Japanese Company is looking for 300 Black People ONLY …WTF!!!

14 March 2013 ~ 47 Comments

Japanese Company is looking for 300 Black People ONLY …WTF!!!

Misc.

So, I’m at this black networking function (little to my knowledge, I hadn’t gone there to network as such) in Tokyo, when a Japanese woman walks up to me and hands me this flyer.

I gave it a once over, during which my insides clenched up, looked her in the eye to see if she were straight spooky and whether I could safely have a drink there or should I be on high alert and wary of ruffies, or just the Japanese version of such, which amounts to oblivious (she was the latter) and then back at the flyer.

My eyes zoomed in on Hand and Job and I unleashed a smile involuntarily. I figured an English speaker had little to do with the making of this flyer. Then, of course, my eyes landed on the dark american saga of Jim Crow evoking Black People Only and I knew if there were an English speaker behind this chances are he wasn’t American.

Then I glanced around the room at the black faces in attendance to see if anyone else was holding a flyer with a perplexed expression on their face, but no one was.

I caught the eye of the event planner, who had apparently been watching me ever since the flyer was handed to me. He’d caught my brief smile apparently and gave me a look a little difficult to read, somewhere between “my name is Paul and that shit’s between y’all” and “WTF, right?” He seemed to know the chick and had been standing there when we introduced ourselves (she’d run up on me like I was the guest of honor), and so I assumed he must not have found the distribution of this flyer at his event problematic.

Which didn’t so much relax me as prompt me to resolve that this flyer was just the victim of poorly chosen wording and flawed thinking by ignorant people, but, minus any ill-intent, was fairly harmless, which is pretty much an accurate description of Japan itself. You come across so much of this type foolishness here that if you were to get hot and bothered over it all you’d be in a perpetual state of hot and bothered.

I extended this benefit of the doubt because I trusted the event planner.

His being black and sharp and a lifer here and all…

My insides were still clenched, though, picturing that brother on the flyer in a shirt and tie, sleeves rolled up, grinning and lounging, looking like he’s sitting on top of the world after a job well done. That image fucked with me. Didn’t seem to fit with what the flier was promoting. It’s not a Job. It’s 2 hours of Guinea Pigging.

I promptly folded the paper and put it in my pocket. I felt guilty doing so. Not even sure why. I mean, I wasn’t planning to cash in on it, was I? Just take this large Japanese power company’s money and let them conduct their tests on me? No, I wasn’t.

Pretty soon, though, I forgot all about it, for the networkers in attendance (all of whom I’d never met before but were clearly movers and shakers, and lifers, here in Japan) were some pretty interesting men and women. It was the most black people I’d been around at one time in Japan without a DJ, a bar, and a hundred enticingly clad Hiphop loving Japanese chicks around, in 9 years. That was a refreshing change.

Two days later I got a tweet from someone about this flyer, which reminded me of mine, sitting on my desk in a state of neglect. I must’ve been planning to use it for something but had no idea what. The tweet said:

I’m not crazy about being thought of as the Race guy or random people sending me tweets and emails about racism in Japan, but I guess I kinda opened that door by blogging and publishing so extensively about it, so I guess I’m reaping what I’ve sown.

I picked up the flier off my desk and looked at it again…

Still nothing came to me (which is pretty telling in itself).

So, another few days passed and I got a Facebook message from the Japanese woman who had originally given me the flier! She was following up…she clearly had a strong interest in finding black people to do this thing. I figure she gets a commission for each head she brings them.

It read:

So, 30 more people means 270 black people in Japan have signed on for this?!!

If you’re reading this, you 270+ black people, Loco, and perhaps some of his readers, are curious to know a few things, if you care to share…

I’d like to know how was the experience, what happened exactly (tell me as much as you can, from arrival to departure), what did you expect to happen, how were you treated, what did you think of the ad that got you there, etc…

You can remain anonymous if you prefer. If you’re shy, just send me an email at: loco (at) locoinyokohama (dot) com

I’ll be discreet.

I don’t wanna say more just yet. I’m looking into what exactly Hand Recognition is, how it can/will be used, and how race /ethnicity may or may not play a part in this application. I’ve read one paper published on this technology but it was clearly written for someone with a brain more scientifically leaning than mine.

If any of my readers can shed some light on this, in layman terms, or know someone who can, let us know. I’d like to think all the participants in this sampling are not completely in the dark about what they’ve gotten themselves into, but you never know. 8000 yen is enough to get some people to shrug their shoulders and say what have I got to lose?

I know I have in my tenure here.

Thanks in advance,

Loco

PS: And if you haven’t read Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist yet, what are you waiting for? A personal invitation? Check it out! It’s available in paperback and E-book version here.

Tags: blacks in japan, hand recognition

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36731106@N02/ Sublight

Hand recognition is a security feature, kind of like fingerprint scanning, and it’s available for a lot of different applications. You place your entire finger on a small scanner, and it scans the patterns of veins. These are unique for each person (and easier to scan quickly and safely than fingerprints or retinas). Some of the catalogs I’ve done for office equipment include it as an easy way to track who’s doing what with the printers, and make sure sensitive documents don’t go missing.

I don’t know how susceptible they are to errors due to skin tone, but since they scan just by shining light on the finger, dark skin tones may make it harder to see the veins clearly. It sounds like the company wants to check that their scanners work for all skin tones.

@SublightMonster
- Locohama
  
  Hey sublight, thank you so much for that response. And in layman’s terms too, just the way I like my science. (-;
  - http://www.samuelstravels.com Sam
    
    Yeh, I was assuming the same as what sublight said here. I mean picture aside, which you may find offensive if you wish, surely they just want dark skin to test out their software. Yes they are ‘guinea pigs’, but I’m assuming they’ve also had white and Japanese and all types of ‘guinea pigs’. As an English teacher you have ‘guinea pigs’; all your students allow you to further finely tune your own instructing methods and see what works. Every profession in the world has ‘guinea pigs’, I don’t see the need to attach this negative label to a perfectly normal part of production; testing.
    
    I’m not one of those people on the side of Japan or anything, I couldn’t care less, but I just cannot see what is offensive at all about people wanting dark skinned hands to see if their machines still work with darker skin.
    
    Admittedly you could argue that the marketing isn’t the subtlest thing in the world, but they want black people only, so that’s what they said.
    
    Anyway, I’m not having a go, I actually came back here to ask how to get in contact with you for some filming if you’re still up for it.
    
    I just couldn’t help but drop my two cents while I was at it
    - Locohama
      
      Hey Sam, yeah that sounds like a safe assumption. But like a couple of other readers have said, and I concur, the Japanese record on and ideas about race did not allow me to give the ad the benefit of the doubt as easily as you have. The things I have seen and heard over the past nine years have utterly disqualified them.
      Beyond that, what the hell does black mean? For example my man Taz is black but he ain’t dark, neither was my father, he could almost “pass” for white. And many Other groups come in dark shades as well. Yet dark is never mention. Only race is mention, unless they meant color. This is a matter that requires some sensitivity, some thinking outside the restrictive box people like to place other people in. In order to avoid misunderstandings , insults and offense. I think neither they nor yourself apparently seem to get that. If they had asked for only Dark Skin Blacks for the purpose of…blah blah blah… Would that have been less problematic? Yes perhaps. That’s why I was surprised so many people responded to it. I think anyone who approaches it with the attitude “oh they’re Japanese, they mean well, they just don’t have the capacity to think things through like I/we/foreigners do, is condescending and lowering the bar for them. And thus it has inspired negative phrases like guinea pig. Sure, lighten up, you say. But I think ignoring this kind of thing perpetuates it, sorry. Imagine if that ad said only yellow people, or only Chinese or Korean people, you’d be like “WTF” right? Because of the relations between these countries, I’m sure the Chinese and Koreans would be like WTF too. Well, news flash, things ain’t so hunky dory between “blacks” and Japanese either.
      Oh and yeah, let’s chat about that documentary (-; thanks for the two cents, here’s your change.
      - http://www.samuelstravels.com Sam
        
        Yeah I understand the deeper place which you are coming from, but also don’t, and that is why I want to do the documentary to explore and find out. As someone new to Japan I am still sort of slowly finding this stuff out.
        
        The advert does show a lack of cultural awareness, your right, and it is interesting to read what you are saying here. Do you still have the leaflet, maybe we could discuss this with my video camera
        
        I will send you a FB message to your page now with my details.
        
        Thanks for wanting to participate (and for the change)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36731106@N02/ Sublight

By the way, an electronics company founded in 1935 and employing 170,000 people sounds like Fujitsu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujitsu). I think the ‘electric’ in the description was meant to be ‘electric goods’ and not ‘electric power’.
CraigsList Reader

They’ve been advertising this for a while now on CraigsList, too. I cringe every time I see it. But I cringe at a lot of the stuff that goes down on Tokyo CraigsList.
- Locohama
  
  Oh geez! Craigs list is pure entertainment lol Anyway thanks for the CR (-;
http://www.davecollyjap.blogspot.com Dave Collymore

Saw this ad as well. My initial reaction was “Wow quick money let me give this a tr….” Then something hit me and I started thinking “why only blacks???” So I’ve ignored it since until I know exactly why they wanted only blacks… Sublight maybe right though.. but I am still a bit weary about Japanese targeting us blacks.

A white male colleague from Australia said he got 500,000 yen from a Japanese pharmaceutical company based in Fukuoka, to try some medication. But ONLY whites can participate…
- Locohama
  
  Yeah, I hate the idea of race specific technological and medicinal research, but like someone said its probably legitimate. I think since they were targeting foreigners and blacks in particular, the least they could have done is took a few bucks and got some help with the wording. Anyone of any race (perhaps) could have told them that the current wording might raise flags and inspire suspicion, but nooooo, they stick to their way of doing things which has resulted in distrust and misunderstandings and global ridicule with whole sites dedicated to japanese signage with the most bizarre english. anyway, thanks for the shout yo
http://about.me/onmugen L. Taz Hicks

I was contacted about this “job” a couple of weeks ago and I flat out refused it. Just something about my fingerprints/handprint being on some companies file just didn’t sit right with me.
- Locohama
  
  I feel you bruh! I didn’t touch it for that and other reasons. Thanks for the shout!
http://kathrynohalloran.blogspot.com Kathryn

I’d have thought too it’s to test out the process on a darker skin tone. i know laser stuff like hair removal is supposed to work better the paler your skin pigment so something like that.

I’d have taken the 8,000 yen. Hell, I got 10,000 yen once just for being a whitie (and letting Shiseido run some tests on me).

Btw I really wanted that sentence above to be ‘I looked her in the eye and told her I wasn’t black and then she short-circuited trying to figure that one out.’
- Locohama
  
  Yeah, I was tempted. I could surely use the money. But I’d feel like a (bigger) hypocrite if I did. Lol. It’s bad enough being singled out everywhere you go. Its bad enough every time you open a mag like metropolis you gotta see, in the personals, “white only” over and over, Now you got ads singling “blacks” out too for some vague purpose. Anyway, my self respect is worth a little more than $80. If they had come with a grand, Im pretty sure this post headline would’ve been something like: Hey Black People,(or Indian or aboriginal or maori or any fairly dark skin folk) Japanese Company Is Giving Away Money to US only!” lol that’s for the shout Kathryn
http://fightstart.blogspot.com kamo

Bah. Come back to me if they want to test their breathalysers and are advertising for those ‘recognition jobs’. Then I might be interested

Maybe it really was proofread by a brit (it’s generally our fault)? As you suggest, ‘black’ seems be less problematic in the UK than in the US, though my radar on this kind of language has hideously misfired before so I’m totally open to correction. Though the fact they managed to spell ‘blank’ two different ways in the same sentence rather suggests that native checking was a luxury the budget didn’t stretch to. See also the way the location is ‘not to be decided’ -

“So where’s the job today?”

“Who the fuck knows? Work it out for yourself if you wanna earn your money. You didn’t think just being ‘black’ and in possession of a hand would be enough, did you?”
- Locohama
  
  ROTFLMAO!!
  Made my day Kamo! Thanks yo
http://badboyinjapan.blogspot.jp/ Chris

I’m gonna grab some black boot polish and my hoodie and just keep repeating MC Ren’s verse on N.W.A.’s “Always into Something”
Start mean muggin dudes and tell em’ if I don’t get the job my mexican friend in the car outside is gonna tag the building with some righteous graffiti..

“Where’s my job?”

“I’m bout to dig in my pockets and I ain’t pullin out no bubble gum…..”

LOL @ Craigslist.
- Locohama
  
  So you’re gonna go all minstrel on them. If so make sure you put a layer of Vaseline on beneath the polish, cuz that shit will eat your skin and before you know it people will be like, yo is you white or albino?
  Mexicans and graffiti? Had no idea. On the east coast it’s the puerto ricans and AAs. My brother bombed mad trains back in the days. I wish I had some pictures of his work to post, but they destroyed that whole subculture….
  Thanks for the shout yo
Meg

This is a bit of a sequitur but my daughter doesn’t like the word “black” as a descriptor – that’s not as she sees the world. She sees the world in a thousand different shades of lighter to darker, peach to tan to brown. “But no one has black skin Mommy.” I credit the United Nations school in NY where she spent the her first 4 years of her education. They emphasized respect for differences in culture, language, religion etc. but never spoke about race at all.Still there was zero tolerance for making fun of someone’s accent or cultural traditions. Everyone was responsible for holding each other in check. If only the world could be so beautiful. Ok –maybe a non- sequitur.
- Locohama
  
  …and a sweet one at that. We need more schools like that all over the world. I’m sure your daughter is going to grow up to do something really amazing, and make and keep friends from all walks of life. What a great mom you are, Meg! Thanks for sharing that…<3
- http://1000thingsaboutjapan.blogspot.com/ Orchid64
  
  FWIW, no one has “white” skin either. We can all see this on all sides. This is a failing of our language choices, but it’s not confined to black people. It applies to Asians (who are sometimes described as having “yellow” skin, by themselves in my experience!) and Caucasians as well.
http://steadyrollinjoker.blogspot.jp Billy

For ~￥100,000 I’ll let university researchers cut a 3in x 4in rectangle of flesh from my back fat… For ￥8000? I’ll tell you what, you and I go down and meet this girl, tell her you’ll do the hand recognition job if she participates in a little hand-recognition test of our own design. We tell her to close her eyes, I backhand her one and you ask her which hand she recognized, the white one or the black one…
- Locohama
  
  LMAO now that’s some hand recognition for yo ass!
  Who slapped ya beeeeotch?
  Thanks for the shout yo!
http://1000thingsaboutjapan.blogspot.com/ Orchid64

The ad is poorly done (and clearly not done by a native speaker – the “22th” is a dead giveaway – even really poor native English writers don’t do that), but it’s the opposite of racist. In fact, it’s an attempt to develop the technology for the global market and make sure it works with a variety of people with differing skin tones. These machines deal with light reflection and they probably need baseline samples to make sure it is adjusted for all ranges.

If you imagine a major company developing hand recognition scanners and only testing it on Asians (or Caucasians) and then selling that technology only to find it did not detect darker ranges of skin tone, you can see the headlines all over the place saying their machines are “racist” and only work for lighter-skinned people. Black customers would feel slighted and left out and there would be criticism of the company for not doing the proper research. This is an attempt to do proper research.

So, if you set aside the stupid English and the stock photo of the smiling black model, this isn’t such a bad thing. In fact, it can be seen as a step in the right direction since at least black folks are on the radar when they consider who will use sophisticated security technology.
- Locohama
  
  Hey orchid!
  “So, if you set aside the stupid English and the stock photo of the smiling black model, this isn’t such a bad thing.”
  Easier said than done but doable. and I think we’re setting aside a bit more than that. For example, we’re setting aside, assuming your theory is correct, that this technology was developed with only certain skin tones in mind and darker tones were an after thought… Mean was the machine designed for human use or Japanese use? Of course if it’s still in development stage now then that’s null and void.
  But, overall, you’re right. I just refuse to give over my trust easily ever again to people who, in general, have demonstrated on numerous occasions that they would rather I didn’t exist in their midst, or find my existence troubling to their way of life. I would be a fool to do so. Once they’ve earned it a bit, then maybe I’ll be able to extrapolate an elaborately positive spin on this like you have. It’s just not possible from my current perspective. But it’s encouraging that you can, knowing what you know and seeing what you’ve seen.
  I’ll keep working on it. I haven’t throw in the towel yet
  Thanks for the shout O64 <3
Meg

So really it’s a bad translation in a country with a reputation for not seeing beyond race. Like fingernails on a chalkboard. Whatever the real intention, its offensive and makes MY skin crawl. There are no excuses for insensivity whether its in a first grade classroom or in a Japanese corporation. We all need to “be the change” I think however and stop using descriptors like white and black instead light , medium dark and that’s only if it is relevant to the conversation !! I mean how many times do we throw ” white” or “black” in to a discussion inadvertently when it is doesnt matter ?
- Locohama
  
  “fingernails on a chalkboard” couldn’t put it better myself. Peeling the scab on one of a 100 paper cuts, most of which have yet to heal. And doing so with free of cognizance, and with the support and/or acquiescence of the masses.
  Guess I’m just an idealist sometimes… Thanks meg
http://haikugirl.me Haikugirl

Here in England I do quite a bit of market research for extra cash in hand, and often they specify race, meaning that sometimes I can’t apply for a focus group about, say, mobile phones, because they only want Indian people. It doesn’t mean they don’t care what a white British person thinks, just that at this particular time they need to fill a quota of Indian people. I’m assuming in this case, as Sublight said, they probably need to test the technology on darker skin tones. I would imagine the have plenty of Japanese people to test it on, and perhaps other groups of people, too. I agree that it could have been worded better, but I don’t think it’s something worth taking offence at.
- Locohama
  
  Hey haikugirl, thanks for the shout.
  OK, lets try this, change “black” to “fat” or “pale” or even “white” For that matter. Are your feelings the same?
  What’s “worth” taking offense at? It varies from person to person, no? I just think there needs to be an effort made to acknowledge that grouping people is inherently problematic and thus should be dealt with with a great deal of thoughtfulness. Especially if you are part of a “group” prone to doing the opposite. And especially if you’re seeking the assistance of a people who have been victimized for centuries (and continue to be) by group think. But if you don’t even consider such things, for whatever reason, then it needs to be addressed. Sure, japan believes it doesn’t have to follow such ridiculous rules because such problems don’t and have never occurred here, but thats a lie and we all know it is. The truth is Japan needs to practice critical thinking when it comes to racial matters just like the rest of the world, and for the same reasons. Their track record is, and continues to be, replete with people and nations that have been victimized by this indoctrinated tendency to group think. So is it “worth” discussing? Yes. Is it offensive? Yes. Is it a high crime? No. Is it racism? Not really. Is it insensitivity indicative of a culture and mindset that has little consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others? Yes.
  - http://haikugirl.me Haikugirl
    
    You know, I’ve been thinking about this the last few days and still can’t really see the problem (other than the badly put together and translated ad with laughable stock photos). As one of your readers mentioned above, maybe it’s just that in the UK we don’t have such a problem with the use of ‘black’. In fact, I’m forever telling my family members to use ‘black’ instead of ‘coloured’ (*cringe*). I think one of the problems is that many people don’t know what language to use – myself included. If I was employed by this company to make their marketing materials, I’d like to think I’d do a better job, but I would probably still use the word ‘black’, because I wouldn’t know how else to specify the skin tone they were after. I realise ‘black’ can come in many different shades, but for the purposes of this experiment perhaps that doesn’t matter – perhaps they just want people with non-Asian and non-Caucasian skin?
    
    At the end of the day, I always tick the ‘white British’ box, and I’ve never taken any offence at that. My skin’s not ‘white’, it’s a sort of peachy pinky colour, but ‘white’ is the label chosen by society for people who look like me.
    
    It’s a really interesting topic though – and I’m glad there’s someone like you challenging things like this. Cheers!
    - Locohama
      
      Certainly this is not a Japanese problem, but an international one. But just like you back home had to learn to stop using colored and use black (a baby step towards “human” but a step nonetheless) so must all people including Japanese take/make steps. IMHO. This flyer is indicative of no effort whatsoever.
http://www.wheeltolive.com Wheeltolive

They have been looking for black volunteers for a while. I’ve seen requests for face recognition and the hand recognition job. I think they are desperate because most blacks probably didn’t sign up for it when it was 3,500 yen. I think they had to up the ante.

I also noticed after I graduated from college that the Chicago Reader would advertise for women to donate their eggs for $5,000. If you were white you would get the $5k, blacks received $2,800. Some ads would ask for only white eggs.

Since I have been back for two weeks, I saw that same ad for eggs and now they are paying $7,000. They haven’t specified a race. I am sure they may have another way to weed you out once you sign up.
- Locohama
  
  Yeah, though it is probably “innocent” I still hate this practice, in all areas. It emphasizes these differences that are for the most part arbitrary or environmental, and expands them into the realm of natural and racial. Which opens (or keeps open) the door for sorts of atrocities, big and small. Anyway, how does it feel to be back in chitown? Must be great I bet.
Andrew in Saitama

Hah! I love the fact that the location is “not to be decided”…

Yep, as a lot of the replies above suggest, it sounds like a sampling to check the effectiveness of the equipment on darker skin tones (I recall some time back Debito reported about a pharmacutical company in Hawaii asking for volunteers of Japanese decent for drug testing – similar rationales, similar poor wording on their fliers)

Unless it’s the NPA trying to get 300 sets of fingerprints for free…
- Locohama
  
  I love the “collect samples of black people” made me think of stool samples lol
http://www.facebook.com/miffykurara Laura Kurotobi

Could be to avoid problems with the technology. HP had a problem with their face recognition software not recognizing dark skin that I was reminded of by this post. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DT3tQqgRM&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dt4DT3tQqgRM
King

Hi Loco ,

This is King I was at the same event with you. I went to the thing because I wanted to see just what it was since I deal in that kind of Tech from time to time. So I wanted to see what was new. It was very straight forward. They made time for me because I was leaving at the end of the week. They need to get many types of hand tones so the scanner can self learn. It took about 1.5 hours for everyone that was there to get done. I think it was 8 of us. I was more interested in the software that they were using it was cool. They gave a short explanation of what they wanted and why. It was all very professional. I was happy to get insight of what they are trying to develop for public use and that is was a lot different from the ones used by the Military. The Military measure the blood flow and the prints and other things. This one only uses the palm. It makes it much easier for use.

All in it was a pleasant experience
- Locohama
  
  Thanks for the feedback King. Glad it was a pleasant experience. you’ve alleviated all concerns (-;
http://www.smittymedia.com smittymedia

Hey Loco -

I enjoy your blog. I echo what a lot of people have already said: It’s a poorly written ad with some bad stock imagery. Don’t think it is racist in the least.

Matter of fact I did some dispatch teaching and they knew I was white. I must have put it on the profile or something. Anyways I started to get emails periodically asking me if I wanted to participate in various studies and one of the prerequisites is that I was white. I think these types of studies cut across all ethnic groups and it’s for research not race relations.

Also it’s not uncommon in the good old US of A to see ads for clinical or focus groups targeting a certain ethnicity. If you look in the Los Angeles CL postings you will often see clinical groups trying to get Japanese Female eggs for about 10k.
- Locohama
  
  So, what is thiS? You got an idea what you’d like this post to be about, I.e. Japanese are racist and here’s the proof, and then you go ahead and respond to that notion, the true intention and purpose of the post be damned ? You need to check out my apologist post…they like to argue against Japanese racism too, even when no one said they were racist. It’s their forte.
  - http://www.smittymedia.com smittymedia
    
    I don’t get it. How is it racist? Would you consider all the clinical/focus groups that happen in other countries that cater to certain demographics racist also?
    - Locohama
      
      Still at it???
      You echo what others have said??
      They are echoing what I said, assuming you read it? Here’s a quote from the piece:
      “Which didn’t so much relax me as prompt me to resolve that this flyer was just the victim of poorly chosen wording and flawed thinking by ignorant people, but, minus any ill-intent, was fairly harmless, which is pretty much an accurate description of Japan itself. You come across so much of this type foolishness here that if you were to get hot and bothered over it all you’d be in a perpetual state of hot and bothered.”
      
      If English is your second language I apologize )-:
http://www.smittymedia.com smittymedia

That’s funny I thought english was your second language. You didn’t answer my question: Do you think other clinical/focus groups are racist also?
- Locohama
  
  You’re two seconds from getting spammed…
  I reiterate. I didn’t say the flyer was racist. I didn’t say Japanese were racist and I didn’t say the practice of clinical/focus groups was racist. and I hate having to clarify myself to people who have fabricated arguments. It pollutes my comment area.
http://www.smittymedia.com smittymedia

I read your article. I also read your paragraph (which I agree with 100%):

“Which didn’t so much relax me as prompt me to resolve that this flyer was just the victim of poorly chosen wording and flawed thinking by ignorant people, but, minus any ill-intent, was fairly harmless, which is pretty much an accurate description of Japan itself. You come across so much of this type foolishness here that if you were to get hot and bothered over it all you’d be in a perpetual state of hot and bothered.”

I then read your paragraph asking for personal experience (re: this particular study):

“If any of my readers can shed some light on this, in layman terms, or know someone who can, let us know. I’d like to think all the participants in this sampling are not completely in the dark about what they’ve gotten themselves into, but you never know. 8000 yen is enough to get some people to shrug their shoulders and say what have I got to lose?”

I shared my experience of getting similar emails for various focus groups and trials while I lived in Japan and how it cut across all racial groups; Just like similar studies in the US do.

I know racism exists in Japan just like it exists everywhere but this flyer or study isn’t an example of that. I think this is something we both agree on.

Thanks
- Locohama
  
  Is that an apology? What you should be saying, if you’d like to make it crystal clear that you understand what happened here, is: “I read the post, and i was either predisposed to think that it was accusing Japanese of racism and/or the practice of clinical/focus groups of being racist, or I misunderstood it. For though the piece asserts or suggests neither, I inexplicably concluded it did. I apologize for polluting your comment area with my straw man fallacy and in the future, since english is indeed my mother tongue, I will endeavor to read more carefully before I leave a comment. I respect what you’re trying to do here Loco and I wouldn’t dare want to convolute any issues you’ve taken the time to bring before us. I don’t always agree with you but on this issue we are in agreement.”
  Or something to that effect.
  (-:
http://angrygaijin.wordpress.com C Ohara

Shoot. Yeah, it is a little dumbfounding… ~_~

Loco in Yokohama

…Japan from a Human Perspective!