Boston Kimono Exhbit removed over racism.

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Joined: 4 Jan 2012
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19 Jul 2015, 1:46 am

Oh joy, more people getting offended over nothing. :^)

I find people who make up stupid reasons to be offended offensive.

beneficii
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19 Jul 2015, 4:21 pm

From The Japan Times:

Quote:

Sadly, those trying to modernize the kimono by ushering it into the fashion world — rather than preserving it strictly as a national dress — will likely be set back by the controversy surrounding the exhibition in Boston. One of those is Hiromi Asai, a kimono designer who is running a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 by July 31 to hold a show at New York Fashion Week next February to show that the kimono can be a modern form of dress that “is beyond cultural and ethnic boundaries.”

Okazaki is also concerned that the industry will suffer if Americans are scared to wear kimono lest they are accused of being racist.

“Absolutely no one (interviewed for the book) found Westerners wearing kimonos to be remotely offensive,” Okazaki tells The Japan Times. “(They) all gave me interviews because they wanted people overseas to share this culture.”

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/201 ... atTz7XU1kr

My observations:

1.) None of those protesting the exhibit, as reported in the OP, had a Japanese name. Other reports of the event revealed additional protestors, but still none had a Japanese name.

2.) On the Japanese internet, there was some criticism of white people degrading foreign cultures, but most seemed put off by the exhibit being shut down. There were a few who took a conspiratorial tone, alleging that shutting down this exhibit was a plot by people of Chinese and Korean extraction to "be a nuisance" to Japan.

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naturalplastic
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19 Jul 2015, 8:06 pm

What's next?

Are we going to have to stop performing "the Mikado" by Gilbert and Sullivan now too?

chapstan
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19 Jul 2015, 9:20 pm

Beneficii;

I appreciate you keeping on top of this issue, the Chinese making trouble for the Japanese was raised by Grebels early in the thread.

So did the exhibit get closed early or has someone with the Boston Museum seen better sense?

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20 Jul 2015, 11:32 pm

Its not racist, it just seems that people in Boston are stupid and don't know what racism is. Its like seeing Japanese dressing up as cowboys or greasers being racist, its not its just a fandom ffs!

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22 Jul 2015, 12:17 pm

This is just like watching Tumblr throw a fit over people wearing saris while the people from India were like, "We love it! It's an honor to our culture!" And Tumblr was basically telling them they didn't know anything and not to excuse culture appropriation.

It's gotten wildly out of control. It's like the SJW types are saying the minorities can't speak for themselves because they don't know better and need to be protected...

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22 Jul 2015, 1:31 pm

Yes, this!

beneficii
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28 Jul 2015, 8:36 pm

This video has a pretty good look on the issues Asian-Americans (including Japanese-Americans) deal with, compared to Japanese in Japan, and the divide between them over this issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwoSYWIgV9Y

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28 Jul 2015, 9:16 pm

Egads this is racist toards white people, no its not it is appreciation to the culture. People are so overly politically correct and need to harden the hell up!

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28 Jul 2015, 9:39 pm

Fugu wrote:

Sweetleaf wrote:

Well yeah what is racist about it? What about it implies 'people who put on this kimono and/or view this exibit view themselves as racially superior to the Japanese and are doing it to show hate of their inferiors.' It is not even clear what was offensive specifically in any articles/comments I've seen about it.

probably because it turns japanese culture into a carnival attraction

How so, from what I understand it is a museum exhibit, most people go to museum exhibits because they respect and enjoy art...not for carnival like entertainment. Not to mention a white women wearing a kimono and/or kimono like dress(as its not confirmed if the dress in the painting is even a real kimono or simply a robe styled as one)...is hardly a proper representation/symbol of japanese culture and the exibit was not meant to mock the kimono or the painting. So not sure how it turns japanese culture into a carnival attraction....just by letting people put on the dress/kimono/robe featured in the picture to have pictures taken.

I mean what is insulting about the painting...that implies anything like a carnival exhibit exactly?

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28 Jul 2015, 9:44 pm

Fugu wrote:

Jacoby wrote:

There is no such thing as cultural appropriation, you don't own culture and you're not entitled to be able to segregate yourself and your culture. If you think kimonos are racist then I hope you're not using a computer, wearing jeans, eat cheeseburgers, or celebrate Thanksgiving. How is right to segregate yourself then invade our culture?

there's a difference between cultural appropriation and turning cultural art into a sideshow, the latter is what the museum did.

What would be wrong about having a slide show of cultural art? it may be an easy way to show a number of works of art...in a short period of time for say an art history class or something. Going to the museum to individually look at works of art may not be practical in all situations.

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29 Jul 2015, 2:30 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:

Fugu wrote:

Jacoby wrote:

there's a difference between cultural appropriation and turning cultural art into a sideshow, the latter is what the museum did.

SIDE show.

Not a SLIDE show! Lol!

(though either one could also be the other I suppose).

A "side show" (for any reader who grew up on Pluto) is a carnival attraction, or a side attraction to the main three ring circus. Ergo something sleazy.

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29 Jul 2015, 3:04 pm

Whats being turned "appropriated", and turned into a "side show" is a master piece by a French Impressionist painter that happens to feature a lady wearing a kimono. Westerners are being invited to "appropriate" highbrow Western culture not Japanese culture.

beneficii
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23 Feb 2016, 3:16 pm

Following up on this, I think these discussions are very valuable:

http://hyperallergic.com/223694/seeing- ... n-protest/

There is also this panel discussion on the matter, which involved dialogue among Asian-Americans, including the organizer of the protest Christina Wang, regarding the issue and greater issues such as the differences in views among, say, Japanese nationals in Japan, the Japanese diaspora, and Asian-Americans. A transcript of the discussion is available if you do not want to listen to it:

https://soundcloud.com/napawf-boston-an ... ia-america

I think these discussions have the potential to bear great fruit.

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AR15000
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23 Feb 2016, 5:01 pm

beneficii wrote:

Japanese people often dress up as white people....It's called cosplay. So they appropriate western culture but WTF makes non-Japanese Asian Americans think they Japanese object to it?!?! They're probably laughing their asses of at us. *sigh*

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23 Feb 2016, 8:48 pm

Cosplaying as white people?

https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2 ... -as-white/

BTW, I'd recommend anyone reading to check especially the second link, and the transcript if they don't want to listen to it. This panel had two Japanese-Americans on it and took questions from other Japanese-Americans. There you will see their opinion on the matter; as well, the opinion of the counterprotestors is well-presented, and I think they answer an interesting question.

It seems they're most concerned with the MFA's contextualization; they are not opposed to white people, or really people of any race, wearing kimono. Rather, they are claiming their right to question and speak on these matters, as they have been silent for so long.

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