@alkora: Of course. We've been making fun of Asians, etc. and they make fun of us.

If you think this is funny, go to youtube and look up: "tokyo breakfast". It's fricking hilarious. It's a Japanese TV show that only made one show and this is it before it got banned.

Wow - this is a really REALLY big deal. We should all protest outside the Japanese embassy. The only part of this story that upsets me is that it seems that the forces of political correctness have extended their reach to Japan. I'm more concerned about being portrayed as a cry baby victim because of this PC groups attempts to make a big deal over a stupid ad. Seriously, if we embed political correctness into their culture we will do them more harm than they can ever do to us...

@ChuckECheese: I think it has to do with a line in the Constitution, a war, and a plaque on some big statue in New York.

If you want to get offended at something, why don't you find me a positive male role model in today's media?

Some Japanese and Korean people believe that blood type is a way of determining personality traits, temperament and compatibility, similar to astrology. I haven't heard of it as being a discriminatory thing before.

I don't think those saying Japan is xenophobic are saying, "Thus, McDonald's knows their audience!" or "It's okay 'cause McDonald's is just making fun of themselves!" I know I'm not. It's all bad.

Conversely, the US was established on a premise of tolerance (lulz, unless you were native or slave), populated by just about every major country at the time and then some, and ultimately charted as an immigrant haven. OF COURSE we're trying to get ahead in the "all created equal" game. We said it, now we gotta live it.

Do you see the difference in cultural development here?

Don't even get me started on all the racist Mexican jokes that are "acceptable" because they're "true." :/

@redskull: Really? The first time in their lives? So the centuries of institutional and cultural xenophobia in Japan are just a huge myth? Great to know!

I think we already have a Harrison Bergeron society, only with the terms "elitist" from the higher classes (who aren't elite in any sense) and "faggit" from the lower classes.

ABC just finished running "I survived a Japanese game show". Ignoring the actual game show itself, the other activities they had the contestants participate in illustrate just how funny and stupid the Japanese think Americans are. Yes, let's send a group of Americans who have never been outside of the US before, don't speak any Japanese, send them to spend the day with an old traditional fisherman, with no translator, and then laugh at their attempts to communicate in broken Japanese! Americans are so silly!

The basic stereotype of Americans (all foreigners, actually) is "Ha ha! Silly gaijin! Only Japanese people can speak Japanese properly! You can never hope to understand our culture or society! We ignore the thousands of other gaijin who can actually speak and read Japanese - they scare and confuse us!"

I had much fun scaring and confusing the general populace when I lived in Japan. I think one of the funniest misunderstandings I had was when I was visiting a Japanese friend of mine at his office. He introduced me to his boss but didn't tell me the boss could speak English. Being mindful of the situation, I introduced myself formerly in Japanese, and gave a low bow...only to bump my forehead against the boss' hand. The boss figured since I was not Japanese, it was more proper to shake hands. My friend just cringed, and tried not to laugh.

So if people in the US are racist it permits other to be racist, that's what I get from these comments in this thread. How can you say that racism needs to stop but then condone it from another group?

Japan does not have birth right citizenship by the way.

I like how its brushed off since its against "whites". You change it for any other race and there would be a firestorm here.

@MostlyHarmless:

Ah--my video had no sound last night; As Gilda Radner used to say, "nevermind."

@redkamel: I like how our schools never talk about the american fire bombing of Dresden, Germany. Althought we were not using human slaves in experiments we did basically kill 25,000-150,000 innocent civilian refugees:

wikipedia citation (easiest to locate at this time)

During the final months of World War II Dresden became a safe haven to some 600,000 refugees, including women, children, and wounded soldiers with a total population of 1.2 million. Dresden was attacked seven times between 1944 and 1945, and was completely captured by the Red Army after German capitulation.

The bombing of Dresden by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force between 13 February and 15 February 1945, remains one of the more controversial Allied actions of the Western European theatre of war. The inner city of Dresden was largely destroyed by 800 RAF and USAAF bombers that let loose 650,000 incendiaries and 8,000lb of high explosives and hundreds of 4,000lb bombs[15] in three waves of attacks - approximately one bomb for every two people. Early reports estimated 150,000 to 250,000 deaths but a recent commissioned report claims 25,000 civilian casualties.[16]

Just because it doesn't directly effect you doesn't mean that it doesn't directly effect other people. This is Japan, not America, and white people are a minority and treated very differently there.

@MostlyHarmless: Which is led by a black man...

Or those godawful Hardee's commercials saying that you aren't a man unless you eat 5 pounds of angus beef every day. Or that if you bake delicious biscuits then your friends will make fun of you and call you gay.

Advertising everywhere is usually pretty broad and stupid in order to try to appeal to the largest audience.

Interesting experience and I would not trade it for the world.

@goodfellow_puck: The fact that most of the comments here either don't get how xenophobic Japanese people can be in Japan or try to diminish the situation boggles my mind. I just don't get it.

@redkamel: Every big enough group has done bad things to some other big enough group in history. Some of it was far worse than others though.

The Nazis actually managed to concentrate and distill that into pure hatred fueled evil. Hard to beat that.

And no, the Brits did not kill 30 million Indians. I actually never heard that figure in India, as treimel so conveniently assumed. The only time ever that I have heard that was on the daily show, where John Oliver was weaving circles around the teabaggers. Someone needs to pull that foreign object out from where the sun dont shine.

@treimel: So Many Comments, No Clue = Mega Fail.

For those that agree that the FRANCA have a point, does it matter that it's a McDonald's ad?

That clearly isn't an american. He isn't fat.

@☠Grяrяrяrяrя sings the doom song now!: I don't think a white person living in Japan is going to get away with dishing out any racial stereotypes about Japanese people.

@ubermex: Don't click on the articles and don't comment on them. You don't have to read every article on Consumerist.

Seriously, an article's page views and comments only make it look popular. Complaints in the comments don't really work unless most of the comments are complaints.

There was an ad for some fast food joint's chicken strips. It's four people at a table: 3 men 1 woman. All three men say "Chicken" in an exaggerated, drawn out, 'OMG we're eating chicken' kind of way. The woman does the same but it ends up sounding more like 'ChickOWN!' and the guys look at her like she's crazy.

Just watch.

@eelmonger: And half the time they've been telling it to other white people.

It's a stupid argument. 90% of the people in commericals in general are white (minus the one or two token black/asian/latino/ethnically ambiguous friend) unless it's a product specifically targeted towards a minority. If it's a mostly white cast obviously there are going to be some white people doing stupid/silly things.

They have our language on their side. Most of them have grown up speaking Standard American English, the prestige dialect of this country, which is the closest dialect to literary English, which also gives them the favor in our educational institutions.

If they're male, they have the good ol' boys network, and if they're female, although part of an otherly out-group, they've still made more advances towards societal parity than any other minority, as the white male institutions see them as the lesser evil.

Many white people, minus those who've immigrated here in more recent generations, have access to wealth and status which had been denied to the black slaves who built DC and enriched the south, to the 50% of lynching victims who were killed for being too prosperous (and whose property was subsequently seized and given to white people), to the chinese railroad workers (who weren't allowed to hold property), the Japanese during wwii who were forced to sell their businesses for penances before being interred, and Indian indentured servants and the vast swaths of people who were denied immigration to this country simply because they didn't come from West Europe.

Film and television are very much pro-white in this country. Since "white" is considered "neutral" by most Americans, they comprise a disproportionate amount of roles in television and film. And even when the movie calls for an Asian (The Good Earth, Breakfast At Tiffany's, 21, the upcoming Avatar The Last Airbender movie), they get the role, because execs think that they can't afford to have the audience distracted by any otherness from the actor.

They never have to worry about being identified solely by their race instead of their character and credentials. They never have to worry about racial profiling from cops. They never have to worry about store owners being suspicious of them for no good reason.

I'm sorry if trying to call attention to and dismantle white privilege seems like such a hateful activity propagated by some left wing conspiracy, but what else do you think should be done?

I watched the commercial, I dont speak Japanese, but I thought it was funny.

By the way Mr. James is hilarious. He's not racist because he doesnt exaggerate any features of white people. In fact, he is an exaggerated tourist. Glasses and a goofy smile are not exclusive to white people. This guy could be any race. Its not like they made him fat, with a cowboy hat, a cell phone, and a giant SUV and giant soda. Now that would be racist.

@ChuckECheese:

Mm...it's not actually racism so much as elitism.

Here are some helpful terms for those studying Japanese culture or who aspire to spend time in Japan:

gaikokujin = foreigner (typically used on news broadcasts and textbooks)

gaijin = foreigner/outsider (used to refer to anyone not of Japanese ancestory, including native-born Japanese of Korean ancestory)

baka gaijin = silly foreigner (foreign national who tries to assimilate Japanese culture)

nihonjin mitai = seems Japanese (foreigner who succeeds in assimilating Japanese culture)

The Japanese police give random urinalysis tests to foreigners coming out of clubs. The Japanese police will stop you and request I.D. and search your bag for WWBF (walking while being foreign). Landlords refuse foreign tenants openly and foreign customers are turned away at restaurants, barber shops, hot springs, etc. All of this is done in the open without any shame at all.

As for some of the smart ass comments about "poor white folks". Japan has a Caucasian population which is less than 1% of the population and we're treated like second-class citizens. It is possible to be white, be the minority and be discriminated against when living in a country which is predominately non-Caucasian.

Essentially, some people seem to feel that it's okay to be racist as long as the target being discriminated against is white. Doing the same thing to any other ethnic group is wrong though.

But in all honesty, stereotyping certainly doesn't help.

@Trai_Dep:
They have the Maharaja Mac. A chicken based version of the Big Mac.

umm... sarcasm, woosh!

On a more serious note, if you're earlier comment about the 30 million was actually sincere, where's the cite? Presumably if the British had committed a genocide approximately five times the sixe of the Nazis, it wouldn't be too much trouble to find a source. (Hint--don't hold your breath while researching no credible scholar supports the notion that the british committed a genocide; the numbers sometimes bandied about tend to include things like famines that are /very/ dubiously attributed to brit policies.)
As to logical argument, you could use an elementary lesson yourself: the person making the extraordinary claim provides the evidence, not the skeptic. Second, the point was, YOU, not I, were using "a guy told me" as evidence. The caste thing was precisely to show how silly that is as a standard.
What the hell do those wingnuts have to do with anything? The caste thing was a bit of levity, but I see you're taking this Brit genocide thing seriously. Research some reputable sources--it's up there with the "faked" moon-landing and 9/11 skeptics; a few folks say it, but real historians do not.
Two responses, no cite = fail.

Okay, that last K was a cheap one, but I'm tired.

@G.O.B.: Come on!: Wook! Is Fwee Wiwwi! (It just occurs to me that John Pinette's Asian jokes are a slight voice change from sounding like an Elmer Fudd routine)

[www.thedailyshow.com]

By extension, because Sarah Palin does not know that there are no Death Panels in the House Health Care Bill, all Americans are wrong about everything.

On that impressive show of logic itself, I refuse to try an reason with you. On principle.

Still, at the same time I've also visited and spent a great deal of time in Asian countries as I'm Taiwanese, and Asians notoriously slaughter the English language in almost all aspects of their culture. Poorly translated signs are just the tip of the iceberg. There are also nonsensical English lines in most of their popular songs, English phrases being thrown around, and the Japanese are the ones borrowing a multitude of English words to tack on to their language after they've mangled it mostly beyond recognition. Not to mention the random, garbled, misspelled garbage they print on their clothing. Every time I see merchandise like that in the store, I want to fix it with tape and markers.

These ads to offend me quite a bit, if only because they come off as entirely xenophobic and hypocritical to me. And here I was being all optimistic that the world was growing more tolerant.

Uh, I'm not goofy, maybe you are but I'm not. I'm cool and good looking and stylish. So keep your racist self defeating stereotypes to yourself. I'm proud to be a White man.

Another thing, stop living in the past, if those commercials even existed no one would stand up for them now and they don't exist now, I'm not going to be responsible for the sins of dead men. I'm alive and treat people and all races with respect, I also expect it back.

As White people we've been told to hate ourselves like were born with some sin or something, I say its BS, look at our nations, White people are the minority now do you see that anywhere else in the world? We've taken the world in with open arms, were awesome. In Japan foreigners are very uncommon and that's what makes a campaign like this even more powerful for setting back understanding of other cultures in Japan.

This is kind of lame, which I'm sure is coming from someone who has never lived in Japan. First of all, number 1 is incorrect. There are TONS, I would say atleast over half the population of white foreigners in Japan CANNOT speak Japanese. Now, the chinese, Koreans, they are forced to learn Japanese to become a part of the Japanese culture. White foreigners however often come for a set amount of time and leave afterwards, so they feel they dont have to learn Japanese.

Must I remind you that Asians in American film and media are often portrayed with HUGE accents and dorky clothing.

2. Your reading into this too much. Never in my life have I ran into a Japanese person who called a white foreigner by their first name- unless of course they were friends.

3. Portrayed as a nerd? Um, how about Hiro on Heroes?

And I'm suppose to believe that American advertisements are politically correct all the time? Six Flags great america's "More flags more fun" campaign with the asian guy comes to mind.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Even though they passed formal speech banning discrimination, there's no body that enforces the laws. Their permanent residents aren't allowed to vote because they're not Japanese. Foreign professors are rarely given tenure, even if they teach on the same level as their Japanese counterparts. In the 1990s, things got so heated between Koreans and the Japanese that some Japanese assaulted a group of children, and Chinese have been stereotyped as committing more crime. Oh yeah, they've been accused of disliking Jewish people, too.

Trouble is, the raj didn't kill 30 million people. Show me a respectable scholar that says that. (And no, hindu nationalists don't count.) That figure is, how you say-- ah yes, "made up."

I don't doubt that Indian people have said that to you, but then, I've met Indian people who were unaware that there is no caste in America, so...

In the US, half the commercials feature that common stereotype, the "stupid father/husband." Men in American commercials are almost uniformly dumber than bricks, and often childish too. The most obvious recent example is the one where the guy throws a tantrum over a grinder, and it includes his own child admonishing him to grow up.

Yeah, makes me want to run out and devour one.

Not!

I think you mean McDonaldsan

People would ask her where she was from, and when she said America they would insist that she had to be making that up, because she didn't look the way they believe Americans look and so she had to be from a different country. People actually said that to her, sincere as could be.

At first it hurt, but soon she figured out that looming over them and scowling shut 'em up pretty quickly. It's easy to intimidate when you're almost a foot taller than someone, I suppose!

@sburnap42:

The irony here is that the fumbling Japanese that they're using is essentially how a Japanese high schooler sounds when trying to speak English. Those aren't the mistakes that a native English speaker typically makes when trying to speak or write Japanese. But I can see how this 'sells' it better in Japan.

(mainly for the fact that half the time there are too many serious crazy people out on the tubes)

Also I think I deserve to be discriminated against, its only fair for what Iiiiii did a century ago.
/

but in all seriousness, I really do believe there should be all encompassing discrimination. And before you get all up in arms about what I just said, read Harrison Bergeron. It's a short story, shouldn't take you too long.

So, playing on their fear/hatred/dislike of foreigners is perceived as a great advertisement strategy. "These burgers are so good, even this loony foreigner loves them! COME ON IN AND TRY EM OUT!"

Of course, as many people have already said, it's harder to have these "Look at the silly foreigner!" ads in America since there are groups on the lookout for any perceived racism/sexism/other-isms in ad campaigns.

... presenting this image of a typical American ...

@hungryhomer: Unless he's Canadian, British, German, South African, Australian, or any of the other countries in the world where there are white people. Of course, if his clothing and his mannerisms are so dead-on that you believe that they are making fun of American whites in particular, then maybe they are on to something with their stereotypes.

@jscott73:

Yeah you need room for when that sodium expands your neck.

@sixseeds: With that you aren't endorsing it, but rather rationalizing it.

Maybe he's supposed to be one of those military retirees that go back to wherever he once was stationed and considers himself an expert of that particular country's culture. In some Asian countries there are bunch of those grandpas just wandering around, looking for the ladies to do it, and feeling young and wanted again. I've seen it and they're sweaty and sad-looking.

Personally, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

@HeatherLynn30: Martin Short gives a landmark comedic performance not seen since the days of Lenny Bruce or Richard Pryor.

Take the AT&T commercial that portrays the stupid, poor white man--compared to the intelligent, rational Asian. The Fiber One commercial shows an intelligent Indian manager and a white man putting on a fake moustache--acting like a fool.

Racism in commercials is hard to detect because it is subtle and integrated with a facade of humor. However, these commercials have a lasting impact--long after after the $19.99 mobile phone plan expires and the yogurt fiber is crapped out.

An adult realizes that this is a commercial, but children cannot.

The Calgon commercial "Ancient Chinese secret, huh?" depicted a Chinese husband being sneaky about laundry detergents. The children that grew up with that commercial will, 9 out of 10 times, identify a Chinese-American as a "sneaky" person.

There are plenty of psychology studies on this. What starts as one commercial can quickly become a stereotype.

Plus making fun of foreigner's language skills is a game shared by all cultures. Engrish.com anyone?

Don't forget the cultural differences, either. Lots of comic artists in Japan still draw racial stereotypes that most in this country would find offensive, but it's perfectly fine there.

At least we have the King in America. I'm sure if the commercials were produced in Japan, tentacles would be heavily involved.

I'm looking at you, Rufus.

@pecan 3.14159265: NJ & DC - but in heavily Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. My neighbors are all from Ecuador & Peru. I think the Spanish text built a 'Hispanic' context around him for me. When I saw him in English commercials, it surprised me. OTOH, he seems like he can 'pass' for a lot of ethnicities, so maybe Verizon was very clever with their choice. He's like a racial chameleon!

I fear I am going to wade into trouble with my cavalier use of 'race' and 'ethnicity' and even 'Hispanic'. I know that race and ethnicity are not the same thing & not interchangeable. And maybe there are some Hispanic people who consider themselves White? Or maybe speaking Spanish is not enough to make one Hispanic?

I think I am confusing myself. Time to head home!

P.S. I am aware that the burrito is an American invention.

P.P.S. I would love to see the Tamago Double Mac and Chicken Tatsuta at American McDonald's.

Similarly, since I don't get offended for being called gay, then why should anyone else? So I should be free to use the word as I choose, right?

Again...not that we're at ALL innocent. But this takes it to a new level.

Japanese McDonalds taste 1000x better than American McDonalds. Make fun of whiteys all you want! I'll still eat the junk! Their A&W restaraunts taste good too. The ones in the US are really gross.

Not that we haven't done some pretty terrible things to prisoners here in the U.S. (Tuskegee), but wow...the Nazis and Japanese set a new standard.

Also, it's really interesting to hear the perspective from a country for whom colonization is actually within recent memory. Granted, 60 years ago isn't in most people's memories, but still, it's closer than 1776.

Aside from that, can we get around the law if we type it like Brad Pitt pronounces it in Inglorious Basterds? If I type it like "nahsees" can I get a pass?

A slightly little known fact is that Stalin killed more people than Hitler.

@aguacarbonica: I think the racial history has a lot to do with World War II. What the Japanese did to America at Pearl Harbor is something that American has not forgotten, and to some degree - has not forgiven. What the Japanese proceeded to do with Unit 731 is also something that has been a source of racial tension. Most importantly, though, is that there's not significant racial history (AFAIK) that is the source of tension between America and Japan, it's that it's happening right now and has been happening ever since the war. While in America, I would like to say that society as a whole has decreased its racism toward Japan and toward Asian people (or at least is more sensitive to its ramifications), Japan treats foreigners like dirt, and there's very little done to fight this in Japan.

Nothing, afaik. I am infact not even sure what side I am on in this debate, despite my lengthy comments.

@dadelus: @Oranges w/ Cheese - now with 50% more kitty!:

Funny how people here seem to be the experts on how Japanese treat other races and whatnot. This is rather tame advertising. Anyone seen the recent KFC grill commercial with two, surprise, stereotypical Japanese sushi chefs?

U.S. media is filled with stereotypes in entertainment. What does this discussion have to do with past war crimes or past anything, lol.

As far as the American vs. White, I think it's more of an anti-Anglo stereotype. The broken language and the use of first names is common among non-Japanese of many nationalities.

@outlulz: I'm not sure it's a stereotype because I can't really even figure out what they are supposed to represent, but what's up with the two Asian guys in the new KFC grilled chicken commercials?

Though the best part comes when I have to explain to someone why Nazism is not considered to be a big deal in India.

"You know, that thing was 60 years ago, and at that time we had our own Imperialist oppressive totalitarian regime to deal with."

"But the brits were the good guys!"

"Dude... they used to beat up peaceful protesters simply because they refused to eat. And then poured salt water on their wounds."

"But the Nazis killed SIX MILLION JEWS!"

"Yeah, the Brits killed 30 million Indians."

"... w-what?"

"Yeah, over a period of 100 years. And thats not even counting the people who died in battles."

"But the Nazis killed them in like 6 years."

"So... its okay to kill millions of people as long as you spread it out over a few years?"

"No.. I'm... but... well... hmmm..."

And the best part is, Indians arent even all that psyched about the British either. One of the most recognizable and remembered comedy roles in Indian cinema is that of a strict jailer who takes pride in being an officer in the British Raj. Can you imagine the shit storm that would ensue if someone dressed up as a Nazi Officer here?

@pecan 3.14159265 (now with star power):

So while we may laugh about it here, and be all, "har har white people" - over there, someone may take it seriously. And there won't be many people to convince them otherwise.

This reminds me of trying to explain to a Moroccan friend of mine that the "monkies" on her snackfoods were actually racist caricatures of black people. I guess it's good that she didn't see the connection, but it's disturbing that children eating those foods might draw their own connections between those images and people of African descent that they encountered.

I feel awful.

Great, a Japanese video making fun of white people.

I guess it's only fair, but i think the joke FDR played on them was a lot funnier.

Whites don't have an ethnic lobby like the NAACP or ADL to defend themselves and any time whites try to act as a group for their self-interests, they get called racists.

As evidenced by the responses in here, most whites are "cool" with being bashed and vilified in the media, perhaps because of the decades of hate-whitey/white guilt education and propaganda in the media has been internalized.

@katstermonster:

Okay let me explain something. I know what Unit 731 was. What I am asking is, what is the Japanese-white history that makes this a racially sensitive issue rather than xenophobia. Do the Japanese have the same rocky history with white Brits, for instance? Or is this campaign an attempt to build off of American stereotypes. That is all I want to know.

If there is a racial history that I'm unaware of, and I certainly haven't been able to find anything in the slews of articles about anti-Japanese racism rather than anti-white Japanese racism, then I stand corrected. If there isn't a racial history, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with my original point that this is an awful case of xenophobia. And the protesters would have much more luck arguing it from that perspective.

@tbax929: Phew, good. Because now I'm in trouble, too.

@aguacarbonica: And maybe Godwin's Law is going to be invoked for this, but for serious, compare this:

[en.wikipedia.org]

to this:

[en.wikipedia.org]

People consider the US a racist country. Those people have never been to Japan.

And just because you can laugh at it doesn't mean everyone can.

I always thought the Verizon guy was Hispanic.

[espanol.vzw.com]

I've mostly seen him on billboards/ads with Spanish text, and haven't really thought of him as 'white'. Maybe it's just the red shirt that makes these 2 look similar?

Oh, and a joke about whites too. Ironic.

The Japanese are a rather conceited bunch, who look down on other races. remember, their emperor came down from the sun. And they (were) a hugely loyal group of warriors, preferring death over dishonor. Ask any WW2 vet what the Japanese did to people that surrendered. They couldn't understand the concept, and treated our soldiers just as bad as they treated the Koreans and Chinese.

While its not nearly that bad anymore, history takes a long, long time, to overcome racism, much of it has to die with the old Generation. Just look at race relations in the US, and how long it took to get any decent fairness.

@katstermonster:
They're allowed. Just be prepared for no one to actually get the joke (which I got, by the way).

@MostlyHarmless:

What a worthless reply. I'll take pecan's suggestion below. I haven't yet found anything to dissuade me of my skepticism, but I hardly think whatever you're referring to is common knowledge...

But then, I am a bit more lax about racist jokes than most people here i suppose. I am used to seeing everyone laugh at jokes involving racial and religious stereotypes even going as far as making fun of their own beliefs. You dont have to actually hate the other person to make fun of them.

And the secret is in laughing with someone, rather than at someone.

I too wish that Carrie would do a little more digging, or a little less passing judgement on topics she's not familiar with.

Though to their credit, they do have much bigger cleaner places, with heavy silverware and ceramic plates.

Far cry from my student experiences.

I feel your pain.

Its not really considered "exotic" anymore, but like all cuisines, the Indians have modified it to their tastes, and made it their own. So instead of the meat patties, they have spicy and crunchy potato patties that melt in your mouth. There is a lot less cheese, and a lot of items on the menu are new creations.

Burgers, Hot Dogs, Wraps and Pizza are prettymuch 'staple' diet for todays youth. But all of them taste very different from what we have here. Same goes for chinese food.

By all means, overreact.

Flip this into a goofy Japanese guy trying to order at an American McDonalds, while the commercial plays of a bunch of negative stereotypes. Still okay with it?

Fries were dead on - it was actually comforting. We were having tons and tons of awesome food, but after 10 days, you do want something home-like. Not vaguely home-like, not made to look like it might be home-ish, not you'll-eat-it-after-18-hours-on-a-plane, but now. McD's fries did it.

Of course, there they only come in small size. Excellent.

I find it hilarious. FRANCA can go jump in Tokyo Bay.

@Traveshamockery: Just so we're on the same page, what exactly is it that I'm getting over?

[i765.photobucket.com]

Well I've seen "Gung Ho", starring Michael Keaton...and turnabout is fair play.

Tinkish, get over it. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

@MostlyHarmless:

What history? Were white people like forced to go to Japan and put up with bullshit at some point in time I'm not aware of? The stereotype might chagrine, but the lynching think doesn't make a good analogy.

This is McDonalds we are talking about.

Its a meme. About the weird fetishes that seem to originate from japan.

And I was not saying that getting nuked is a justification for being xenophobic.

Also, everyone knows that FDR and NWO faked the Pearl Harbor incident.

But by all means, please focus only on the nuclear bombs which ended the war in the Pacific theater and saved one million Allied lives.

Just like in this country even joking about lynching a black guy causes a shitstorm even though the person making the joke did not have the history in mind.

"The impression given is that Caucasians cannot speak Japanese properly, which is simply not true for the vast numbers of non-native (and Japanese-native) foreigners in Japan."

That made me laugh, considering Godzirra, ronery, etc.

@Murph1908: Ugh I know!! It's just so damn hard being white in America.

www.engrish.com

Is that Bob Odenkirk

Domo Arigato Ronald McDonald.

@MostlyHarmless:

I'm not sure this is racist. It seems more like they are making fun of Americans than white people in general. That doesn't make it better from an offense point of view, but I can see how that undermines the protester's claim that the commercials are setting back Japanese-white relations.

@Preyfar:

I chuckled here.

That was before he met some local Indians.

Joking aside, even in India, where a LOT (most) of jokes are about racial stereotypes, they do not have this kind of sillyness.

Considering the negative Asian stereotypes that have been around for decades in the American media, I don't see how FRANCA has much of a leg to stand on. Mr. James seems pretty tame in comparison.

Besides, white people ARE goofy.

Quid pro quo is a bitch.

I think the real issue is that only a person under 12 would be that happy at the thought of McDonald's fast food.

If I ever have to eat there, its not a happy time.