List of Kimono Wednesdays protest issues, concepts, and related history

Please see my original post for background: Monet's La Japonaise Kimono Wednesdays at the MFA.

People keep asking me to explain what precisely the protest is about and I've given up. After talking with some folks this weekend about the protesters' concerns I decided to compile a list of everything they’ve mentioned in their materials and signs and provide links to Wikipedia and other sources for further education. Some issues that are related are grouped together. I have located some Japanese sources, but please note that the Japanese links may not be as helpful as the English links because they may not provide context on these concepts from an American perspective. The list ended up being longer than I expected so I alphabetized it for easier reference. Yes, I used to read encyclopedias for fun as a child. Wikipedia is pretty much a childhood dream come true. ^_^ Happy reading!

1. AAPI underrepresentation in media and culture
2. Ableism | 障害者差別
3. Asian American (nisei Yuji Ichioka is credited with coining the term) 
4. Asian festishism | アジア人フェチ
5. Black Lives Matter | 日本語
6. Classism
7. Colonialism | 植民地主義 / Postcolonialism | ポストコロニアル理論 / (See also Colonial mentality)
8. Complicity
9. Critical art theory
10. Critical gender theory
11. Critical race theory
12. Cultural appropriation
13. Cultural insensitivity
14. Decolonize Our Museums
15. Dehumanization of women
16. Erasure of Japanese narrative
17. European feminine beauty ideal (see also Eurocentric Beauty Ideals as a Form of Structural Violence: Origins and Effects on East Asian Women)
18. Exoticism | エキゾチシズム
19. Feminine | 女らしさ
20. Genderqueer | ジェンダークィア
21. Hibakusha | 被爆者
22. Hiroshima & Nagasaki atomic bombings | 日本への原子爆弾投下
23. Historic discrimination against AAPI (see also Racial inequality in the United States)
24. Homophobia | ホモフォビア / Transphobia | トランスフォビア 
25. Human zoos | 人間動物園 
26. Hyphenated Americans
27. Indigenous rights movements
28. Intersectionality (Update 2/14/16: I don't remember if I saw this word used in the initial Kimono Wednesdays discussions but I introduced a friend to this term and they found it helpful in understanding the protest.)  
29. Ivory tower
30. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzō Abe | 安倍晋三
31. Japanese American internment camps (I prefer the term incarceration camps per Densho’s terminology convention) | 日系人の強制収容
32. Japanese denial of war crimes | 日本の戦争犯罪
33. Japonisme | ジャポニスム
34. June 24, 2015 Tokyo protest | 日本語 
35. Kanagawa Treaty | 日米和親条約 / Commodore Perry | マシュー・ペリー
36. Kimono | 着物
37. Lived experience
38. Mark Wahlberg beating of two Vietnamese men | 日本語
39. Minstrelsy
40. Misogyny | ミソジニー
41. Model minority myth (see the 1966 New York Times article where the myth originated)
42. Murder of AAPI women
43. Museum studies | 博物館学 / Asian underrepresentation in museum workforce / Lack of diversity at the MFA 
44. Orientalism | オリエンタリズム
45. Otherness | 他者性
46. Patriarchy | 家父長制
47. Pearl Harbor | 真珠湾攻撃
48. People of color 
49. Pillaging of artifacts | 略奪芸術 / Provenance disputes at the MFA
50. QTWOC (Queer Trans Women of Color) - as far as I can tell this is primarily used as a Twitter and Tumblr hashtag
51. Racism | (アメリカ合衆国の人種差別)
52. Remilitarization of Japan  (see also The Japan Times opinion piece ) | 日本国憲法第9条
53. Respectability politics
54. Reverse racism (article provided by protesters)
55. Sexism | 性差別
56. Sexual assault | 女性に対する性的虐待 / Sexual harassment | セクシャルハラスメント / Rape (AAPI under-reporting of rape) | 強姦
57. Slavery | 奴隷制
58. Solidarity
59. Stalking | ストーカー
60. State-sanctioned violence against people of color | 米国警察の異常な暴力
61. Sureshbhai Patel police brutality incident | スレシュバイ・パテル
62. Systemic violence and brutality against people of color
63. Tokyo firebombings | 東京大空襲
64. US Women's World Cup win over Japan Twitter celebration | 日本語
65. US military presence in Japan | 日本国とアメリカ合衆国との間の相互協力及び安全保障条約
66. Vietnam War | ベトナム戦争
67. Vincent Chin | ビンセント・チン
68. “Violence against black & brown bodies”
69. Western imperialism | 帝国主義
70. White allyship
71. “White culture”
72. White fragility
73. White institutional racism 
74. White male gaze
75. White privilege
76. White supremacy / white supremacist murders
77. Whitewashed Japanese textbooks | 歴史教科書問題
78. Women | 女性
79. Yellowface / AAPI misrepresentation in film and television - Fu Manchu, exoticized sex worker, Mr. Yunioshi

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If you can provide Japanese terminology for things I wasn't able to figure out, please leave a comment. If you can find a Wikipedia or other well-written source that would be great too. Thanks.

If I've missed anything, please let me know!

This post was made possible in part by Google Chrome and Google Translate! どうもありがとうございました!

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Updates

• 8/2/15 1:05am: Updated to include issues from these signs. Added ableism, classism, homophobia/transphobia, sexism.
• 8/4/15 6:10pm: Added Asian American and people of color.
• 2/16/16: Added intersectionality.

Related posts

• Monet's La Japonaise Kimono Wednesdays at the MFA
• Protests continue at the MFA 
• Japanese people talk about whether it's okay for foreigners to wear kimono
• Counterprotest this Wednesday @ the MFA
• Japanese American and Japanese reaction to Kimono Wednesdays
• Part 1: La Japonaise replica uchikake @ Kimono Wednesdays 
• Part 2: Protest and counterprotest @ July 15th Kimono Wednesday
• Myths and facts about Kimono Wednesdays and the protests
• Center for Art Law and NCAC critical of the MFA's decision to modify Kimono Wednesdays 
• Part 1: Kimono Wednesdays protest postmortem: media, public, critics
• Part 2: Kimono Wednesdays protest postmortem: protesters
• Part 3: Kimono Wednesdays protest postmortem: MFA, my role, final thoughts, further reading
• Part 1: AARW/NAPAWF Kimono Wednesdays Panel @ MassArt 
• Panel: Kimono Wednesdays: A Conversation @ MFA 

Hawaii Five-0 recreates Honouliuli Internment Camp

James Saito is best known 4 playing Shredder, but he was also in "Farewell to Manzanar." http://t.co/6buhx1aBnk #H50 pic.twitter.com/9RhKaJTq8D
— Hawaii Five-0 (@HawaiiFive0CBS) December 14, 2013

I'm catching up on Hawaii Five-0 and just watched James Saito's masterful performance in Ho'onani Makuakane, where he plays a former internee of the Honouliuli Internment Camp. I was surprised to see that the show had decided to take on this topic for the 72nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor (which was also recreated in a brief scene). Until pretty recently the camps in Hawaii were all but forgotten. I'd learned as a child that the only camps were on the mainland (and my family is from Hawaii) and didn't hear about them until my cousin sent me this article a few years ago.

After watching the episode I was looking around for information about it and stumbled across this piece by actor/director Chris Tashima (born in Cambridge by the way) originally posted to his Facebook page, complaining about Saito's casting as the elderly David Toriyama. ??? Apparently, Tashima thinks that Saito, at age 58, is far too young to be playing an elderly man. I was thinking that Saito was looking far older than I remembered him being (accomplished with old age make up), but personally I was just glad they'd cast a Japanese American actor who looks like a local (even though he didn't sound like one - someone that old would likely speak heavy pidgin). While I agree that where possible it's far better for shows to cast disabled or senior actors for those roles, I don't think that casting able-bodied or non-senior actors is the same as yellowface casting. There's nothing that makes a white actor more qualified for an Asian role so it's just insulting, but depending on how a role is written, it might be too demanding for a disabled or senior actor.

Tashima dedicated his post to senior JA actors who he presumably thought could have taken on the role. Three of them seem not to be active in TV & film:

• Jim Ishida, who according to IMDb hasn't worked since 2005
• Rodney Kageyama, who according to IMDb hasn't worked since 2008
• James Shigeta, who according to IMDb hasn't worked since 2009 (Update 2/3/16: Someone just sent me Shigeta's obituary from 2014. It seems he hadn't been working at the time this episode was filming due to a stroke. :( )

Two of them have already appeared on the show:

• Sab Shimono has appeared several times as Chin Ho's Uncle Keako
• George Takei has also appeared as one of Chin Ho's uncles (he was hilarious)

He also mentioned Hiroshi Kashiwagi, Ken Takemoto, and Michael Yama who are still working and haven't been on the show. Who knows, maybe they were approached and had scheduling conflicts.

I recently watched the extras for Star Trek: Voyager and someone talked about Ray Walston's last appearance as Boothby right before his death at age 86. There was a long walk and talk scene that they were worried he wouldn't be able to do because at that point his memory wasn't what it used to be, but they said he'd nailed it after a few takes. Unusually for a guest role, David Toriyama was the main character of the episode. He had a lot of screen time and a lot of dialogue. They filmed at multiple locations (some of which were probably quite hot) and in the studio. There was voiceover for flashback scenes. Filming days are usually quite long. The role probably would have been a big challenge for someone older than Saito. Not impossible, but it could have been a consideration. Not all seniors are as spry and active as George Takei who still jets around the globe to Star Trek conventions, acts, writes books, makes videos, and has more Facebook friends than you and everyone you know combined. None of my senior relatives get on planes anymore. It might have been harder for the show to find someone closer in age to the character who would get on a plane to Hawaii to film for a week. If they had filmed in LA, maybe they would have had more options.

Given all these factors there was probably only a very small pool of Asian American actors to pick from - smaller still if they wanted to focus on only Japanese American actors. And of course a lot of great actors have already appeared on the show making the pool even smaller. I'd certainly be interested in hearing from Hawaii Five-0's casting people about how Saito ended up in the role rather than an older actor, but I prefer to think they got the best man for the job.

Check out the episode if you have a chance. They handled most of the history poignantly with only a few over-the-top scenes.

For more on Hawaii's camps, check out director Ryan Kawamoto's The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawaii (trailer). The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i finally put it out on DVD. Unfortunately, the JCCH gift shop isn't online so it looks like orders have to be mailed or faxed in!

If you don't know about the Japanese American incarceration during WWII, you may find my introductory post helpful.

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This post has been crossposted at Discover Nikkei, a multi-lingual Nikkei online community. 

From their website: "Discover Nikkei is a community website about Nikkei identity, history and experiences. The goal of this project is to provide an inviting space for the community to share, explore, and connect with each other through diverse Nikkei experiences, culture, and history." Discover Nikkei is coordinated by the Japanese American National Museum and supported by The Nippon Foundation.

Porter Exchange Japanese restaurants to be featured on Neighborhood Kitchens

On Friday I arrived at the Porter Exchange (aka The Shops at Porter or Lesley University's University Hall) to find the little hallway of Japanese restaurants (and one Korean restaurant) more of a madhouse than usual. WGBH's Neighborhood Kitchens was there filming for an episode that will air in May. While I was dining at Ittyo, the crew made their way down the hall, filming at Café Mami, Sapporo Ramen, Tampopo and finally Ittyo.

Inaniwa udon with sweet potato tempura

I've been meaning to write about Ittyo for the past couple of months but haven't gotten around to it. Carlos Garcia, owner of Café Mami, took over Ittyo in January and revamped the menu with Sapporo Ramen's owner, Manabu-san. Ittyo now serves inaniwa udon (the previous owners served regular udon) and soba, both of which are trucked in from NYC from the same supplier that Sapporo Ramen uses.

You can design your own bowl of noodles or pick from donburi, curry rice, or salad offerings.

Host Margarita Martínez talks to Manabu-san

You can catch Neighborhood Kitchens on Saturdays at 4pm and Sundays at 6:30pm on WGBH 2 and Fridays at 7:30pm on WGBH 44. Looks like a great show. Their second season will begin airing next month. Season 1 episodes are available online.