anonymous asked:

Hello WWC! I have a question about the antagonist of my story. She is (currently) Japanese, and I want to make sure I’m writing her in a way that doesn’t associates [sic] her being Asian with being villainous. 
The story is set in modern day USA, this character is effectively immortal. She was a samurai who lost loved ones due to failure in combat, and this becomes her character[sic] motivation (portrayed sympathetically to the audience). This story explores many different time periods and how women have shown valor throughout history. The age of the samurai (and the real and legendary female warriors from it) have interested me the most, which is why I want her to be from this period. 
The outfit she wears while fighting is based on samurai armor, and she wears modern and traditional Japanese fashion depending on the occasion. She acts pretty similar to modern day people, though more cynical and obsessed with her loss. She’s been able to adapt with the times but still highly values and cherishes her past. 
She is the only Asian main character, but I plan to make a supportive Japanese side character. She’s a history teacher who knows about the villain and gives the protagonists information to help them, but isn’t involved in the main plot otherwise. 
Are the way I’m writing this villain and the inclusion of a non-antagonist Japanese character enough to prevent a harmful reading of the story, or is there more I should do?

Why Does Your Villain Exist?

This makes me feel old because David Anders plays a villain with this kind of backstory in the series Heroes starring Masi Oka. 

I think you want to think about what you mean when you say: 

• Villainous (In what way? To whom? To what end?)
• Harmful (What tropes, narratives and implications are present?)

I’m relatively infamous in the mod circle for not caring too much about dimensions of “harm”. The concept is relative and varies widely between people and cultures. I don’t see much value in framing motivations around “What is less harmful?” I think for me, what matters more is: 

• “What is more true?” 
• “Are characteristics viewed as intrinsic to background, or the product of experiences and personal autonomy?”
• “Will your portrayal resonate with a large audience?”
• “What will resonate with the members of the audience who share the backgrounds your characters have?” 

This post offers additional questions you could ask yourself instead of “is this okay/not okay/harmful.” 

You could write a story where your antagonist is sly, sadistic, violent and cold-blooded. It may not be an interpretation that will make many Japanese from combat backgrounds feel seen or heard, but it’s not without precedent. These tropes have been weaponized against people of Japanese descent (Like Nikkei Japanese interned during World War II), but Japan also brutalized a good chunk of Asia during World War II. See Herge’s Tintin and The Blue Lotus for an example of a comic that accurately showcases the brutality of Japan’s colonization of Manchuria, but also is racist in terms of how Japanese characters are portrayed (CW: genocide, war, imperialism, racism).

You could also write a story where your character’s grief gives way to despair, and fuels their combat such that they are seen as calculating, frigid and deeply driven by revenge/ violence. This might make sense. It’s also been done to death for Japanese female warriors, though (See “Lady Snowblood” by Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura here, CW: sexual assault, violence, murder and a host of other dark things you’d expect in a revenge story). 

You could further write a story where your antagonist is not necessarily villainous, but the perceived harm comes from fetishizing/ exoticizing elements in how her appearance is presented or how she is sexualized, which is a common problem for Japanese female characters. 

My vote always goes to the most interesting story or character. I don’t see any benefit to writing from a defensive position. This is where I’ll point out that, culturally, I can’t picture a Japanese character viewing immortality as anything other than a curse. Many cultures in Japan are largely defined by transience and the understanding that many things naturally decay, die, and change form.

There are a lot of ways you could conceivably cause harm, but I’d rather hear about what the point of this character is given the dilemma of their position. 

• What is her purpose for the plot? 
• How is she designed to make the reader feel? 
• What literary devices are relevant to her portrayal?

(Arbitrarily, you can always add more than 1 extra Japanese character. I think you might put less pressure on yourself with this character’s portrayal if you have more Japanese characters to practice with in general.) 

- Marika. 

When Off-Setting: Aim for Average

Seconding the above with regards to this villainess’s story and your motivations for this character, but regardless of her story I think it’s also important to look specifically at how the Japanese teacher character provides contrast. 

I agree with the choice to make her a regular person and not a superhero. Otherwise, your one Asian character is aggressively Asian-themed in a stereotypical Cool Japan way (particularly if her villain suit is samurai-themed & she wears wafu clothing every so often). Adding a chill person who happens to be Japanese and doesn’t have some kind of ninja or kitsune motif will be a breath of fresh air (well, more like a sigh of relief) for Japanese readers. 

A note on characterization—while our standard advice for “offset” characters is to give your offset character the opposite of the personality trait you’re trying to balance, in this case you might want to avoid opposites. You have a villainess who is a cold, tough “don’t need no man” type. Making the teacher mild-mannered, helpful, and accomodating would balance out the villainess’s traits, but you’ll end up swinging to the other side of the pendulum towards the Submissive Asian stereotype depending on execution. If avoiding stereotypes is a concern, I suggest picking something outside of that spectrum of gentleness to violence and making her really boring or really weird or really nerdy or a jock gym teacher or…something. You’re the author.

Similarly, while the villainess is very traditionally Japanese in her motifs and backstory, don’t make the teacher go aggressively in either direction—give her a nice balance of modern vs. traditional, Japanese vs. Western sensibilities as far as her looks, dress, interests, values, etc. Because at the end of the day, that’s most modern Japanese people. 

Sometimes, the most difficult representation of a character of color is making a character who is really average, typical, modern, and boring. 

- Rina

She obviously started getting into media in Japan, and (from my research into Japanese media and culture), Japan’s movies about zombies are mostly comedic, since due to traditional funerary practices the idea of zombies bringing down society is ridiculous to a lot of Japanese people. 

Rina: OP, this you? https://www.tofugu.com/japan/japanese-zombies/

Marika: Counterpoint: Parasite Eve. Resident Evil. The Evil Within. 

Rina: Literally all the grody horror game franchises that people forget were developed and written by Japanese people because the characters have names like “Leon Kennedy” and “Sebastian Castellanos” 

~ ~ ~

Based on the reception we received the last time we did one of these, the Japanese moderator team returns with another running commentary. (They’re easier to answer this way) (Several of Marika’s answers may be troll answers)

Our question today pertains to foreign perspectives on folklore—that is, how people view folklore and stories that aren’t a part of their culture. CW: for anything you’d associate with zombies and a zombie apocalypse, really.

Keep reading for necromancy, horror games, debunking the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, Hong Kong jiangshi films, Japanese disaster prep videos, and Vietnamese idol pop…

Keep reading

…That WritingWithColor is answering anime fanfic-related questions again?

ALT

That’s right! It’s true that we have banned these questions previously for a few reasons which you can read in this post. However, Mod Rina is temporarily reversing the ban, with a few restrictions:

• Only asks where Rina or a close source is familiar with the original material, and
• the ask contains topics that have not been discussed before, or has other educational value for the blog.

We still believe that fanfic is the place to experiment, make mistakes, and learn. We still think that you don’t need WWC at all to write fanfic that is by yourself, for yourself. But we also acknowledge that great original ideas can come from derivative works!

If you want to submit a question, go to our masterpost here and read our guidelines to find the link!

ALT

(Image IDs can be found in alt text for each GIF. If not using a screenreader, please click “ALT” icon at the bottom left corner of the GIF.)

Hi, it’s mod Rina. It’s time to speedrun some asks. 

@troublsomeidiots​ asked: 

I’m writing a character who is both black and Japanese and lives in japan in a primarily Japanese area and wanted some help in writing a person who is biracial who lives in primarily homogenous society? Like what kind of struggles she would face, especially as a person who has never met anyone who is black other than in passing?

Open Youtube. Hit search bar on Youtube. “being black in japan” “half black half japanese in japan” “black hafu in japan”. Try different combinations of keywords. Bon voyage.

(neither Marika nor I are Black. We will not be speaking to experiences we do not have.) (we can outsource to some of our friends if you ask a specific question. These are not specific questions.) 

(Black Japanese readers–please feel free to comment if there’s something you want OP to know!)

@layzeal​ asked: 

Hello! I have a question regarding family/last names in Edo period Japan. My story takes place in 1816, my character was born in 1796 from a commoner family (that she gets separated from a few years later, and in a different country).

I’ve read that regular people in Japan didn’t adopt the use of family names until Meiji restoration, but I’m not sure how true that is. Would a family of commoners in that period carry a family name, or would they only use their first names? And any idea if that family would have to present a last name when moving/passing by a different country that does use them?

It’s important for me to know, since the existence of a last name or not would quite heavily influence how hard it’d be for the family to meet again, and which means would be used. Thanks in advance!

When I gave Google some keywords from your query, the second result explained how pre-Meiji commoners without family/clan names used bynames to distinguish themselves, and gives additional data on them. Maybe give it another Google? 

@weavefeather asked:

Hello, I am a writer and I really need some advice. I am wotking on my book since a few years, maybe 2 or 3, and I finally got the points together how it could begin. My plan is that my MC (named Nanami Kudo) is an lawyer of the FBI and has to go to her homecountry Japan, beacuse they send her to foreign investigations about a syndicate of people…..  And the some things happen, like her brother who still lives in jp doesn’t really welcomes her, some complications with the police and so on… 

But thats not the point! Im really struggling to take in words how she gets to the other country, leaving her home behind and her partner she worked with. Do you have any advice on it, maybe how to structure it, some words or scenarios that fit?

How she gets to the other country: …..She flies there.

How US government agents/workers relocate and what the experience is like: That’s your job to google. We are not government agents. Try anecdata on reddit, reddit AMAs, and Quora.

It’s unclear what her relationship/proximity to Japan is. What kind of nikkei is she? Is she mixed race or monoracial? How much Japanese can she speak? So many unknowns. Go read our Japanese tag and appreciate just how many ways one can be a Japanese person. Until then, you are nowhere near close to being able to write a nikkei homecoming plot. 

Lastly, you are the author. Give us scenarios yourself and come back to us.

In Conclusion

Guys, you all gots to google some more. It’s beneficial to both of us: not only do we get to help with more specific things and have enough info to do so, but you don’t have to wait months until your ask comes through the backlog only to receive an answer you could have researched in anywhere from a couple days to 3 minutes. 

~ Rina

“But Rina, I don’t know how!” 

You’re in luck!

First, try one of our own post on Google shortcuts. 

Second, stay tuned for some very relevant posts…

COMING SOON: WWC’s A Beginner’s Guide to Academic Research

Dear readers: 

Today we are trying something new. To give you some insight into our process in the Japanese moderator section, we are presenting our response in the form of running commentary to show you how we dissect and answer long asks. We hope this makes clear what points are useful and not useful when sending us a query. As always, this is for learning purposes, not callouts. Be prepared: this is a long one. 

To summarize: the asker is looking to create a comic drawn in Japanese manga style, and has provided a long summary of the story and worldbuilding which involves a mix of “reimagined” Japanese yokai mythos and cultural symbols from many other sources. They have questions with respect to cultural appropriation, coding etiquette, and “what is and isn’t ok.” 

Opening Comments

I know a common advice when it comes to the thing I am about to ask is to talk to people involved in __, but I struggle with opening up to strangers for reasons I’m uncomfortable explaining. 

Marika (M): This is already a red flag. If you want to engage with another culture without talking to people from that culture, then research is going to be very challenging. You won’t have members of that culture to guide you towards sources and perspectives they feel most accurately represents public opinion. If I were in your shoes, I might start with tackling my discomfort when engaging with other people, if only to improve my work. If you aren’t ready to engage with a culture and its people directly, then I think you should wait until you are. 

I should note, reaching out to the Japanese mod team at WWC does count as engagement, but WWC should not and cannot be the only point of contact because there is no single, legitimate cultural perspective. 

Rina ®: Also, you don’t need to “open up” to strangers or talk to them in person to get perspectives. Asking specific research questions anonymously to a forum or on social media requires very little vulnerability. You managed to do it here on WWC. So give it a try! 

Anyway, my question basically amounts to the what is and isn’t ok [sic] in terms of depicting fantasy creatures and concepts outside of their respective culture.

R: So, the reason why we turn away rubber stamp questions by that ask “is XYZ okay?” is because “okay” & “not okay” 1) is vague and 2) creates a dichotomy where there isn’t one. 

When we say something is “not okay,” do we mean:

• It’s offensive to the general majority of XYZ group? 
• It’s contentious among people who ID in the group? 
• It has a potential to be interpreted in a certain negative way, but may not be a red flag to everyone?

Insetad try asking:

• What are the reasons this subject is offensive? 
• What makes cultural appropriation bad? 
• When might it be “okay” to intentionally discuss a difficult or controversial topic?
• What is your reason for including something that may be interpreted as offensive and can it be sufficiently justified? 
• What stereotypes or tropes might it be consistently identified as or associated with, and why? 
• When might it be justified to bring up these tropes?

With That In Mind…

Let’s get into the rest of the ask below. 

Keep reading

@colombinna asked:

I have a YA story that’s in very early development - pre-alpha, if you will. For now what I have developed is the characters: one of the MCs is a biracial asian queer girl (her dad is thai-american and japanese, her mom’s white), she has a medium/dark brown skin, and lives in a very white context in a fictional European country. The contact she has with her extended family is limited to phone calls and regular visits because her dad moved from the US to said fictional European country.

I’m a biracial black queer girl myself, living in a very white community in South America, my extended black family also lives in a different place, and I’m taking a lot of my experiences of being not white and queer whilst living in white communities into her story (the feeling of not belonging, the impostor syndrome, standing out as one of the only POC kids in class, etc) and thinking back to what I’ve heard asian friends and classmates say about their experiences in the same school/community context as mine. But I want to know how different her experiences as a dark-skinned asian girl would differ from mine and my friends’ in a similar context (white community, small number of other asian people - and POC in general - in the social circles, and limited contact to her extended family), and what experiences could make sense if the character was biracial black like myself, but won’t if she’s biracial asian.

Why not write a biracial Black girl if those are the experiences you want to represent? 

This MC is straddling, like, 3 different cultures. Having multiple immigrant identities in not-Europe is not the same experience as being Black in South America; while both are complex minority experiences, there are too many differences in intersections and histories to compare. Not to mention, it really depends on what European culture(s) you’re basing your not-Europe on. 

I think you’ll find that the written result will ring much more genuine and rich in depth if you either translate your experiences more directly or pick a more narrow focus, instead of assuming that there is a universal for racism and colorism against biracial people that is transferable across contexts. Because there isn’t. There can be overlaps, but if you’re looking to cover the entire range of What It’s Like in general, it won’t work.

This isn’t to say that people can’t use other identities to write about specific experiences of their own, but in this case you need to think about what story you want to tell and what your reasons are. Marika’s commentary will go more into when and how this can be done effectively. 

Also, if the point is to make her a dark-skinned Asian, as a white/asian mix myself, I implore you: why must you make her ¼ Japanese and ½ white? Even with the Thai ethnicity thrown in, Thai people very much range in skin tone and have their own domestic issues with colorism. It’s not impossible for dark-skinned examples of your MC’s ethnic makeup to exist, but still I don’t recommend it for two reasons: 

• It’s going to make researching people whose experiences fit that much more difficult. Most experiences of colorism, othering, and other forms of discrimination that mixed white asians tend to face are completely different from mixed race asians who tend to have darker skin & features.
• There’s enough Japanese & white mixed Japanese rep in the Asian rep sphere as is. Consider that this individual could be mixed Asian (not Japanese) with something else (not white)! 

But again, think over your motivations. I’ll spare you the copy/paste of our Motivations PSA, but re-read it and consider. Why do you wish to write a mixed Asian character to tell the story of your experiences as a mixed Black individual instead of a mixed Black character? What does it add to the story? Is it an effective vessel for the experiences you want to convey? 

~ Rina

I think Rina brings up some good points here: I’m not hearing a lot of specificity in your query. As you doubtless know firsthand, the more intersectional and complex an identity, the more of a chance the identity may come with unexpected baggage and nuances that fly in the face of what is common sense for less intersectional identities. This can make writing such characters challenging just because there is so much choice on which identity themes to emphasize. 

I once spent about 15 minutes explaining to a person the thought process I used to determine when I could wear jeans depending on which country I was living in as a mixed race person who is perceived as different things in different places. It might seem trivial, but it’s actually very important to me for the purposes of identity, safety and gender presentation, so I personally think it’s interesting. But will my readers think a character’s multi-page internal monologue on whether or not to wear jeans is especially compelling? Does the writer-version of me want to research the version of myself musing on my specific jeans conundrum to that extent? Or do I want to talk about other things related to attire a lot of other people would relate to? I think those are all YMMV questions, but hopefully, they provide some perspective that will help you be intentional about how you might want to tackle something potentially very time-consuming.

When I say intentional, I mean that when covering a complex identity with which you are peripherally familiar, it will always be more effective and easier to use it to tell a specific story extremely clearly than to be extremely broad in scope and try to include almost everything about your own experiences, especially because some of those experiences might not be as relevant for your character’s background as they are to yours.      

One of my favorite childhood picture books is written and illustrated by a Nikkei writer-illustrator team. The book is titled Ashok by Any Other Name (link). The story features a desi child growing up in the US who wishes he had an American name his friends and teachers wouldn’t think was strange. It covers how being othered for his name makes him feel, and how he copes with that feeling. Speaking as someone both Japanese and desi, I think through the plot device of names perceived by the majority of Americans as foreign, this book aptly shows how many immigrant/diaspora creators are capable of relating to the pressures of assimilation experienced by other immigrant, even if the creator, the audience and the story’s subject’s backgrounds all don’t completely overlap 100%. 

There will be aspects of your Blackness, mixed identity, skin color, sexuality and living in a local community lacking diversity as a member of many minority groups that you will find resemble/ resonate with the experiences of mixed-race, Japanese individual in a Europe-themed setting, and I think any story that leans into those themes will be considerably easier for you to research. In other words, instead of asking us “How does my experience differ?” I would approach this issue by deciding what narrative you want to show about your own experience and then research the specific contexts within which your desired story overlaps with elements of mixed-race Japanese experiences. 

- Marika.

thewink234 submitted:

South Asian female writing Japanese historical fantasy (very early drafts, so I haven’t fully decided on a specific time period, but I’m thinking around Meiji era). The setting is also during a (fictional) war between humans and monsters. 

My question is if it would be offensive, inappropriate etc to provide the widowed Empress in my story the unofficial title of "Dragon Empress.” I’ve read the Trace your Logic link provided here, and the idea behind giving her this title (outside of wanting to give her qualities such as great strength, power, and courage) relates to how she is viewed both by her supporters and detractors respectively.

I’d looked into different sources and from my understanding (I could be way off the mark here) Japanese dragons could be either helpful or treacherous depending on the specific myth, so this title comes from how those on her side regard her with extreme amazement/respect and those against her (or who disagree with her) attribute her with the more frightening dragons. This is the case even if she is not specifically involved in the military. 

Personality: she is hard, challenging, and strong. She has emotional depth to her (that she was never encouraged to show, but that I would explore—in other words, she’s not cold and nothing else). She empathizes with her loved ones and people but is struggling with the fatigue this long conflict has on her. 

I appreciate any input you can provide. 

Culturally consistent?

Just reminds me of the Dragon Emperor from Kung Fu Panda, lol. 

“Dragon Emperor” also apparently is in a 2008 The Mummy franchise installment set in China? (Marika: It is very silly but stars Jet Li so I watched it)

Needless to say, it’s been used before, associated mostly with China in the popular consciousness, and will appear cliche from the get-go even if there is some thought put into the nickname’s origin. 

(also, dragons have a heavy water/atmosphere association in Japan, and the imperial family very much a sun association, so it just doesn’t mesh to me)

~ Mod Rina

Something Rina and I have discussed is Japan already has epithets for monarchs, but not in the way you have chosen to do here. The eras of imperial reign are the epithets for each emperor/ empress. So, the current emperor, Naruhito, is the Reiwa emperor, or the “Fair Gentle” emperor. His father, Akihito, was the Heisei emperor, or “Advancing Peace.” The Showa emperor, Hirohito, had the epithet “Shining Peace.” Given the time period of the Showa era (1926-1989), you may note the painful irony there. In fact, I highly encourage you to read more on modern Japanese history in general if you wish to continue with the Meiji era, because if you can’t see the thread from Japanese emperors transitioning to becoming the official head of state in the Meiji era and the rise of Japanese fascism, that bugs me.

How useful is an epithet to the story?

In general, I think it makes more sense for a character to have an epithet if the epithet figures heavily into the plot: an end goal or the character’s destiny, but I don’t see an indication of that here. I think it also makes more sense to have her admirers and detractors describe their admiration/ derision for her in some other way. Consider:

• If she has a deity or region she is associated with?
• Does she have a parent or ancestor whose qualities she mirrors?
• Does she have any unusual qualities or skills?

If you go back to the Warring States period, warlords (or daimyo) were often assigned epithets for their battle prowess. Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin were probably the most famous: known as the Tiger of Kai and the Dragon of Echigo, respectively, but that reflects the conflicting natures of tigers and dragons in E. Asian myth as well as their rivalry. However, warlords are not imperial entities, who, for much of Japanese history, were regarded as gods on earth, and emperors were largely kept out of national affairs until the Meiji Restoration.

Have we forgotten about Dowager Empress Cixi?

I’m also looking at your time period and wondering if you forgot about the Manchu dowager empress of the Ching dynasty in China (aka the Dragon Empress Cixi). Coincidentally, because the Ching dynasty and Meiji era overlap a good deal, I think anyone vaguely familiar with East Asian history is going to have difficulty separating associations between your character’s epithet and that of a real, historical figure. Do you necessarily need to worry people might assume you are conflating a famous Chinese figure with your Japanese coded fictional one? That’s up to you, but given Japan’s colonization of Manchuria, general “Japanese are to the Asia-Pacific what Nazis are to Europe” WWII chicanery, I’d say not the best look. 

TLDR:

Maybe don’t give your Japanese-coded empress the epithet of Dragon Empress. If you must go the epithet route, I think taking a dive into East Asian Buddhist mythology and iconography and looking for specific, more obscure myths that fit your parameters is the better option.

Or maybe don’t make this character an empress. Maybe make her a female shogun/ daimyo or a figure crucial to supporting a shogun/ daimyo, someone more likely to be involved in the day-to-day workings of her domain. See Tensho-in, wife of Tokugawa Iesada and the history of the Ōoku at Edo Castle, both of which seem more applicable to type of character you describe. Ōoku: The Inner Chambers by Yoshinaga Fumi is a well-researched, imaginative, historical fantasy that makes good use of this setting.

Or maybe, don’t make her a ruler. Make her a leader who people rally around for the sake of a cause, because of her principles and her deeds.

- Marika.

yoakesan asked:

Hi!

The protagonist of my novel is Sicilian university student who’s working on a translation of an imaginary Japanese novel, which I would like to present as a sub-plot (the main plot features the Sicilian guy attending a local festival near his hometown).

The Japanese novel is about a young woman who has strong feelings of nostalgia towards summer, partly because of a short-lived love story she had with another girl. She spends so much time longing for summer that she can’t be happy in the present.

Now, in order to underline this concept, I was thinking that the Japanese novel could end with the protagonist dying before the arrival of summer, but I’m afraid that, since the main plot features a happy ending for the Sicilian protagonist, that might be unnecessarily tragic.

Also, do you have any tips on certain aspects of Japanese culture that I should avoid underlining? The Sicilian guy loves Japanese literature, both classic and contemporary, and likes listening to contemporary Japanese electronic music. I was thinking of mentioning some similarities between the two cultures (islands - sea - volcanoes - cherry blossoms/a typical festival that is celebrated in the protagonist’s hometown in the occasion of the blossoming of another tree), but the point of the novel is not to draw a consistent parallel.

Finally, said festival features people from many different countries dancing and playing instruments in traditional clothes. How can I be careful about exoticization when describing that part of the story?

More info needed

I like this concept and have read Japanese novels utilizing similar plot devices. An outsider’s perspective would be interesting. This idea also reminds me a little of The Hours (1998) by Michael Cunningham which won the Pulitzer in 1999. However, I wish you had said something more about this festival in this town so we might look into similar parallels in a Japanese context. Similarly crucial would be information about your own familiarity with Japanese literature and which authors/ novels you intended to draw on for your own inspiration for this unnamed novel. After all, the unnamed novel being translated is key. Its themes, time period, place in the Japanese literary canon etc. would all influence your protagonist and his state of mind, wouldn’t it? Having done my share of translation, I have more than once grappled with the struggle of not knowing which word to pick because I don’t even know what meaning the original author is trying to convey. 

I think this is an interesting question, and I like the concept of cultures shaped by similar forces and motifs being exchanged through the act of translating a novel. Speaking as a person who lives in another part of the world with unpredictable weather, earthquakes, the sea, etc., I like rediscovering aspects of my current home that also evoke Japan and vice-versa. so I invite you to re-submit with greater detail via DM so that we may provide you with a more definitive answer. 

The other question you sent on whether domestic tourism for hanami in Japan is common and which sites are favored is easy to answer through research using most search engines, so we will not be answering it.

- Marika.

heavenlyfury asked:

Hello! I have a question regarding a character for a short story I’m developing. Here’s the general gist of it : there’s a curse physically spreading on earth, and it’s unstoppable. The people it comes in contact with suffer tremendously, going mad with pain and a sense of grief so strong that they can die in minutes. But for years, this curse seems to stop… Until it hits the western coasts of Spain and Portugal one summer (the curse actually traveled under the ocean). So people die or flee, but a few of them survive and become cursed, with marks on their bodies showing the influence of the curse. Among them is a group of teenagers in Galicia (the region of Spain that is just north of Portugal, where my family comes from), some of whom are tourists. Specifically, a young Portuguese boy (Pedro) and a young Japanese girl (Mitsuki) who both lived in France (my home country) and are now stuck in Spain, unable to return home. 

My question is about the Japanese girl, and her religious (shintoist?) practices specifically. After some research, I’ve read that Japanese people tend to follow rituals seriously, but don’t necessarily consider themselves very religious. But I am not sure how those rituals could be applied in a setting where there is no Japanese community. Would this girl create a sort of shrine for herself? Would she follow some celebrations on her own? And if so, which celebrations would she be familiar with, as a Japanese living in France?

Another question I have regarding this character is about the curse. The signs it leaves on the body are very visible and would kinda look like moving tattoos. But I remember that tattoos have a criminal connotation in Japan. I thought that Mitsuki would try to hide those tattoos under her clothing and would have an initial distrust of anyone wearing something similar out of their own volition, but is there something I should be careful about with this?

Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me!

Regarding Mitsuki’s Religion: 

You need more research on Shinto, Japanese Buddhism and current religious trends for Japanese individuals domestically and abroad, in addition to more research on Japanese diaspora and their modes of identity expression. And I mean fairly serious research. The above would be like me writing a story about a girl in a Catholic school in France without having ever read the Bible, while also having no familiarity with the the religious history of Europe, the structure of institutions within the Catholic Church and further not knowing terms like “mass”, “eucharist”, “communion”, “confession”, etc.

Similarly, your context is clear but not why a Japanese character makes sense for the story you are telling. Why is Mitsuki living in France? How did she or her family come to live in France? Which country does she consider “home”? France? Japan? Both? Neither? What is her relationship with her Japanese identity? Does she have a French identity? If so, what is the interplay between both of her identities? All of these would in turn inform her relationship with religion and personal perception of norms surrounding physical appearances. It’s not that Japanese diaspora don’t exist in France. They do. It’s rather that the circumstances that result in someone’s family leaving Japan and ending up pretty much anywhere in Europe (as opposed to more common destinations like the Americas or other parts of Asia) are going to be distinct enough to have an impact on how that person turns out to be the person they are.

- Marika.

I think what you’re missing is that I don’t have a sense of what her personality is, or what her personal values are, or why she is assumed to be a typical, mainstream specimen of her society.

You’ve opened with the generalization that Japanese people are spiritual & ritualistic but not strictly religious, but I feel like that’s only a thesis statement to a much longer and complicated explanation about mixing religions and philosophies (plus westernization) in Japan. And more importantly, there’s nothing that binds you to include this in Mitsuki’s characterization. 

~ Rina

Regarding Mitsuki’s Markings, Tattoos

With respect to tattoos, sure, negative associations with tattoos exist among mainland Japanese individuals due to traditional associations between irezumi (Japanese traditional tattoo artistry) and organized crime. Think about how people in Russia or the US might regard prison/ gang tattoos. The presence of these tattoos makes legitimate employment and participation in general Japanese society difficult for those who have them when they are obviously visible. However, younger generations, many Japanese diaspora and minority groups within Japan looking to reclaim tattoos (ex.: Ainu, Uchinanchu) don’t make the same associations. However, consider: A number of businesses (like hot springs and bath-houses) will often bar anyone with tattoos from entry, regardless of the tattoo’s origin. Similarly a landlord in Japan or a company in Japan could justify not renting to someone or hiring them by the presence of a tattoo, and there’s not much the individual could do about it. The practical realities of stigma against tattoos is something of which most people who have regular interaction with mainland Japan are aware. Does Mitsuki have this awareness and how does this awareness shape her?

That said, I don’t think anyone would look at a curse marking that effectively serves as a proxy for a disease/ pandemic and associate it with tattoos, however much their discomfort with tattoos. Irezumi in particular are so distinctive in design and motifs that it’s not going to be mistaken for a something that functions as a rash and lets others know who is affected by the curse. Similarly, if this curse has been spreading around the world, I can’t imagine people not being familiar with its appearance. 

- Marika.

Again: Personality. Is Mitsuki reserved, conservative? Unapologetic, countercultural? Artistic, fashion-forward?
Whether or not she is averse to body markings should be primarily because of these traits you choose. Every single time we talk about stereotyping & generalizations on this blog, this is the whole issue. Someone’s ethnicity or religion or race—or the mainstream values held by a particular ethnic or religious or racial group—should not constrain their personality or character. Of course, someone’s background can & will influence their beliefs system, and that can clash or match their personality in interesting ways. For example, Mitsuki may be totally down to get tats, but may try to hide them or the markings from other Japanese people, because she knows there’s taboo/judgment on a wider level or in her family/community. Or she might be a more traditionalist type, meaning her values align with the taboo, meaning she feels her shame or disgust more strongly. It completely depends. 

Also consider Mitsuki’s home is in France and the people around her are wearing them freely. A lot of American Nikkei folks have tattoos, too, and their relationship with them can be as complicated as “I was torn about it because of my cultural upgringing, parental pressure, and admittance to onsen affecting my sense of belonging in Japan but I also acknowledge that as diaspora I am viewed as an outsider and it empowers me to flout conventions to reclaim this abjection” or as simple as “I got an origami design cuz I’m half Japanese and also it’s neat idk.” 

~ Rina

P.S. Japanese people—yes, in mainland Japan, not criminal—have tattoos! Japanese people who are tattoo artists exist! And they are currently advocating for the destigmatization of tattoos and lower legal barriers for tattoo artists to practice! And with western media & celebrity becoming more available than ever on the internet, it’s a cultural tide that is turning overall! Again: generalizations of cultures are not helpful when taken at face value!

Finally, congratulations, you have unlocked the Motivation Matters PSA achievement! See the PSA and its explanation here:

creatingstories asked:

I’m writing a fantasy book and one of the main characters is an half Japanese-coded character. But he is also a half elf too so he has some magical characteristic, like clear eyes, but just because elf has some specific characteristic ( to be clear elves are not coded to any existing ethnicity, they have just specific fantasy characteristic ).

I do not want it to seem offensive. In particular I read the article about the “green-eyes Asian” and the “colored hair asian”. I do not want to give him particular features to make them stand out to readers so that they’re marked as ‘special’ and not like the ‘other East Asians, as you said in the article. He is a major character and has an extremely complex arc.

Submission has been abridged for clarity.

Still green eyes in my book unless you can tell us how the clear eyes relates to magical characteristics and the magic systems of the story. It’s changing eye color for an Japanese-coded character to demarcate their uniqueness in some way. OP can either give up on Japanese coding, provide us with further info, or just give the character regular colored eyes that turn clear when using magic abilities to more explicitly link the magical ability to the ~ Special ~ eye coloring.

- Marika.

Announcement: Please consider this the final Ask on East Asian characters with light/green/blue/etc. eyes, as Marika has presented a clear workaround for this trope in the case of fantasy worldbuilding.

@honeybutteraddict asked:

I have a fantasy setting that is partially based off of Japan, with some elements of the culture drawing from Shinto traditions. Would having a character carry an omamori be cultural appropriation?

If you have to ask this question, I’m afraid you don’t yet know enough about Japan to be using Shinto coding in your fantasy setting. The frustrating thing is I can’t give you a clear yes/ no, either. This is not because we don’t have examples of egregious IRL omamori cultural appropriation. They exist aplenty, including a thriving online trade in used omamori and fake omamori (That is to say: omamori not from a legitimate shrine or temple).

Weirdly, the issue is also not a big deal because Japanese people have varying opinions as far as Shinto and Buddhist tradition on correct omamori usage. However, many perpetrators of this kind of cultural appropriation are not the kind of individuals who would patronize a Japanese religious establishment or comply with proper Japanese religious etiquette even if given the option. Perhaps because the legitimacy of omamori and the etiquette for their handling overall falls under a more intra-community issue, I would argue that poor omamori etiquette would be viewed as hurting the purchaser more than anyone else. 

I think my concern is more that I worry for your cultural competency when it comes to coding Japanese culture if your research hasn’t helped you answer this question on your own. It’s not as concerning as that one time someone asked us if a Japanese character could eat rice (linked), but it’s close.

Marika.