Nisei Week Festival/Little Tokyo/Related

shin2 wrote:Why?

She appears to look more Caucasian than Japanese.

Sorry, just my personal nitpick.

Here we go. This is the LAPD motorcycle event that traditionally opens the Nisei Festival parade:

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP02.html

This is very short of when the motorcycle crashed. I will only have this up for a few days. I don't want to embarass LAPD.

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP02TEMP.html

ralphm1999 wrote: I don't want to embarass LAPD.

Yeah, they can do it on their own. :hehe:

bmwracer wrote:
She appears to look more Caucasian than Japanese.

Sorry, just my personal nitpick.

I agree with you b-kun. Of all of the young ladies on this year's court the one who won looks the least Japanese. :shakehead: :confused:

ralphm1999 wrote:Here we go. This is the LAPD motorcycle event that traditionally opens the Nisei Festival parade:

This is very short of when the motorcycle crashed. I will only have this up for a few days. I don't want to embarrass LAPD.

@Ralph: Thanks for the video! It looks like the leader of the motorcycle group stopped too short or they were all riding too close to one another. That is a shame to fall during a parade.

I assume all ethnic festivals which select beauty queens have an ethnic requirement for its contestants. Nothing wrong in that.

But the Japanese-American community is changing. I suspect a significant number of yonsei and gosei are hapa. So it would only be natural to have hapa representation involved in these festivals.

shin2 wrote:I assume all ethnic festivals which select beauty queens have an ethnic requirement for its contestants. Nothing wrong in that.

But the Japanese-American community is changing. I suspect a significant number of yonsei and gosei are hapa. So it would only be natural to have hapa representation involved in these festivals.

@shin2: Sorry I don't know what the terms yonsei and gosei mean. I would appreciate it if you or someone else clarified it for me and the rest of us who may not be familiar with those terms. Thanks. :) To me if you hold a beauty contest that reflects a certain ethnic group and then you chose a winner that looks the least like that ethnic group then it seems like the pride in that group's beauty isn't really there. Just my humble opinion.

Enna, yonsei is 4th generation Japanese-American, Gosei is 5th generation. Even though it's called "Nisei Week" (Nisei = 2nd generation) most real Nisei are senior citizens or have passed away by now. This years winner's Dad is caucasian, her Mom is Japanese-American (her Mom's name is Linda Inouye).

This quote from this year's winner Dana Heatherton: JA history is the history of Los Angeles,h she said. " Little Tokyo is a place that a hakujin girl with red hair and freckles can call home.h

*hakujin means "white person."

Edit:
The pageant has not been without past controversy. Originally the queen was selected through ballots given after purchases in Little Tokyo, allowing those making many purchases to vote many times; the rule was changed to allow a fairer chance for all contestants. One controversy remains within the JA community: mixed-race contestants. Competitors must be of at least 50% Japanese ancestry. Due to the increased outmarriage ratio of Japanese Americans, multi-racial (also known as hapa in the Japanese community) contestants began to appear more frequently, causing questioning about the Japanese cultural spirit of the competition and competing beauty standards of whites versus Asians.

Lon Kurashige, professor of ethnic studies at USC, argues that Nisei Queens played a subordinate role too as ambassadors to Issei, Nisei and white Americans. The Queens were viewed as bi-cultural, possessing "quiet charm" and "lively personality", attributed to Japanese and white Americans respectively.

My .02, I don't think it matters if she "looks" Japanese enough or not. If she meets the criteria to enter and she won fair and square, then that's good enough for me.

Enna wrote:To me if you hold a beauty contest that reflects a certain ethnic group and then you chose a winner that looks the least like that ethnic group then it seems like the pride in that group's beauty isn't really there. Just my humble opinion.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Thank you gaijinmark for your explanations and opinion. Thank you shin2 and bmwracer also for your opinions and this lively discussion. It is obvious we all aren't going to agree on this topic. Now let us get back to celebrating the Nisei Week Festival activities. :thumbsup: Ralph time for another one of your lovely videos! :woot:

Enna. Your wish is my command and here they are:

First boy scouts and veterans:

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP03.html

Second, the first group of dancers:

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP04.html

Now I need to take a break and go see Jade at the Asian Buffet. I'm suddenly in the mood for noodles, rice and all the other Asian goodies. No fish with eyes showing or slimy eely things or octopus arms or uncooked fish. Just some great old baked salmon and pork chops... yes.. they have pork chops... and crunchy folded over things with cheese and some kind of fish inside... lots of chicken varieties... yummy.

gaijinmark wrote:
My .02, I don't think it matters if she "looks" Japanese enough or not. If she meets the criteria to enter and she won fair and square, then that's good enough for me.

I agree with you, gaijinmark. And your explanation about this topic was very lucid. "Hapa" btw was originally an Hawaiian term that has since spread from the islands to the mainland to describe people of mixed ancestry.

Imo, being hapa doesn't make a person less worthy, less qualified, or less Japanese in terms of representing the AJA community.

Also, imo having someone who is not "racially pure" representing one's ethnic community does not indicate a lack of pride about that community's ethnicity and culture.

ralphm1999 wrote:Enna. Your wish is my command and here they are:

First boy scouts and veterans:

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP03.html

Second, the first group of dancers:

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP04.html

Thank you kind Sir! :hug: :good:

shin2 wrote:

I agree with you, gaijinmark. And your explanation about this topic was very lucid. "Hapa" btw was originally an Hawaiian term that has since spread from the islands to the mainland to describe people of mixed ancestry.

Imo, being hapa doesn't make a person less worthy, less qualified, or less Japanese in terms of representing the AJA community.

Also, imo having someone who is not "racially pure" representing one's ethnic community does not indicate a lack of pride about that community's ethnicity and culture.

Agreed. The indigenous people of Australia are Kooris, at least around the area where I live. Anyone who has any percentage of Koori in their ancestry is considered Koori. One of our friends is Koori and is blonde and blue-eyed ("Full-blood" Kooris have dark skin, brown eyes and hair) but still considers herself Koori.

shin2 wrote:
Imo, being hapa doesn't make a person less worthy, less qualified, or less Japanese in terms of representing the AJA community.

Also, imo having someone who is not "racially pure" representing one's ethnic community does not indicate a lack of pride about that community's ethnicity and culture.

Please don't misunderstand me. I never said the the young ladies on the Nisei Court had to be racially pure. Who is? Nor am I doubting their Japanese or Japanese-American heritage. In general it bothers me, not just in relation to this particular beauty contest, that the standard for beauty always appears to be the Caucasian woman. I knew the moment I saw the photo of the Nisei court which person was going to win. I was right. All I am questioning is why aren't the Asian qualities or standards of beauty appreciated, praised and honored more? I also feel this way about other ethnic groups and races. Maybe we would see a wider diversity of actors, actresses and models represented around the world if we truly appreciated and honored their natural beauty.

Now back to the Nisei Week celebration. :woot:

Thanks again Ralph for your wonderful videos. :applaud:

Enna wrote:Please don't misunderstand me. I never said the the young ladies on the Nisei Court had to be racially pure. Who is? Nor am I doubting their Japanese or Japanese-American heritage. In general it bothers me, not just in relation to this particular beauty contest, that the standard for beauty always appears to be the Caucasian woman. I knew the moment I saw the photo of the Nisei court which person was going to win. I was right. All I am questioning is why aren't the Asian qualities or standards of beauty appreciated, praised and honored more? I also feel this way about other ethnic groups and races. Maybe we would see a wider diversity of actors, actresses and models represented around the world if we truly appreciated and honored their natural beauty.

Well said.

It makes me think about how Asians have been represented in the early days of movies: Caucasians made up to look like Asians... Charlie Chan (Werner Oland), Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre), the lead actors (Paul Muni, Luise Rainer) in The Good Earth, to name a few...

More:

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP05.html

This one has the cosplayers:

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP06.html

ralphm1999 wrote:This one has the cosplayers:

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP06.html

Thanks Ralph! That was my favorite video of the parade so far. I love the music, the dancing and those cute doggies. :)

Enna wrote:

Thanks Ralph! That was my favorite video of the parade so far. I love the music, the dancing and those cute doggies. :)

And thank you Enna. Did you notice in the first group with the white and blue costumes I singled out a cutie for a few seconds. Will see if she shows up in the Bon Odori.

ralphm1999 wrote:This one has the cosplayers:

http://ralphmoratz.com/misc/NFP06.html

I like trying to find myself in other people's videos. I walk across the screen at the 5:40 mark. :woot: