JAPAN'S JIGGABOO

I've shared a few anecdotes with you regarding race and the Japanese society's take on Black people. I think I may have mentioned to some of you before about the depiction of Black tv personalities in Japan.

There's an American ex-NFL washout named Bob Sapp who came to Japan around the same time I did and became an overnight celebrity by flexing his Hulky 350+ lb. frame, screaming like an animal and making scary faces on Japanese variety programs. Additionally, Bob Sapp couldn't speak Japanese, and thus was relegated mainly to being a living caricature. He adopted the alias 'The Beast,' upon which he entered the ranks of K-1, Japan's mixed-martial arts fighting league, while simultaneously doing a multitude of endorsements, one of which was for a Morinaga brand banana ice cream sandwich with a limited edition wrapper with an image of him shirtless eating a banana. I was so appalled when I saw the ice cream package in the local grocery store, that I bought it just to take back to Chicago to show my folks. Bob Sapp has since passed the peak of his success and though still well-known, is a mildly popular celebrity. But since that time, a new, more disturbing Black caricature has emerged. His name is Bobby Ologun.

In short, Bobby Ologun is a Nigerian who speaks Japanese fluently. I did some background research on him and read that he initially came to Japan to work for his father's import/export trading business. He first achieved tv notoriety by playing a backup stooge to a famous white American tv celeb named Thane Camus (whom I actually met in person last year). Bobby's silly antics and infantile babbling would often prompt scolding and sometimes slaps in the head from Thane. Since 2004, however, Bobby Ologun has taken on a level of celebrity status all his own.

Bobby perfectly fits the commonly accepted Japanese stereotype of a Black male: tall, bald, dark-skinned, and with a large build. Bobby is renown for his foolish antics. He speaks broken Japanese in a slow baritone drone, almost as one who suffers from retardation might, often jumbling and mispronouncing words to the befuddlement/amusement of his hosts. He has been seen making ape-like faces and even bulging the whites of his eyes like the American blackface and jigaboo images of old. Apparently, and to the dismay of many Black foreigners in Japan, Bobby is etching out a living with his buffoonery and playing the centerpiece to the gamut of Japan's national variety and comedy tv shows. And like Bob Sapp, Bobby has also become a prizefighter in the K-1 league.

Below is a link to a very recent tv clip that's currently a hot topic on some expat message boards of a popular variety show featuring Bobby Ologun and Japan's most beloved pop singer, Ayumi Hamasaki.


Bobby Ologun meets Ayumi Hamasaki


The clip is about 12 minutes long. Here, Bobby doesn't display any of the particular "gorilla behavior" he's become known for, though he does a good job playing the fool. Take note of his vocal tone and manner of speech; also, read the English subtitles carefully. He persistently feigns ignorance and intentionally fumbles his Japanese, evoking ridicule from the girl singer and the program hosts. This may be an obvious act to some, however, consider that Bobby is only one of maybe 2-3 Black men found ANYWHERE on Japanese national tv programs, so just ponder the impact this kind of image has on broad Japanese perceptions of Black Africans/Black men in general. Most people have never been exposed to non-Japanese people of any descent, so you can imagine millions of viewers taking their foreign cultural cues from this wayward African. You'd be hard pressed to find a Japanese person with a tv who doesn't know who Bobby Ologun is. To re-emphasize this point, I've even had some of my more mischievous boy students call me "Bobby" in jest--something I didn't take too kindly to. In fact, other Black male teachers I know (of various nationalites) have also experienced being called "Bobby" by some of their respective students at their respective schools. Obviously, I look nothing like this guy, other than being brown-skinned. This occurred merely because kids automatically associated the only Black male person they know in real-life to the one Black male image they see on tv at home--Bobby Ologun. I find this frustrating.

With that being said, I'm grateful I have the present opportunity as an African-American man to make a positive impression on a generation of Japanese kids through teaching English, even if the ones under my influence number in the hundreds as opposed to Bobby's hundreds of thousands. Especially this school year, I feel like I've earned most of my students' respect as a teacher and perhaps their admiration as well. In that regard, I believe I've also earned the respect of most of the teachers I work with, having had made a predominantly positive impression. Working in Japanese public schools has taught me a lot about the power of image, particularly within this society. Knowing what I know now, I could never go out like Bobby.