NEWS na Futari SP 2016.12.29/2017.01.13
There were two separate filmings for this one so I’ll write about them by themes rather than by dates. Both topics were very important and I want to talk about them even if this gets subbed later.
The first topics was discrimination against mixed Japanese. Some heavy themes ahead!
All of the guest were “halves” which is to say only one of their parent was Japanese, including Zawachin famous for her “eye make-up” impersonating celebrities and Ariana Miyamoto, Miss Universe Japan 2015 .
The complaints were many: that people expect them all to be cute and pretty, and good at English. Basically, they are often treated like foreigners even though most of them grew up in Japan. Shige joked “It’s like we are expected to be able to do a back-flip just because we’re Johnny’s.” And Koyama said “That’s a great example to understand!”
I love how Shige often acted as an interpreter, giving additional explanations from the guests to better explain their position and add facts. Unlike the male panelists who did nothing but make rude and stupid jokes. I understand the show has to have some entertaining value but comments like “they only bullied you because you have a bad temper!” were very unnecessary.
Another issue was that while being half-European is viewed as cool, being half-Asian is seen as inferior. They especially talked about Filipino women since two of the guests’s mothers were Filipino. A lot of them came to Japan looking for work and often worked as hostesses and dancers so they became viewed as inferior. Shige went to a Filipino district to investigate. He first talked with a woman who came to Japan to work as a dancer to help supper her 10 siblings and now owns her own bar. The saddest thing was that not only was she harassed by the Japanese, she was also harassed by Filipino for going to Japan. However, she said that things are much better now and she is hopeful about the future. He also talked to a 23-year old girl whose mother is Filipino.
Zawachin and Raburi also shared their stories of being bullied. They were mostly bullied for their skin colour and called “fry pan” and “cockroach” and also in case of Zawachin for her bad Japanese. The children’s mothers sometimes would not let their kids play with her just because of her mother. Shige said the kids are not the ones to blame for their bullying, but their parents and teachers, they’re the ones who need to stop this.
After that came the story of Ariana Miyamoto growing up in Japan. She said kids at school often kept their distance. They wouldn’t touch her hands and got away from her in the pool saying that her skin colour will stain them. A lot of it came from the parents who wouldn’t let her in the house and whisper behind her back. At 15 she went to US and her problem dissolved because everyone just treated her normally. While working as a bartender she met Steve, also mixed. He grew up in Japan and had similar experience so they became close friends. However, Steve was a very troubled guy, he didn’t know English and was confused about who he was. A year after they met she learned that he committed suicide. During their last talk he said he wanted to do something to help people such as himself and she said she would help. So that was the reason why she applied for the Miss Universe contest. Such an amazing woman.
Shige said he was hoping by watching this show people would not just think mixed Japanese people are good-looking but also very strong because a lot of them endured a lot of hardships in the past and see that as their true appeal. He also hoped people would learn from them and it would resonate with those who had a similar experience. Such an amazing man.
Shige also went to a monthly “Hafu” meeting. Not all the people there were of mixed race, some were foreigners and the only rule for joining was that you should know English. There Shige heard more stories of hardships. While all the studio guests were girls, boys shared some specific boy problems such as other guys trying to peek on them in the bathroom and sauna to check out their peen. Shige said it was a Japanese complex.
All in all, most people said in recent years and with the help of celebrities the situation is getting better.
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