I'm Canadian and live in Japan. I wear Japanese clothes very frequently, especially in the summer (jinbei, yukata, geta). I like them. They are comfortable. I live in the country side and nobody bats an eyelid. The one time I wore a jinbei to a baseball game in Tokyo, I got many compliments from people on the street.
Like I said. I don't get it. They are clothes. Wouldn't it be racist to say I can't wear them because I'm not Japanese? Similarly, I can't actually think of any class/race implications for women wearing a kimono. It's not different from a suit or dress (other than it is really complicated to get on ;-) ). This just seems bizarre to me. I wonder if the people involved just don't understand what a kimono is?
It's telling that just about every article I've read about this that bothered to ask anyone in Japan about it mentions that Japanese people aren't offended at all by Westerners wearing a kimono. It's only Americans being offended on their behalf, which does seem a bit infantile. Especially when Japan wants the wider world to be interested in their culture and to buy into it.
Two words: "white guilt"
This comic rings true in more ways than one: https://moonmetropolis.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/sjw-comic...
When I went to Japan my language exchange partner often commented on foreigners wearing kimono. They commented how they enjoyed that other people liked the things Japan is known for. That for many tourists wearing a kimono in Japan is one of their greatest joys! And that joy others had made her happy, not upset.
In urban Japan for the current generation they are very much reaching the level of costume - reserved for special occasions, festivals, etc.
This thread really piqued my interest because when I first started wearing Japanese clothes I was a bit self conscious. But Japanese people always told me it was fine. Now, if I walk down to the izakaya in my jinbei and geta, I'm just like all the other old guys in the neighbourhood ;-)
I experienced quite a lot of racism from expats in Japan who thought it was unacceptable for me to have Japanese friends, watch Japanese TV shows and read Japanese books. They kept saying, "You will never be one of them. They will never accept you." Eventually I had to distance myself from that community.
The other day, one of the neighbourhood children was playing with their friend. The friend walked up to me and tried out their English. The neighbourhood girl said, "Oh don't bother. He's Japanese."
Home is not always where you were born.
Yeah, they disrupted a totally harmless event put on by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK).
It says something that this article against anti-racism protestors, which has nothing serious to do with "hacking" is #2 now on HN. (Or hey, let's have more articles about pop singers wearing kimonos, to pore over and learn hacking techniques.)
At least these protestors actually used tech to "disrupt" something, unlike the startups which use the term as doublethink.