Meeting Tokyocooney

On April 26, I met Mr. Kevin Cooney aka Tokyocooney.

I do not remember exactly when I started watching his videos,
but at least like two years and half ago, I think.
At that time, still only a few Gaijins were doing
a vlog thing on YouTube though now there are too many to follow.
He is mosdef one of the pioneers of J-Vloggers
and still remaines as the very famous one
& one of the most popular ones if he is not THE MOST.


I am usually not the type who likes to attend this kind of meet-up.
However, I decided to do so as I have been a fan of his videos
and also because of not wanting to stay home
and be depressed that night
as my cat Maxi who had been my companion for 21 years
had passed a few days before this meet-up.

The place was a village bar called "Peculiar Bar",
which did not look peculiar at all to me
but looked like one of those
which had not changed for last 50 years or so.
and about ten people gathered there for this meet-up,
including three of his old friends,
and only one of them was female,
who Kevin claimed he had used to date.
I guess checking Gaijin's vlogs on YouTube
is a more male thing to do
or more like a male Otaku thing to be accurate maybe.

At first I felt like a little kid who met "Mr.Rogers" in person,
being puzzled about why he was not in sweet YouTube-land any more.
Actually the real Kevin talked & acted just like the one in YouTube
and told us many things about himself, Japan and J-vloggers.

Among all those subjects he talked about,
at one point, he fiercely defended Japan about whaling.
He said some kinds of whales were threaten to be extinct,
but some others were not.

Being an animal lover and anti-whaling person,
I simply do not believe there is any justifiable reason
for Japan to continue whaling.
Until like 150 years ago, a whale had been a gift from heaven
to poor fishermen villages in Japan.
And they used to catch one with simple woodden small boats
and very primitive tools like spears.
Naturally they could not
and did not have to catch whales more than that
since they did not have technologies
to preserve and transport them to distant city areas.

Now I do not know any Japanese who say that
they love to eat Whale meat at regular basis
as Japanese have too many other good things to eat
and as the matter of fact, they waste tons of food every day.
However, they still catch whales
because someone still can make money with them.

I wrote about this issue
on some Japanese magazine about two years ago,
and harshly criticised about their very low awareness of
political and social issues in general.
And one of my readers wrote that
I had been brain-washed by Americans, hahaha.

Anyway, I was actually more impressed by
how fiercely Kevin defended Japan about this issue
than his argument itself.
I could have a big urge to defend Japan
anytime I hear some U.S. media trashing Japan
and also I could have a big urge to defend America
anytime I hear Japanese unfairly criticising America,
as I feel I am somewhere in between of these two now.

Probably Kevin feels the same way as I do,
and also he wants to clarify some issues surrounding Japan
as he does not want his family and friends to wonder
why he is living in a horrible country
where people are not concerned about great animals like whales.
So for him, to defend Japan is really to defend himself
who chooses to live in Japan
which is still an odd place to choose to live
for most of Americans.

Also Kevin talked about how cruel American soldiers were
to Japanese soldiers during the pacific War,
and which cracked me up a little
because I saw a documentary just a few weeks ago on PBS,
which said the completely opposit things.

But again I felt his urge to defend Japan,
and he really was defending himself by doing so.

There were his two male friends,
one of them were his SKA band mate before he left for Japan,
and the other was the guy who lived in Japan for 8 years.

He said he did some odd jobs there
and one of them was a fake pastor.



Many young Japanese couples think that
getting married in church is romantic.
Therefore there is a demand and business for this kind of place,
a fake church-marriage hall, and a fake pastor.
Qualifications to be a fake pastor in Japan is

1) Being White
2) Looking like a pastor
3) Some acting ability

He said he made a good money as a fake pastor,
but I did not ask him then why he left Japan after 8 years
as I almost knew it.

Being a Gaijin means a being a novelty.
Most of Japanese are nice to Gaijins,
White or American/European Black people,
because Japanese see a glamorous images of
western cultures behind them,
which are exaggerated by irresponsible medias.

Some Gaijins learn to enjoy being a novelty,
but many of them don't.
That's why they leave Japan after a few years.
It is a simple fact that
we all have a desire to be accepted
as just a person by the society.

Then how come Kevin is staying there
even without being married with a Japanese girl,
which can be one big reason that some Gaijins stick to Japan.
I did not ask him but I could imagine that
one of the reasons is that he is doing well with his career.
while most of Gaijins are struggling
to go beyond teaching English and novelty type jobs.

Good for him!
and I am looking forward to seeing more of his fun videos!

Random Thoughts

This post is the answer to the comment
some annoymous person made to my last post.

>its fascinating that you are a japanese who went to america to kind to 'escape', usually its the other way around.. a westerner who goes to japan (or some part of asia, or anywhere in the world for that fact).

The biggest reason for the mass immigration is
alway the financial opportunity
though some immigrants claim it is political assylum for them,
still the reason they choose US to come is
the finacial opportunity.
They watched Hollywood films to believe
all Americans are living in big houses
with a big yard of green lawn.

Japanese used to immigrate for the same reason to US,
however, it ceased when the war broke out between two countries.
Now Japan has a wealthy society
even though their economical growth stagnated in early '90s,
they still have #2 GDP in the world.
So there is not much reason for Japanese to immigrate to US
as an immigrat of the traditional sense,
just like Italians and Irish used to immigrate to US in masses,
but no longer they do that
as they have much wealthier societies compared to those times.

However, still many Japanese come to US
because in Japanese medias,
glamorous images of America cultures are flooded,
which make many Japanese fascinated
with the idea to come to US.

You can call that 'escape'
if you call the reason Americans come to Asia 'escape'
And just like many of Americans go back to US after a while,
most of Japanese go back to Japan as well
as they realize how hard to be accepted by the society,
and humans have a deep desire to be accepted by one.
If you are an immigrant of the traditonal sense
who immigrated for the financial opportunity,
you try to make it there
no matter what kind of issues you have to face,
like language, race, legal status and cultural difference.
On the other hand, if you are am American, a Japanese
or anyone from wealthier countries,
you always have a choice to go back to your countries
where you do not have to face many of those issues.
Well, I do not say "all of",
especially if you are not a White person in US.

>the problems are the same wherever we go, i suppose.

I %100 agree with that.
As being a foreinger means being an outsider,
our desire to be accepted can give you so much headache.
We want to be accepted by others,
we want to be veryfied by others,
we want to be connected with others,
but then that is what we crave in our own countries too.

And also your personal issues follow you anywhere you go.
For exapmle, if you are a very shy,
not so positive or active person,
and you think that is the reason
that you feel you are alienated in your own society,
going to other country does not solve any of those.

>i can sympathize with some problems you encounter. my parents were immigrants from asia, and even though i spoke fluently, i also encountered some stereotypes and confusion from people who didn't know any better,

I wrote a series of articles about immigrants in US
for a Japanese publication a few years ago
and interviewed many people
like Chinese, Koreans and people from Latin Americas,
also watched some interesting documentaries
about the immigrants communities in US.
If you are not White(or Black),
people ask you where you are from, means which country you are from
ask whether you speak English or not
even if you are a person who was born and raised here.
I think that can be a very humiliating experience too.

>but... there are good people out there, not only ignorant or unreasonable ones. hopefully you will meet some soon.

That is very true.
Actually I met many people like that.
And I never thought Americans are more racistic than Japanese
as things like racism and prejudice can exist anywhere.
I say the racism itself does not descriminate.
However, whether that person is nice ot not,
and whether that he/she is prejudical
on some subjects are a bit different issues.
Some people can be very nice
and very prejudical at the same time.

>anyway, i just wanted to say i hope you find your happiness soon. dont give up.

Thanks for your kind words!
I really appreciate.
And to be honest, my biggest problem is my career right now,
not the US society.
In 2007 and 2008, I wrote monthly articles
for a magazine from the Japanese major publisher,
which allow me to do whatever I like to do.
It was tough work but I really enjoyed.
However, that magazine folded at the end of 2009.
Now in Japan, most of decent magazines have disappeared
because of the impact of the internet and other issues.
I like to write about the realities of this society
but no Japanese media let me do that.
You may think American media is bad,
but Japanese media is much much worse.
The true journalism is basically dying there.
In 2009, I did nothing but withdrawing because of that,
and felt like being stuck
in the darkest tunnel without any exit.
Right now I am in the process of
digging myself out of this pit.
How? I do not know.

Japanese who love Gaijins & Americans who love Japanese

Now it seems that we have more people who are interested in Japanese cultures because of the rising popularity of anime, manga and other Japanese pop cultures.
However, in '80s & '90s those kinds were much fewer.
Vast majority of Americans had, and still most of them have, a very little or no interest in Japan, Japanese people or Japanese culture, which meant that they might have been a little different when I met some people who said that they were very into Japanese or any other Asian cultures.
Frankly speaking, some of them were, and probaly still, sort of weirdos.
I do not want to offend any Japan loving Gaijins,
but again until like '90s, vast majority of average Americans had 0 interest in Japan, then people who did a lot could be a little "strange."
They were definitely very different from average Americans by the fact they liked Japan alone.

I still speak crappy English
but during my first few years here, my English was really really bad.
Who wasts to make friends with an Asian who speaks crappy English?
Nobody but those Japan/Asia loving, a bit different people
or guys who think Japanese girls are easy
and hungry for White and/or Black guys.

I started to avoid those Japan/Asia loving people
as soon as I started to speak half way decent English.
I do not say those Japan loving people were bad people,
many people are a little different, including me,
and still can be very nice.
However, I felt like becoming a catalogue of Japan
when I talked with them.
Those people wanted to talk to me not because of
my personality, my talent or my thought
but simply because of me being a Japanese.
I did not like that.

If you go to Japan, and if you a Caucasian
including a Caucasian looking Hispanic or an American born Black,
you get some or lots of attention from Gaijin loving Japanese.
They love to talk to you because they see glamorous images of
American and/or European cultures behind you.
Eventually not all but some of you may feel the same way that I felt,
"Do these Japanese like me only because I am a White/Black?
I do not represent entire America
nor I am not a catalogue of American cultures either."
But unfortunately if you speak only crappy Japanese,
usually those are only Japanese you can make friends with.
Or some Gaijins seem to be addicted to the attentions they get
from Gaijin loving Japanese.

But one thing you should remember,
do not generalize Japanese only by hearing from or looking at
what those Gaijin loving Japanese say or do.
they do not represent majority of Japanese
though much more Japanese like Gaijins
because Japanese love American/European cultures
compared to the number of Americans who are into Japanese culture.
So Japanese who are really into Gaijins are not strange
as American who are really into Japanese cultures, I guess.

Interestingly it seems that it could be much easier for me
to make Gaijin friends in Japan than in U.S.

Japanese teaching Japanese in U.S.

Teaching English is the bread winning job
for most of Gaijins in Japan.
Well, for ones who speak English.
If you are a Gaijin, speak English and got BA degree,
You can be a English teacher right away
even without any teaching Experience or other credibilities.

This is the story I read somewhere a long time.
There was a White guy teaching English
at some English school in Tokyo,
who was not a native English speaker.
After the class, one of his collegue talked to him,
who was an Asian American person.
And he said "Despite of the fact that
I am a native English speaker and you are not,
you are a much more popular teacher here.
You know why? Because you are White and I am not."

I guess most of Gaijins have already realized this fact,
except the ones in public schools,
many of Japanese go to English schools
because they like to see Gaijins,
they are paying not only for learning English
but also for Gaijin viewing.
They are willing to pay to see Gaijins,
mainly White or American Blacks
because of the same reason many Japanese stare at Gaijins,
the fascination with Gaijins,
more precisely Gaijins and the glamorous American
and European culture Japanese see behind Gaijins.

Now I think they are mostly replaced by the meetup.com
but till '90s, Adult education classes were very popular
in New York like a writing class, painting class, film class,
cooking class, you name it, any kinds of classes.
And one of the reasons of their popularity was that
they provided the place for people to meet and socialize.
English school in Japan is very similar to that
though some schools are very serious ones.
Many Japanese go to English schools
for meeting or socializing with someone
while enjoying to view Gaijin Pandas.

Once my friend in Tokyo told me he had hired
a private English tutor and she was an young American.
He said "She got an easy job because I told her
all she had to do was just chatting with me in English."
I said to him "Which means you bought a Gaijin."

Because Japanse see so many Gaijins teaching English in Japan,
they really misunderstand that
they can also teach Japanese in U.S. as well
which is not true at all.

In New York, most of language school are
for immigrants and foreigners,
and they teach English.
As a matter of fact, very few places have a Japanese class.
Though the interest in Japanese culture is on the rise in U.S.
because of manga and anime,
still majority of Americans are not much interested in Japan.
Therefore there is not much demand
for a Japanese class unfortunately.
People who already have the position
to teach Japanese rarely quit
because they know once they quit,
it is almost impossible to find another
as it seems that there are more Japanese wish to teach Japanese
than Americans like to learn Japanese.

Of course, some colleges with Asian study department
have Japanese class also.
However, they usually hire
their Japanese graduate school students of their school
as instructors for Japanese classes,
which means you do not get a job to teach Japanese
at college either unless you have a strong connection with them.

Well, actually this is the story of New York.
If you go to somewhere far away from the big cities
where you do no find many Japanese,
some college might hire you as a Japanese instructor
as long as you got BA degree.

Negative Reactions to "Racism in Tokyo"

Wow, tokyocooney's video "Racism in Tokyo"
is getting viewed a lot for such a short time
and also getting lots of negative comments
from Japanese.
Obviously they don't get it.
They do not understand why this is funny.
Well, this is a type of joke
Gaijins can enjoy among them.
Then why does this video have a title in Japanese
which obviously attracts Japanese viewers?

I wrote about this video on the post below this
and said that it had gotten my nerve a bit.
It was because I had to go through
a real hardcore racism here in U.S.
while Gaijins in Japan complained and joked about
trivia things like being stared.
That is a luxuary to me!
But still this is an understandable joke.

However, most of Japanese do not understand
this kind of joke and they can be offended
because they understand the situation itself.
Most of Japanese feel like staring Gaijins
because they are curious about different races
and they love love American(or European)
cultures so much that they feel
they can see them in or behind Gaijins.
Therefore Japanese feel like they are the one
who is scolded by that Black woman
when they see that guy in the video is scolded
or they fell like they are bashed.
In other words, this video is too close to them.
You know, people want to be loved by whom they love,
not to be bashed.
Japanese staring toward Gaijins is actually
their LOVE and longing for the glamorous America.
That's why some Japanese are so upset with this Video.
I heard that some Japanese had been upset
when they had seen "Lost in Translation" as well.
There is the Japanese old saying
"可愛さあまって、憎さ百倍（Kawaisa amatte nikusa hyakubai)"
which means that your hatered can be amplified 100 times
when you are betrayed by someone who you adore.

Also the guy in this video is very nerdy and creepy,
very stereotype of Japanese.
I know, for Americans,
that is the way Japanese men are suposed to look like.

But in a very sarcustic way, I enjoy this commotion.
It is very interesting and entert...., hahahaha.
Some comments from Japanese are so so stupid.
I get the same kind of comments
if I write about the racism against Japanese in U.S.
for Japanese media.
Some Japanese do never ever like to know
that they can be descriminated in U.S.
because they love America so much.
So they always hate the messengers.

Thanks Kevin!

Racism against Gaijins in Tokyo vs Racism against Asians in NY

This is the video that tokyocooney made about Racism in Tokyo.
He is a writer & comedian who lives in Tokyo,
originally from New York, and makes fun videos
about his experiences of living there as a Gaijin.
I really enjoy his videos, actually love, love his videos.
However, this latest one got my nerve a little
even though I do understand this is supposed to be a humore.
Gaijins in Japan often complain about
being treated as a novelty in Japan,
and how annoying Japanese always make comments on
how well Gaijins use chopsticks.
Also how annoying it is
whenever they get stared by Japanese in public spaces.
In case you do not know, Japanese stare Gaijins
because Japan is, even not completely so,
a very homogenized society.
Therefore people are very curious about
someone lookig different from them.
Also as Japanese media keeps feeding them very one-sided
glamorous images about American (and European) cultures,
whenever Japanese see Gaijins,
they see those images behind Gaijins
and tend to be gravitated to them.
But gererally speaking Japanese treat Gaijins nicely
because of those kind of longings for Western cultures.
However, that is not always the case
if you are non-White foreigner,
especially the ones who came to Japan as a cheap Labor.
Well, I have to add Blacks are included to the Gaijin status
as long as they are from U.S. or Europe and educated enough.
The younger generation of Japanese loves new Black cultures.
Hispanics are included too
if their facial features are close enough to Whites
as most of Japanese cannot tell the differences.

I guess Gaijins in Tokyo have no clue
about what it is like to live in New York
as an Asian who speaks crappy English.

Sorry, this might sound like Gaijin bashing.
I do not bash them but I guess I envy them sometimes.