Talk:Kane Kosugi

Kane's name in Japanese
From everything I've seen in Japan featuring Kane or Shane I'm pretty sure his last name is always written in Katakana rather than Kanji. Can someone else check on this? Lostinube 11:46, 14 January 2007 (UTC)
 * That's true. It's because he's American-born despite being of Japanese descent, so even though he has a Japanese name, he's a gaijin, so he gets lower status due to Japanese institutionalised racism, including having his Japanese name spelled as a foreigner's would. 75.60.169.62 19:55, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
 * That wasn't really the point of what I was saying but okay, it's good to have some support for my statement. Also, Kane is not just Japanese-American. His mother, I believe is of Chinese descent. Lostinube 11:24, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, he's credited in Japanese dramas with his entire name in katakana. I'm watching a TV Asahi (Channel 10) detective show right now as I type this where he's a supporting actor and it credits his name in such a manner in the introduction.

As for the "institutionalized racism" statement, it is complete and utter BS. Many Japanese media personalities spell their stage or real names without kanji (i.e. Beat Takeshi, Mino Monta) because homonyms in Japanese are rife, and it helps accent people remember their names properly. There is absolutely nothing demeaning about a media personality in Japan choosing a phonetic rendition of their stage or real name for the public. Whether Mr. Kosugi chose this on his own or his talent management firm did is immaterial.

On a sidenote, foreign-born Japanese (from the United States in particular) have not suffered any sort of negative discrimination in Japan since the mid-70s, when the presence of half-Japanese models and media personalities made such backgrounds glamourous. Try finding anyone under the age of 50 who still uses the somewhat derogatory term Ainoko to describe anyone of mixed Japanese heritage. Jun Kayama (talk) 05:38, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

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