A roving UHub photographer reports the MFA had this "try on a kimono" event this evening - that got crashed by a man and a woman who tried to convince participants they were being racists by trying on kimonos or even just looking at paintings of people in kimonos - by participating in "yellowface." He was not impressed:
I got the feeling they were trying to upset people, get arrested and then sue the place. The kimono is a symbol of Japanese culture but this one was made by Japanese people for the purpose of sharing culture.
While he was there, at least, they were failing at getting arrested.
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Comments
You had one job.
By anon
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 9:13pm
You had one job.
The kimono is a traditionalist
By dmcboston
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 11:11pm
The kimono is a traditionalist form of clothing going back about 900 years in Japan. It deserves respect and understanding. To wear it if you are not Japanese, as far as I know, is no great insult, but they do reserve it for formal occasions, generally.
Having said that, guys, click on the link. Just do it. Trust me.
The link is indeed worth clicking
By BostonDog
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 7:23am
A bunch of protesters standing around with signs and not really disrupting anything isn't a Big Deal. If anything else people are going to look up the history of the clothing and learn more about it then they would have from just the MFA presentation. In turn, the MFA is going to do a better job explaining the art and craft aspects then a wiki page.
This isn't rioting on the street or fetal pig photo harassment.
Um, ok.
By dmcboston
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 8:40am
At least they're not going to the Mayor's house led by Daunasia Yancey protesting the Olympics at 4:00 AM because #blacklivesmatter.
Why is that a problem?
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 8:46am
I mean, it isn't as if anyone was committing the capital crime of (gasp) delaying traffic!
Useless
By ElizaLeila
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 9:16am
except to annoy the neighbors: Marty wasn't even home at the time.
that twitter person is being offensive
By anon
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 9:19am
That manner of dress and makeup is traditionally of prostitutes. Co-opting it for tweeting is very disrespectful of ancient prostitute culture.
Right, because Japanese don't know anything about being
By Billy
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 9:20pm
imperialist.
or racist
By jil
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 9:39pm
I did wonder whether the protesters were anti-Japanese. Did that sign mean, try on a kimono, experience the Japanese racist, imperialist culture?
Yeah I am friends with the
By whaler
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 8:34am
Yeah I am friends with the woman they linked, and for her the issue was with the cultural appropriate and the orientalism going on, for this guy it seems to be ant-japanese?
or racist
By jil
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 9:40pm
I did wonder whether the protesters were anti-Japanese. Did that sign mean, try on a kimono, experience the Japanese racist, imperialist culture?
That could all just as well apply to here.
By anon
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 11:47pm
I like the Japanese.. really like them,... more than my lout fellow Americans. (if anything, Lout Americans are at the bottom of my planetary "like" list.)
Ishmael Reed had a funny element in his "Last Days of Louisiana Red" where places like MFA were called "Art Detention Centers" as they are often showcases of things looted.
The Nihon did take a few nuke snootfuls for their transgressions, the only population on earth to experience that. So they did their time and are a lot more contrite than anyone here is about our savagery, including those two nukes.
Hell, wasn't this place all abuzz with the Confederacy horrors.. (consistency, people.), like a few days ago.
The aging crones doing the Kimono walk at MFA were hardly flattered by the things. They are something like a Lilly Pulitzer print on LSD.
And the MFA is probably one of the most visible relics of the nations first imperialist era.
If you dislike 'lout' Americans so much,
By anon
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 3:35am
WHY are you still living in America (U.S.)? You're free to leave anytime. Just don't try immigrating to Japan, the Japanese are a VERY insular, homogeneous nation and people, and they like it that way. They really don't like foreigners, but tolerate a tiny few. And this includes other Asians.
If you or anyone else wants to experience real, hardcore racism, go to Japan or Asia in general. It's almost like a fetish. They are also quite sexist, I mean really sexist, not in the way that word is grossly overused here in 'America'.
That's some nice lout flouting you got there.
By anon
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 8:06am
It has a nice thick spread of indignation over bubbly huff puffing between two fat slabs of entitlement.
I'm from here and I'm staying, sorry. I'm fine with the land and have special delouting techniques to identify my fellow citizens who fail to suck wind. Americans are not people you take at face value and cutting em too much slack is a fools errand.
Okay
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 8:50am
Head to Europe, and I'll bet that Lout Britons travelling the Continent will bottom us.
But, hey, one of the signature moves of the Lout American is to make sexist and ageist slams at people based on their physical appearance.
There are 'louts' EVERYWHERE in
By anon
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 10:55am
especially the 'liberal' western world, where 'tradition' is generally mocked as being fill-in-the-blank-ist. But they exist even in non-western countries, even in 2nd and 3rd world countries. IMHO Americans are not the worse, there are, as a generalization (we're talking about generalizations here) much worse, including some of those super sophisticated Europeans. Anecdotally, last week I was around a group of teenagers here in Boston visiting from Quebec. They were uniformly obnoxious, 'loutish'. Spend time around Eurotrash (European and non-European) and you'll see no better examples of 'loutishness'.
It's a lout world, after all.
By anon
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 11:53am
That should surprise no one. And both genders have some pretty capable louts. Everyone gets to get a lout on.
It's probably driven by a drama urge with histrionics enjoying a triumph over conveyed information. Loutishness may even be a default setting while graciousness is a thing that wants effort.
Maybe it's a modality one drifts in and out of. This has been a fine lout fest with loutish pokes at the elderly, loutish scoldings and a complete lout Nihon trashing extravaganza where several vie for the status of loutiest.
We see the lout and it is us.
Here... have some thing from Yoko https://youtu.be/6azY0LCN18w
And from Yuko https://youtu.be/XL7nlgbdkU4
when you get a sec from the slobbering clobber of another 'other'.
FYI
By lbb
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 2:45pm
It's "emigrate to" or "immigrate from".
''The Nihon did take a few
By kvn
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 11:16am
''The Nihon did take a few nuke snootfuls for their transgressions, the only population on earth to experience that. So they did their time and are a lot more contrite than anyone here is about our savagery, including those two nukes.''
[img]https://virginiaplantation.files.wordpress.com/201...
Japanese contrite about WW2 atrocities
By anon
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 2:51pm
and savage imperialism? Um...not really...and just ask their neighbors.
Now the Germans...they are contrite and have shown it many times in words and actions.
Why'd you stop short of
By gotdatwmd
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 1:25pm
Why'd you stop short of listing your anime collection from GLORIOUS NIPPON to us baka gaijin? Did your pocky get stuck in your neckbeard?
The Japanese who committed these atrocities...
By Michael Kerpan
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 2:47pm
... wore very Western style military uniforms, not kimonos.
None of them are Japanese. If
By Loo
Fri, 07/10/2015 - 6:33pm
None of them are Japanese. If you look up, all of them have CHINESE names. I mean tha protesters. Guess what this means.
Not a good argument against
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 10:33am
Not a good argument against the protesters. Just because another society is formerly imperialist and still tends towards racism doesn't mean we should go willy-nilly offending others.
ばか
By FredQuimby
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 9:29pm
ばか
Organizer: Attendees support white supremacy
By Patron
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 9:30pm
I saw photos of 3 protestors posted by one of the organizers, who accuses attendees of supporting #whitesupremacy.
Holy Moley! Now I'm all confused!
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 9:31pm
By heating up and devouring this delicious leftover pizette from the Galleria Umberto, am I overtly endorsing the Fascist government of Mussolini?
Just wondering.
Let me ponder that
By anon
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 9:34pm
while I drive my VW (Nazis) to pick up some sushi (rape of Nanking) in Amherst (germ warfare genocide).
Holding that sign
By anon
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 9:45pm
While wearing western clothing, hypocrite!
Your joke is not funny. It's
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 5:12pm
Your joke is not funny. It's not fair to mock Asian Americans who are against cultural appropriation of traditional clothing for wearing "regular" American clothing.
Western culture has dominated the world, and it's now a global thing that people wear t-shirts, Western shirts, shorts, and jeans. And watch movies made in LA and talk about Hollywood stars. That's just a sign the US and the West has won the world culturally, and long ago.
Asians Americans are bothered by people trying on traditional dress like the kimono without the knowledge of the culture and history behind it. Without such knowledge, we worry that the clothing will be worn without respect. Just a costume, rather than a respected cultural element. Which is pretty much what the MFA is inviting people to do.
The only knowledge that the MFA gave out is that the Parisians of the period loved everything Japanese. Why is this related to imperialism? France was actively colonizing Asia at this time. China, India, Japan, AND French Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos). Their love of Japanese things certainly extended to their initially forced trade concessions done by all the Western powers, as well as to the Japanese land conceded to them as sovereign territory.
When my boyfriend and I heard about the MFA planning the event, we both thought, this is a bad idea. We didn't think we would be offended though. Now seeing it, it does offend me a bit. I think the MFA's approach to this has been a bit ham-handed. They provide almost no information of the kimono's Japanese history, and they focus on the literally imperializing and colonizing French of the period.
I'm glad these protesters have shined a little light on the issues at hand here for people. Ineffective as some think it might be.
Not a thing
By Lecil
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 11:06am
The ONE most defining element of humanity is culture and the transmission of such. "Cultural Appropriation" as meant here just doesn't exist. Appropriating culture is what humans do, period.
Now, you can complain about belittling a culture or negatively stereotyping members of that culture. For example if the MFA had a couple "Geisha" making kissy-faces at passing men while wearing the Kimonos in question, I'd have a real problem with it. But showing examples of a particular clothing type and inviting patrons to try it on is a perfectly legitimate activity for a museum to undertake.
You could also complain about cultural hegemony. But given that Westerners were being offered a chance to step out of their culture and sample another, that would also be nonsensical given the context here.
Also, the French did a pretty poor job of colonizing Japan, so I'm not really sure I understand that part of your complaint either... (Had this been a Vietnamese exhibit, for example, you might have been on to something.)
Okay so we disagree a bit. I
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 12:06pm
Okay so we disagree a bit. I consider people donning another culture's traditional clothing without knowledge and respect to be annoying. I'm not saying that is what every museum goer who tries on the kimono is doing. But because the MFA isn't really educating people on kimonos, it's a possibility.
I agree with you that cultural appropriation is highly subjective. And that that is what human cultures do. I have no issue with design elements that originated in the East and were incorporated in the West. I have no problem with cultural diffusion either way. But that's what we are talking about, diffusion.
Appropriation is a loaded term, and it means different things to different people. To me, it is wearing something that is not from your culture, and not understanding it and not wearing it in the way intended.
And yes, the French failed to colonize Japan. They lost out to the UK and the US. Who in turn, also failed, due to Japan's ability to rapidly modernize itself along Western models. But that did not stop the Western powers from continuing to colonize the rest of Asia until after WW2. But at the time of this painting, they were still successfully making inroads in Japan.
Asian culture is appropriated everywhere. It bothers me a little because I just see it so much, and what can I say?
"Your Buddha belly liquor glasses bother me a bit, since I was raised Buddhist and that a Buddhist precept was that drinking to excess was not acceptable? So your glass is weird."
How can I explain this to a restaurateur succinctly? It's minor, but it's grating over time to see this sort of thing again and again. I think they call it racial microaggressions.
I don't expect to convince anyone here of my arguments. If people aren't offended, they're not offended. And if they don't want to understand why some are, that's fine also. I just want to help explain why some people are offended, and why they would protest. And that the protesters aren't outliers in the Asian American community.
How do you personally know
By anon
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 12:25pm
How do you personally know that the elderly man and woman who tried on the kimono have no knowledge of the kimono, Japanese tradition, culture, art and history? How do you personally know that they have never visited Japan or lived in Japan? Do you assume that because the couple is elderly and white that they are ignorant and racist? Were you appointed spokesperson for the Asian-American community? How ignorant to think that all Asian-Americans share YOUR opinion in this matter! How ignorant to lump Asian-Americans into a single group. Bigot.
No, sir. I don't know
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 1:25pm
No, sir, I don't know anything about the particular couple in general. And I cast no aspersions on them. Yet there could be people who try the kimono on in ignorance, since there is little to no education on it. As I have already said. Which probably makes you a troll.
I can only tell you that this kimono-wearing event at the MFA made me feel uncomfortable. And I doubt I'm alone.
If I am (mostly) of white European descent...
By Michael Kerpan
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 1:00pm
... with ancestors from places like Croatia and Ireland (mostly), do I have some special authority to talk about the appropriation of cute windmills and wooden shoes from the Netherlands (especially if it is actively promoting these items)?
Michael, forgive the pun, but
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 1:30pm
Michael, forgive the pun, but you're tilting at windmills here. I don't claim any special authority and I don't expect many people here to agree with me.
That's what it means to be in the/a minority.
We are all in a minority....
By Michael Kerpan
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 1:46pm
... in this country, it just depends on your perspective (and your current location).
I grew up in a place (Tulsa, OK) that (until a few years before) had almost no Catholics -- and then got a big influx of Northeastern Catholics in a very short period of time (when aviation and petroleum businesses relocated from the East in the early 50s). I got picked on by a kindergarten teacher who had never had a Catholic student before. I got spit on at a park because I was Catholic.
Now, I spend most Saturday mornings at Chua Viet Nam (my local Buddhist temple) and Sundays at Sacred Heart (my local Catholic Church). Our family regularly hosts students from Showa Boston, and has also had student visitors from China, Singapore and Viet Nam. One of my sons regularly plays ping pong (table tennis, he calls it) in both Chinatown and a Vietnamese community center in Dorchester.
DNA testing shows my father's family has a non-trivial percentage of Asian genes (Huns? Mongols? Turks?). From my perspective, "race" is mostly a (harmful) phantasm.
Let's not be disingenuous
By lbb
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 2:59pm
So when you walk down the street in Boston, do people look at you and say, "Hey, there's a Mongol! There's an Asian person!" Or do they say "Look, it's a white guy!"?
"When people believe situations are real, they are real in their consequences." - Irving Goffman
...and when enough people believe that "race" is real and meaningful, and that membership ina "race" is based not on your invisible genotype but on your visible phenotype, you better believe THAT has real consequences. It is disingenuous to pretend otherwise.
May I respectfully suggest
By anon
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 4:06pm
May I respectfully suggest you take a deep breath, walk outside and enjoy some fresh air.
May I respectfully suggest
By lbb
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 10:48pm
May I respectfully suggest that if the conversation's too heavy for you, you take your own advice.
Interesting. That's the
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 3:24pm
Interesting. That's the temple I attended as a kid. Nice to know you go and that your son utilizes the community centers in Chinatown and the VCC, which I also go to. I agree with you that race is a harmful phantasm.
The (wonderful) monk at Chua Viet Nam...
By Michael Kerpan
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 4:34pm
... is becoming an abbot in August. There will apparently be a very big celebration.
Did you participate as a kid in the really quite remarkable end of year party (like they have now) -- the kids and teens and 20-somethings really put on quite a performance.
Do you play table tennis? (My sons off to NH for the summer, helping run a scout camp).
I did participate in the
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 4:57pm
I did participate in the performances as a kid, including the one in July/August. We had to practice quite a bit. Also, it was a long time ago!
I don't really play table tennis. When I go to the VCC, it's mostly for meetings of some kind.
Well...
By Michael Kerpan
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 5:03pm
Maybe we will cross paths someday -- but not at the Monet kimono painting (which has, in fact, always been my least favorite Monet painting since I first saw it in 1971 or so -- though it is VERY popular in Japan).
I consider people donning
By Jenny
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 12:44pm
How can you tell that these people don't have the knowledge? How do you know that they were being disrespectful? At least in my experience, the MFA events are done with education in mind. Usually there are docents there are very knowledgeable and are more than willing to answer questions.
I'm not trying to make the argument that it isn't offensive but I do find it difficult when one assumes things about others intent. Especially when the MFA is a place of learning where people go to be exposed to other cultures and ideas.
The MFA isn't offering any
By Dot net
Fri, 07/03/2015 - 1:20am
The MFA isn't offering any understanding of this kimono. They have no explanation of it, except that Parisians loved Japanese things back then, and that Monet's wife modeled it for him, and see how heavy it feels to wear. Not very informative.
Instead of educating, they only invite people to try it on and to be photographed. Thus the criticism.
Well, you convinced me
By lbb
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 2:55pm
First, kudos for your patience in explaining. I agree with your perspective on cultural appropriation. I'm particularly troubled by the appropriation of Buddhist words, phrases and images, which strikes me as very disrespectful (please don't ever say "that's so zen!" to me).
Every time a friction point like this arises, I wonder at those who insist on their right to offend. Even if you don't quite get the argument why you shouldn't wear the kimono if you don't understand its history (at a bare minimum), how much does it really cost you to not put it on? It bothers someone. How hard is it to just take that at face value, not make up a lot of stories about "oh they're just TRYING to be offended" (where does that even come from? how can anyone say that if you haven't lived that experience?), and let it go? What does it really cost you? Damn little, but people will be so stubborn and selfish about their right to offend. It arises from a lack of compassion. Who would want to upset someone else for no gain, except a person lacking compassion?
Thanks, lbb.
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 4:35pm
Thanks, lbb.
You're welcome.
By lbb
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 10:49pm
You're welcome. You've been treated very rudely by some people here.
Just on the Buddhism bit -
By bgl
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 4:16pm
Just on the Buddhism bit - how does that become racist? Last I checked, Buddhism was open to all. Should Buddhists in India look down upon Buddhists in China for changing the religion (and even deifying the Buddha when he specifically asked not to be) and think of it as a racial slight? That said, I do think a shot glass in the form for the Buddha is in pretty bad taste, but then again so would a Jesus shot glass , I guess.
I don't think
By lbb
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 10:50pm
I don't think this was described as racism, but as cultural appropriation -- which it is.
On the guy's sign I read...
By Michael Kerpan
Fri, 07/03/2015 - 1:31am
"racist" and "imperialist".
Michael, lbb is talking here
By Dot net
Fri, 07/03/2015 - 8:30am
Michael, lbb is talking here about what I remarked on, not on what happened at the MFA.
Sorry, I must have misread
By bgl
Fri, 07/03/2015 - 11:27am
Sorry, I must have misread/misinterpreted "racial microaggressions".
It's true, I don't think that
By Dot net
Fri, 07/03/2015 - 12:46pm
It's true, I don't think that term fits exactly there. The feeling to me is the same though. Hence, I'm not sure exactly what to call it. It just makes me feel the same way racial microaggressions do. Cultural microagression?
Meh
By Bulkut
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 11:08am
Wow. Your self-centred rant actually made me care less about "imperialism" and "cultural appropriation". Good job.
Now I'll go and eat some sushi with avocado in it. I bet that pisses you off as well.
No, that wouldn't bother me
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 12:08pm
No, that wouldn't bother me at all. I'm sorry I was unable to help you understand why some people might be offended, and that you see my attempts to do so as a rant. If you don't get it, you don't get it.
Your Dot Net is missing a
By gotdatwmd
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 1:20pm
Your Dot Net is missing a "tumblr" prefix.
How is wearing clothing from
By bgl
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 4:46pm
How is wearing clothing from a different culture offensive? Should only Scots be allowed to wear kilts ? Does this extend to food from other places, too? AFIAK, the Kimono was originally an import to Japan (like so many things) based on clothing from the Han dynasty that were then adapted and evolved over the centuries to the current item known as a Kimono. Same thing with the suit and western clothing. Why would you get offended for people trying to broaden their life perspective and try things from other cultures in a safe environment made for that? I mean, hey, I have been to Japan, and pretty much spent a good chunk of my life in high school (after after) in Chinatown, so maybe it just seems more natural to me to share culturally and encourage people to understand other customs. I will admit, though, it is kind of weird if they didn't have at least a bit of history on the kimono, and the whole event seems kind of odd - but is it really something to get angry about? Do you own all Asian culture (which makes almost no sense to lump together, btw, just like European/Western), and can dictate what any non-Asian person can and cannot do in relation to it? I can only really see this as offensive IF they were dressing up in Kimonos to some how mock and/or make fun of Japan and Japanese culture, which it doesn't seem like they were doing.
Also, as a point of colonization, yeah, no one actually colonized Japan. In fact, after (admittedly rather forcefully, but non violently) being opened to the West, Japan kind of went on to be the imperial colonizer of all of Asia, and they weren't exactly the nicest of people to have take over your country. Anyways, sorry, rambled a bit there, but if it helps at all, just think of the old proverb that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" - if they were not out to mock anyone, why not go to the event to educate people (who are obviously interested if they came out to the event) rather than a half assed protest that seems divided on what was even being protested by the two people?
Do you own all Asian culture
By Dot net
Fri, 07/03/2015 - 1:29am
Interesting. Why do people keep coming back to this? Obviously, the aggrieved Asian Americans cannot dictate anything to the MFA and its patrons, hence two young people went out and protested. Why do you and lot of others think our feelings are diktats?
If you don't like how we feel, you can just ignore it, as has been done for most of history. If it bothers you that we feel as we do, maybe you should consider addressing our feelings. Whatevs, either way. You can't stop people from feeling.
I meant it as Asia is a very
By bgl
Fri, 07/03/2015 - 11:41am
I meant it as Asia is a very broad place with many different cultures and peoples. I would think it the same as a an Italian getting bothered by people wearing Dirndls during an Oktoberfest celebration here. Should this make people of Western/European decent angry? What about St. Patrick's Day where everyone of every race and creed dons green to go out drinking and make asses of themselves? Would traveling to Japan and seeing people dressed up as Minutemen or Pilgrims elicit the same response from you? I guess I am just saying this sort of stuff happens with every culture in America, since America is melding of all cultures for better or worse. I am simply trying to understand why this makes you upset, and the only thing I can think of is that you feel some sort of ownership in the wearing of traditional Japanese dress that others who wear it in a non mocking fashion would upset you ?
As to the protesters - so, one seemed to be against orientalism, which is fine (although the same exists in the East about things in the West). The other one is harder to figure out, he seems to be there, at least with what is on his sign, protesting the Japanese and their past Imperial ambitions (read: atrocities). I still say - if this bothered the one protester (and by your admissions many others) so much, why not, instead of protesting, go there and actually educate and teach people instead of being standoffish protestors holding signs.
My interpretation of the
By Dot net
Sat, 07/04/2015 - 6:11am
My interpretation of the young man's sign: he's saying that by trying on the kimono, the way the Parisians did, is to act like them. Which again, in his interpretation, is that the Parisians were racist and imperialistic. Which I have argued, is somewhat true. France was a colonial power in Asia at this time. Japanese things were liked, but respecting actual "Orientals" and their nations, maybe not so much.
On the other point, again, I have to emphasize I don't "own" anything. When I see elements of Asian culture that could be used in ignorance, it concerns me. It concerned the protesters even more. I have already stated that most Asians in America have a shared experience, of living in this country and often being seen as outsiders, even after several generations in this country.
See Takaki's Strangers from a Different Shore if you want to understand more about the shared Asian American experience: http://www.amazon.com/Strangers-Different-Shore-Hi.... It's the seminal work in Asian American Studies. Shared experience leads to shared concerns.
You don't like the protesters' methods, okay. But it got your attention, which was their first goal. If you read their Facebook, they want to have dialogue with the curators and museum goers. And to educate them on why this invitation to try on the kimono without any knowledge is problematic. But it should be the MFA that is educating people on the kimono directly, as they do in their East Asian collection. https://www.facebook.com/events/104178279926312/
It must be exhausting to be one of these people.
By Sally
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 10:16pm
That is all. Seriously...with all that's going on in the wide world, if you're this outraged about some ladies trying on kimonos...it you think passing out flyers at an art museum and then tweeting about it is your own personal Rosa Parks moment...God help us. Really.
See above. They're shedding
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 10:51am
See above. They're shedding light on an issue that bothers a lot of Asian Americans. I think they don't care about your mild disapproval.
So what's YOUR "personal Rosa Parks moment"?
By lbb
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 3:02pm
So, Sally, you've got plenty to say about how other people are wasting their time doing something that matters to them. So tell us: how do you spend YOUR time? What's the issue that matters to you? Tell us so we can trivialize it and tell you what a stupid waste of time it is, how exhausting it must be to spend your time on such a stupid matter, with all that's going on in the wide world, how can you be so outraged about such a stupid trivial matter. God help us, Sally. Really.
I don't think Sally's
By fox_orian
Fri, 07/03/2015 - 10:21am
I don't think Sally's outraged. Just disappointed and pitying. Sally may not be rallying for any political movements, but that doesn't mean she can't identify one that seems trivial / misrepresenting the feelings of many other Japanese people.
There isn't any good reason
By anon
Wed, 07/01/2015 - 11:04pm
There isn't any good reason to use the dress of another culture for entertainment. It isn't respectful. What if these people wore a Native American headdress... what would be the reaction. The protestor is right. Maybe next event everyone can come in black face.
We have Japanese friends (
By Anon
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 6:25am
We have Japanese friends ( who live in Japan). One gave us kimonos as a gift. This guy is not the norm.
Being given a kimono as a
By Dot net
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 10:53am
Being given a kimono as a gift by someone Japanese is different from randomly trying it on at a museum, possibly without any cultural knowledge of the garment in question. See my post above.
Are you Japanese?
By Michael Kerpan
Thu, 07/02/2015 - 11:19am
If not, I respectfully suggest that you have no standing to determine whether or not westerners trying on kimonos is inappropriate.
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