In a blog post from 2012, a Utah mother described having thrown her daughter a geisha-themed birthday party in what most would consider a very simple, ordinary thing to do.
Unfortunately for the mother, some users attacked her for cultural appropriation -- that is, until a Japanese user stepped in to clear things up.
The mother, named "Heidi," posted photos of her young daughter's birthday party in November of 2012 to a blog named "The Gala Girls." But over the years, the post has resurfaced a few times on Tumblr, each time sparking criticism from users.
For the party, Heidi had included Japanese-themed decor and traditional garments, as well as geisha makeup. Despite the seemingly innocent gesture, some users posted critical comments, such as "Teach children that this is not ok" and "I'm really not understanding why you think cultural appropriation would be ok, unless that the girl in the picture is part Japanese."
Another user remarked that the use of geisha makeup was considered to be "yellowface" despite the fact that traditionally, Japanese geishas use white makeup for performances.
Amid all the criticism, one user stepped into the ring to make things right. To make matters worse for the naysayers, she was Japanese.
In response to all the claims of racism and appropriation, the Japanese user fired back:
"I am Japanese, in Japan at this very moment. The only people who think culture shouldn't be shared are racists like you.
A vast majority of Japanese people actually enjoy other people making an effort to spread and enjoy Japanese culture, and encourage it. Many make businesses in deliberately taking pictures of people in kimono. A common omiage (gift) for foreigners from Japanese people is traditional Japanese things such as kimonos, tea seats, shisa dog statues, ect.
And to top it off, basically 80 percent of Japanese customs, traditions, and food, came from other countries. Japanese is an integration of different cultures, like America. Japan takes influences from places like Korea, China, Russia, and Europe. If Japan stuck to itself, there would be no tempura, Japanese tea, tea ceremonies, kabuki, Japanese bread, Japanese curry, j-pop, anime, cars, or modern fishing techniques. The picture is not "yellow face" they are not making fun of asians. In fact, it looks like they put extra care and research into their work.
The only reason that you have a problem with this is because that little girl is white and you know that it is acceptable on tumblr to crap all over white people. The only racist here is you."
As you might imagine, many Tumblr users lost their collective mind and posted a slew of supportive -- if not a bit inappropriate -- comments hailing the intellectual beatdown that had just taken place. The point of the issue had been made, and in this case, there was a clear winner.
Thank you for supporting MRCTV! As a tax-deductible, charitable organization, we rely on the support of our readers to keep us running! Keep MRCTV going with your gift here!