also I'm fairly certain there was some part of the japanese cultural historical period that had being as un-sun-kissed pale white as possible being a desirable trait among imperial courtiers because it was a sign of not being a stinking poor peasant. I'm thinking it's from the Heian period.
And I'm gonna go out on a limb based off of the historiography I've read, it wasn't illegal to be "white" in the Edo period, it was illegal to be a gaijin bleach demon imperialist invading Japan - something that's not exclusively "uniquely Japanese", much to the Japanese ultra-nats and weeb nazis chagrin, as Korea and China generally considered the roving european bandits who called themselves "explorers" and "traders" to be barbarians to be kept away. - which means this diasporian asian's been yankeefied to the point she's obsessed with becoming european to the point of mythologizing history
- Garden gnomes vs jungle cats
- that had being as un-sun-kissed pale white as possible being a desirable trait among imperial courtiers because it was a sign of not being a stinking poor peasant. I'm thinking it's from the Heian period.
  yes but a white guy who works in the sun would also have their skin tan so it wouldn't really make any difference. East asian people don't actually have skin that looks all that darker than white people do
  race is made up and arbitrary, before the opium wars the chinese were considered white. In south africa being Japanese made you legally white
  it was once popular in england to call the Irish white skinned black people (and that's the nice way of putting it)
- I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
  yewtu.be
  inv.zzls.xyz
  yt.artemislena.eu
  piped.video

- the japanese metallica cover gave me a chuckle. what are they goin for here.

blue eye samurai
that fucking hurt to read

this is like a hollywood movie they'd make in The Man in the High Castle.

One time I was at a party and this white guy said he "spoke chinese" and the first thing he said was the n-word (or a word that white people seem to think is the n-word). Then I watched him try and fail to hit up Asian girls the entire time. These are the type of people who date women like her. Usually the dads say some of the most racist people you'll ever meet, and are in constant delusional denial that their kids look Asian. Needless to say their children are all fucked in the head.
- My WMAF parents met in the 70s, which seems to have been before creepy white guys with Asian feishes became a thing. That might have been the only thing boomers did better. Unfortunately, I think divorced dads ruined that for them.

Noizumi is half-Japanese, and she found herself thinking, “Why am I so excited that my daughter has blue eyes? What’s the big deal about that? And why am I so excited that I have a baby who looks more white?”
Because you're a pathetic white-worshiping banana who wish you were as white on the outside as you are on the inside?

I have literally have never met a single non white worshipping Asian (not just east) in UK or USA that wasn't also a hardcore commie, and almost all my friends have been either East or South Asian
I've even met an ethnically Chinese commie who immigrated to China from Australia who's still white worshipping so even understanding about white supremacy isn't a guarantee they don't agree with it lmao
- China's education system isn't racist enough towards yakubians.
  
  It's really not
  Every Chinese person I've met has asked me why white people (and most Western Chinese) don't seem to like them
  And of course why there's so many homeless people in London and San Francisco

62 comments