Obama in Japan - Mario cameos and magic tricks

In the same way President Obama managed to appear as a major popular culture icon during his presidential campaign (what with the action figures, bobble-heads, and visages on veladoras that emerged in an almost obsessed anticipation of his presidency), this popularized character of Obama continues to make comedic appearances over in Japan in the most bizarre and obscure situations. Hints of this fanaticism began to trail in with an Obama character in Street Fighter Online, but the pinnacle of this marvel is demonstrated for me in the below two videos:

In this first video, as seen on Game Politics.com, a kuroko performance of Super Mario includes a brief showing of President Obama, calmly exclaiming "Yes we can" before quickly passing by in a comedic fashion:

In this second video, a Japanese interpretation of President Obama takes the popular "Change" expression and uses it to transform Obama into a card magician. A total bizarro and ca-razy interpretation at best:

Does anyone know how long this trend has been going on in Japan and why? I suppose this could easily be interpreted as Japanese comedic characterizations similar to what sketch comedies like SNL does, but for whatever reason I feel like this Obama character is more meme-like in Japanese culture. My colleague D. Shack touched on the dissonance between Western and Japanese humor on his blog, but any more insight would be appreciated!

Comments

[miyagawa]

I don't think this Obama thing is a meme. Both shows are from prime time comedy program, to me which means "the show that is displaying something that looks funny but pretty much isn't".

Obama is someone pretty easy to imitate because of "Yes we can" phrase and he stands out as a first black man president. (And you've already noticed that Japanese don't think it's offensive to color your skin to imitate) And nobody hates him, so that's the obvious man you should imitate in the "not-too-offensive-but-not-too-funny" type of comedy shows. And I swear I don't watch these type of shows even if I'm pretty sure I'm a Japanese TV addict :)

[.tiff]

Thanks for the insight :) and I think your definition of prime time Japanese comedy program, "the show that is displaying something that looks funny but pretty much isn't" applies to most American prime time comedy shows too ;)

[nokori3byo]

Obama is a salient presence in the Japanese imagination right now. The headmaster at the school where I work quoted him in his beginning of term speech the other day. And just today one of my co-workers mentioned the "Yes we can" line to me...I don't even remember in what context.

Also, as the previous poster said, blackface doesn't have the same stigma in Japan as in the west, presumably due to the fact that the Japanese are, by and large, unaware of its roots in mintsrelsy. A couple of years ago, famous actor Nakadai Tatsuya (Ran, Tengoku to Jigoku, Dibousatsu Toge, and so much more) appeared in a dramatic production of "Driving Miss Daisy" in blackface. Can you imagine what would happen if Harvey Keitel pulled that?

[.tiff]

Very interesting, do you think that he's evolving more as a cartoon hero than a politician? These portrayals often reference to his all-time-favorite catch phrase "Yes we can" and "Change". You mention that he's definitely seen in a positive light, but is it with sincere with his political integrity or just having fun? Just curious :)

And yes, there have been some interesting conversations regarding Japanese culture and race portrayal with the advent of Resident Evil V (don't know if you've seen all the hubub around that). I'm genuinely curious about these sorts of things, so thank you for your comment!

[nokori3byo]

Hmmm. I think that admiration for Obama in Japan is genuine, but it's not something that's really refelected in the routine we see here. I guess the fact that he and his slogans have become so iconic has provided one entertainer with an easily recognizable gimmick for his magic routine--even if President Obama's relevance to the routine is limited to the facile continuity between "change" meaning "social reform" and the literal "change" we see in conjuring.

As a long-term resident of Japan, I've grown inured to routines like this, even to the extent that I find it hard to imagine what people seeing this kind of thing for the first time would make of it. Would they infer that the audience's laughter came from feelings of disrespect for the august personage being portrayed? Personally, I don't find it irreverant, just (I can think of no better word for it) a bit putzy. But it's mainstream entertainment, right? I guess I'd say it just operates on that level of sophistication.

I haven't played RE5. The sense I get is that the designers settled on what they believed to be a compelling visual statement without really considering the potenitally explosive associations that went along with it. Political innocence maybe?

[japanese words]

I love these. I think ping pong is still my favorite though.