Changes in Representations of Blackness in Japan

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During the first two months of the project from April to May, I searched for and identified internet sites of online communities that focus on the experiences of blacks and dual heritage, or mixed roots, black Japanese. This included identifying and collecting background information about specific YouTube channels such as The Black Experience in Japan and organizational websites such as Japan African American Friendship Association (JAFA), and Black Women in Japan, Africans in Japan, Black Creatives Japan, Jaspora, and Legacy Foundation Japan, as well as Japanese websites such as Japan 4 Black Lives that have emerged or gained traction in following the police murder of George Floyd in America and in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.Subsequent months were devoted to the collection and analysis of articles Japanese-language and English-language internet sites in which racial representation in Japanese popular culture was discussed.I presented research based on this project at an international hybrid workshop in which I participated via Zoom entitled “Researching Whiteness in a Transnational Pandemic Workshop” sponsored by the University of Amsterdam (December 2, 2022). I have completed drafts of two English-language papers, including a revised version of my University of Amsterdam workshop paper, based on the analysis of data obtained by the project and submitted them for publication as chapters in two forthcoming edited English-language volumes from academic publishers.