Jim wrote:

> Eric, when you look at Konishiki, and someone asks you "what is he? he's
> not Japanese, right?"  what do you answer?

He's a Japanese citizen, and sumo culture has probably made him and other high level
wrestlers more "Japanese" than most native born Japanese alive today, who would
never be able to live they way they did or do, or lack the Japanese grammar or
manners.

> Is he Japanese?

Damn right he is.

> American?

According to Japanese law, probably not any more, though culturally he may have
been. His past before sumo is unclear.

> Hawaiian?

No. But that is the choice of music he plays and food he may eat. He has also
recently opened a restaurant in Roppongi Hills which serves modern Hawaiian style
food.

> Somoan?

Samoan is in his blood, but I don't know how culturally Samoan he is. He and media
make little reference to it at all, if any. But for his birth name and facial
features, most people would have difficulty recognizing him as Samoan blooded.

> Or how about yourself?  Are you American?

Yes. 100%. And that is an interesting question for you to ask, and quite relevant to
the topic at hand. Is it because I am not white? Japanese don't believe it, either.

> Hawaiian?

Not at all. Not a single bit. And you're damned right to bring up the Native
(ethnic) Hawaiian issue, because most people including Americans wouldn't even think
about it. Japanese is often considered to be a race, most strongly by themselves,
but they are a wide mix of bloodlines and cultures. "Hawaiian" is not so varied as
an ethnic group, and certainly not as a culture.

> Japanese?

No, but my ancestors were. On the other hand, I also think and behave more like a
traditional Japanese than probably tens of millions of Japanese citizens, who do not
have to live with limited rights and opportunities I have to live with because of
where I was born. Interesting things happen when the natives find out I am not
"really" Japanese, or am required to produce official ID.

> You were born in Hawaii, right?

Means nothing. "Hawaiian" is people who were born like Musashimaru. There is nothing
Hawaiian about me except for food I very rarely choose to eat because I ate it as a
child.

> Doesn't that mean you can call yourself Hawaiian?

Of course not.

> Would the "native" Hawaiians agree with you?

Native Hawaiians would probably agree I and non Hawaiian blooded people are most
certainly not "Hawaiian".

But you are conveniently still getting away from the issue of Japanese racism and
exclusion (or how people may not consider ethnic or cultural minorities like
hypen-Americans or Muslims as American either). Debito is choosing to act in a non
traditional or confrontational way, but he remains a Japanese citizen, and Japanese
citizen only, yet people would deny him the rights of a Japanese because of how he
looks or where he was born. The more common examples of naturalized Japanese such as
ethnic Asians (who may have lived here since they were born and ONLY culturally
Japanese) or people who have deliberately assimilated themselves such as Rui Ramos,
Musashimaru, Akebono or KONISHIKI, should be respected and not considered "gaijin".