Debito, doing what he does best
08/21/2008 @ 12:00 pm
If you have ever wondered what the notorious American-turned-Japanese (but still very much ugly gaijin) Debito Arudo actually looks like and sounds like, wonder no more for here he is, doing what he does best. . . bitching about Japan.
Haha, they refer to him repeatedly as a foreigner even though he states he is now Japanese.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:22 pmI feel your use of “ugly” to be truly offensive. Attack his position if you must, but lay off the ad hominem name-calling, please.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:00 pmHey, feitclub. I assume you are joking, so let me first say “ha-ha.”
But just in case you aren’t, check this out or definitions 2 and 3 here.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:55 pmHad he said ” I’m sad because I loved Japan so much and became a Japanese “, people would have reacted quite differently.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:47 pmNow this is current. This video must be 2 months old. The summit they are talking about was back in June. And of all videos to pick to slam Debito on. This one? He does a lot of bitching about Japan, but occasionally he does stand up for the rights of folks who don’t look Japanese. Maybe you and your halfer kids can pass for Japanese so you can safely ignore the injustices Debito bitches about, but not everyone can be so lucky. Bitching about Japan indeed. Stay classy, Eddy.
That said, he’s a lot pudgier than I thought he’d be, and his Japanese speaking sure is hurting. You’d hope that someone who’s been here as long as him would have lost that gross accent. Oh well. Bitch on, our pudgy but vigilant Dr. King. Someone has to ruffle those feathers. It sure as hell isn’t going to be my-kids-don’t-need-equal-protection-Chmura or sour-grapes-at-the-sheisty-gooks-Matt.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:55 pmNow this is current. This video must be 2 months old. The summit they are talking about was back in June.
Ummm. . . . So?
And of all videos to pick to slam Debito on.
Who’s slamming?
He does a lot of bitching about Japan,
Yeah. That’s exactly what I said.
but occasionally he does stand up for the rights of folks who don’t look Japanese.
So who said he didn’t?
Bitch on, our pudgy but vigilant Dr. King. Someone has to ruffle those feathers. It sure as hell isn’t going to be my-kids-don’t-need-equal-protection-Chmura or sour-grapes-at-the-sheisty-gooks-Matt.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:29 pmIs that you, Debito?
I’d say that JP’s “ugly” comment reflected his insides, not his appearance. I’ve thought that Debito-san was quite ugly in his attempts to be as negative and bitter and confrontational as he could about Japan, a land where “sho ga nai” or “ii jan” can be wonderful social lubricant, making things more smooth and enjoyable for nearly everyone. His attempts to paint white English teachers living in a land as different from them as Japan in the same light as Alabama in the 1960s, and also to speak for “we gaijin,” make me groan repeatedly. Um, most of the discrimination here is IN OUR FAVOR…?
Sorry, had to rant a little there.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:41 pmNope, I wasn’t kidding. I’m familiar with the term “ugly American” but that doesn’t make it’s usage here any less derogatory. Not to mention Aruodou-san’s recent editorial about the word “gaijin” makes the phrase “ugly gaijin” twice as offensive.
I disagree with some of his tactics but in general, I agree with his complaints, particularly in this case when he got the police officer to openly (and apologetically) admit that he was only carding people who looked like foreigners. I see nothing “ugly” about his actions here.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:43 pmNow wait a minute, feitclub. Your position is making less and less sense with each note.
You originally said, “I feel your use of ‘ugly’ to be truly offensive. Attack his position if you must, but lay off the ad hominem name-calling, please,” which is why I responded the way I did. Since you took issue with the term “ugly,” I suspected that you may be unaware of the alternate meaning of the term.
But now you seem to be indicating that it was the term “gaijin” that you found offensive.
Not to mention Aruodou-san’s recent editorial about the word “gaijin” makes the phrase “ugly gaijin” twice as offensive.
What on Earth leads you to the belief that anyone should feel obliged to alter the settings on their moral compass based on one man’s opinion (which, by the way, is what an editorial is)?
Besides, I thought that people who belong to a group referred to by a term that some feel are offensive are free to use said term with impunity, are they not?
August 21st, 2008 at 6:20 pmThat’s not even close to being true ed.
Anyway if the guy’s complaints are (occasionally) valid then great, call it a test of freedom of speech when they aren’t.
“shut up and be grateful” never got anybody anywhere anyway.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:28 pmI’m not gonna wade through all that, but is all about the time he got pulled over at the airport when he just happened to have a recorder about his person?
Wow, I wonder how one ensures THAT kind of coincidence. Perhaps by behaving totally shiftily and worthy of being pulled over?
And bearing in mind how he must have been behaving to attract attention, sounds like they dealt with him very nicely.
Just goes to show that the easiest way to come up against trouble is to go looking for it in the first place.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:37 pmWow. With some of the comments being posted here, I am quickly coming to the conclusion that an emergency program to improve reading comprehension skills is sorely needed in the U.S.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:24 pmAnd who was it the other day who was saying it is the Japanese who have a hard time understanding sarcasm?
August 21st, 2008 at 10:35 pmEdward,
You are off-base with your comment about Debito this morning.
JAPUNDIT reserves the right to modify or delete comments without notice and totally at the discretion of the editor and/or publisher.
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Gratuitous vulgarity
Gratuitous insult
Seems like your broke your own rule #2.
I would call that a gratuitous insult.
I hear that you are Native American, so you must know something about discrimination (wink!)
August 21st, 2008 at 10:56 pmWhatever anyone can say about Debito, I just feel safer that he exists in the first place. It would be eerie to live in Japan without his charming brand of curmudgeon-ness.
Debito started out with a noble cause. He was discriminated against at a Japanese Onsen. But since then he and his movement have deteriorated into the far extreme and his writings and speaches come over as incredibly negative rantings.
Counter that with Martin Luther King who also fought for equal rights. MLK is world famous for his uplifting and positive speaches. His “I have a Dream” speach being one of the greates speaches in history.
Debito no doubt will state he should not be compared to MLK. That’s fine. But if his goal is to create change and encourage people join his cause, he would do well to emulate MLK’s positive, uplifting approach.
Debito will never achieve much with his negative, angry attitude.
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:02 amWhao, calm down there with the racial slurs. There is absolutely no reason to use them in any context.
Frankly, I want to see a genuine case of discrimination rather than the broad category of racial profiling he is citing here. Yes the policeman was wrong about him being a foreigner, but the same policeman would be right 99.99% of the time when talking to a white person. Even Debito conceeded in the video that “I don’t look Japanese”. Add this to the fact that during the encounter with the policeman (who was exceedingly polite) he was being very vague and refused to elaborate when it was clear the policeman could not understand, it is clear that Debito wanted to draw out the encounter with the policeman for as long as possible. If Debito had tried the same thing with a cop in Australia, he would be lucky not to be arrested for obstructing the duties of a police officer.
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:29 amLiving in Japan for that long will drive anybody insane.
Anyway, I like his accent. I think it makes him easier to understand than a native speaker.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 amThis guy needs to get over himself. He is NOT Japanese! He doesn’t even speak Japanese all that well.
He very obviously has a chip on his shoulder, and just goes around trying to start trouble. I think “ugly gaijin” is a very appropriate description.
I know, I only spend 2 or 3 months a year in Japan. If I lived there permanently, maybe I would be a little crazy too. I don’t know. I will find out soon.
BUT, I do know that I have never run into the kind of trouble he is talking about. Even during the summit, while there were what were some, in my opinion, unnecessary security precautions being taken, (squads of policemen patrolling Shibuya, all coin lockers closed in Kyoto station) I had NO problems. I did get some looks because I was carrying a monopod for my camera (giant keibo?) and was stopped by several police when I accidentally took a wrong turn and tried to go into the Shinkansen entrance in Kyoto, but was never treated with anything less than courtesy.
It just goes to show, if you go looking for trouble, you’ll find it.
August 23rd, 2008 at 10:56 pmIf he acted like that in America, he just might get Tazed!
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:06 pmCheck out Japan Probe’s latest report on Debito Arudou, which includes a list of criticisms against Arudou’s tactics. One of which, as we have seen employed here by some of his acolytes, is to accuse anyone who speaks negative of Debito of being in favor of mistreatment of foreigners and their offspring.
August 25th, 2008 at 8:33 pmWTF?!?!?!
I don’t read Japundit for a couple of days, and there’s a whole lot o’ flamin’ going on!! w00t!
I would agree with some of the naysayers here if Mr. Japundit didn’t use his name on his posts, but Mr. J uses his own name, puts out his voice for the world to hear, and posts editorial opinions. Arudo’s position was attacked, as his actions point to ugly-gaijinism and nothing more. When Japanese people do the same thing, it’s ugly-japanesism. There’s a war going on folks, whether you like it or not. None of Arudo’s ‘basic human rights’ were violated, he was simply asked a couple of questions. I’ll go fight a parking ticket, but this??
Keep at it Mr. C. This is what it’s all about!
–Mark
August 26th, 2008 at 2:38 pm