6th Station ~Other Bands for H!P Fans~

[Daisuki Daiiyo]

DREAM

Whaaaaat?! They started with an Erie solo line! Consider me quite shocked. Loving the well-made look of this PV though.

[esm]

I like some of her songs, and I think she's kind of interesting because there's this level of boldness to her and her music that feels like it's just part of her character and it's not that she's trying too hard or just trying to get attention.

Oh, yes, I definitely agree. If we take in count only her music, I get the same feeling, but some time ago I read this interview which I think confirmed it to me quite well (it's an interesting reading).
I assume what draws me forward is her personality then (yeah, she's so very bold ). I do like to watch her videos to see what she pulls out next though.

Forgot to comment on this...

Anyway, her blog is pretty interesting too.
http://tovelotovelo.tumblr.com/post/109 ... y-say-fuck

I've been into her song "Timebomb" lately. I think it's my favorite by her now. The music itself conveys the exact emotion of the song. It's pretty awesome.

[Moh]

With the success of ~retro~ sounding songs the past few months, I keep wondering if this would've been a top 10 hit had it been released within the same time frame:


Or anything else from that album, for that matter.

[JonCC]

Momoiro Clover Z does blackface
http://aramajapan.com/news/tvmovie/musi ... e-2/16503/
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Well, that's a headline I never expected to read...

[Nayoko-Kihara]

Wellp. I didn't need another reason to dislike them, but I guess I have it now.

[BerryzCelebration]

The comments to the article, though.

I hate it when people say "They're Japanese they don't know it's wrong". Bullshit. That's like walking up to an asian, labelling them as Chinese, asking if they eat cats and dogs, can calling them "LingLing". Because it's okay because they're American and don't know it's offensive.

[Jessi]

Well I don't think that kind of thing is specific to Momoiro Clover Z. Japan is just pretty bad with that kind of stuff in general.

[Denki]

I don't want to add to the drama, but ignorance does play a huge role with not just the group, but the whole industry as well.

I'm a person raised by hispanic immigrants, so I don't get the meaning behind blackface as much as white and black people whose family live in the US for a really looong time. Though I am aware that it's racist to them and I should respect them by not putting extremely dark make-up on my face.

Japanese may looove the black culture, but they may not be learnt about the history of blackface through their world history class. Heck, I'm American and I've NEVER saw anything relating to it in my American history book. You can't expect them to get educated about blackface and how african americans get offended about it. (And I do specify African Americans because, based on those comments, South Africans don't see it offensive?)

Personally, a formal apology would be the best choice to make. Learning from your mistakes is one way to learn about right and wrong.

[Starra]

^^^They don't know it's wrong. And when people tell them it's wrong the response is "Oh you're just being too sensitive, it's no big deal". Like, racism is still a problem in Japan. A huge problem. Not just blackface -- casual racism as well. The thing is, they're not actively going around hating on other races, they're "just" ignorant about it. It's more of a "This person is different than me and I'm scared of them and they're bad" thing.

From what I know, there's no education about this stuff in Japan. There's nobody saying "Hey guys this is wrong you shouldn't do this because here's why". So they continue to do this stuff. It's happened before, and it'll continue to happen. They don't know they're being offensive, so they're not going to stop.

On one of the tweets about it, someone replied saying "I wanna to blackface some day too!". It's seen as a *~*cool*~* and *~*edgy*~* fashion statement (I'm assuming because super pale skin is seen as the prettiest/purest skin, and this is the opposite? Idk it's some bullshit reason). I'd guess people over there see it as the same sort of thing as gyaru stuff and getting a fake tan, just that it's a darker skin colour. Which is.... y'know.

It's different than an American making racist jokes, because a lot of the time, the person is doing it to be funny (by being rude or whatever the fuck). Unless they're really stupid, I doubt they actually think those stereotypes are true. Whereas things like blackface in Japan ARE fuelled purely by ignorance. Which is arguably worse than someone doing it to be offensive.

I'd also like to say that this is not Momoclo's fault. It was for a TV show, and tbh it probably wasn't even something their management had anything to do with. Blame the TV station. Maybe blame Stardust. But people are hating on the girls for this and somehow acting like they had a hand in it. They most definitely were just going along with what they were being told to do. I'm not defending it in any way and it's gross and awful, but it's not... the girls' fault.

[Celedam]

The thing is, they're not actively going around hating on other races, they're "just" ignorant about it.

Um, no. Many Japanese do actively hate other races. It's a natural consequence of having a homogenous, island-based, until-relatively-recently-and-in-some-ways-still-imperial culture, but that doesn't change the reality of it. Whatever tolerance they show to people of other races is along the lines of "What can you do for me?", not "I respect you as a fellow human being."

Read up on the meaning and history of "pure blood Yamato".

From what I know, there's no education about this stuff in Japan. There's nobody saying "Hey guys this is wrong you shouldn't do this because here's why".

Because they see no need for it. They don't believe real sensitivity and tolerance is worth their attention. That's why their interest in other races and cultures tends to be rather shallow and fashion-oriented.

I'd guess people over there see it as the same sort of thing as gyaru stuff and getting a fake tan, just that it's a darker skin colour.

Ganguro and yamanba are based on theater and folklore, not on racial stereotypes.