One person said, “I’m Japanese. Stop making Asian characters Black. We’re not Disney characters.” This comment received 342,000 likes. The image even made it into Japanese forums like Yaraon.

In this segment from June 2018, we discuss Black representations in Japanese manga and anime with William Bridges IV. He is assistant professor of Japanese at the University of Rochester.

Thomas said that as a 16-year-old Black kid, he would have been deeply impacted by a group of Black men, each respected in his field, coming together to create a Japanese anime about a Black hero.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Morgan Garcia-Lamarca’s bare back elicits gasps and wide eyes from those who glimpse the 14-inch-long Japanese proverb inscribed down his spine. The four black, broad ...

The most well-known characters in Japanese pop culture have often been represented with European features and fairer skin tones such as Naruto, Ichigo, Luffy, or Spike Spiegel.

There are black Japanese, white Japanese, brown Japanese, Muslim Japanese, etc etc. So maybe it's nice a game might just help some people see Japan and Japanese, as a place becoming more diverse. So ...

A number of Japanese period dramas about Yasuke have been produced, and he has appeared as a character in the manga series Hyouge Mono, The Man Who Killed Nobunaga, and Nobunaga's Chef.

A Black model posted a photo of herself cosplaying as a non-Black anime character and faced racist comments online. Racism has a longstanding presence both in the cosplay community and fandom in ...

Japanese Pop Artist Yayoi Kusama Apologizes for Horribly Racist Remarks Despite Still Being Racist ... Kusama’s 1971 play “Tokyo Lee” calls its sole Black character a “WILD-looking, ...