Your whole āargumentā is that ānOOoOOoO youāre just a silly American whOās MAKING it raCistā
I bring up the t-shirt thing to talk about how due to the history of certain things They Shouldnāt Continue To Be Used/Reinforced Due To Their Harmful Nature. Obviously the Japanese dont have a personal connection with the struggles of Black Americans (one of those things being the harmful and demeaning portrayal of them in media i.e the big lip design weāre talking about now) but the history is apparent and its obvious the whole donut lip design is of a racist and harmful background and should not be replicated as its insulting, whether or not they mean it in a demeaning way, itās still harmful
Similarly, the guy in the band (he isnāt Japanese btw) doesnāt have a personal connection with the Japanese, but their history is apparent and he should have known better than to wear a shirt with something that has such a negative impact associated with it. Whether Or Not He Meant It In A Demeaning Way It Is Still Harmful And Insulting
You just said the reaction to that shirt was justified because itās a touchy subject, I agree, but newsflash buddy, racism and racist stereotypes are still touchy subjects, whether or not the person has a personal connection to the act/thing in consideration, they should still be aware of the history and the harm that can come of their actions
In a nation like Japan that,like I said, has very very limited interactions with black people, the VERY LAST THING they need are harmful stereotypes of black Americans being reinforced in their media