Deport Thane Camus

by **newsboy** on 2005-02-20 Sun 05:22:37

Why every sunday must we be deluged with him and his Gaijin circus? Seriously deport this man and all of the clowns that make up that segment.

by **mayhem** on 2005-02-20 Sun 05:48:16

xenophobia sells, so camus is here to stay

:sad:

just watching a documentary on BS1 about population issues for this century.......how Japan is going to really have to import labor, and significantly at that, for the economy to survive

something interesting is going to be happening in this country in the coming decades

what is that chinese proverb about living in interesting times.........?

by **eejit** on 2005-02-20 Sun 06:06:06

Who the hell is Thane Camus?

by **Krycek** on 2005-02-20 Sun 06:45:33

Where's he going to go?
Did somebody on BD harass him one day and he wrote a letter in broken English?

by **Dman** on 2005-02-20 Sun 06:55:08

I like Thane. He can be pretty funny.

If the number of foreigners on TV is the indicator of xenophobia in Japan, then Hollywood and the audience they serve are xenophobes.

by **mayhem** on 2005-02-20 Sun 07:03:40

dman wrote:If the number of foreigners on TV is the indicator of xenophobia in Japan...

quintessential bad premise

no, it's not the number of foreigners (god, i cannot believe i even have to explain this :roll:

), but the way they are presented in this al jolson-like manner which leads to only one conclusion :arrow:

foreigner=clown

by **newsboy** on 2005-02-20 Sun 07:42:40

spot on with the al jolson reference. Imagine if a country let's say in the west has fluent speaking immigrant who brings on other immigrants and then does even one minute of the sh*& camus does on TBS then people would be rightly up in arms. Seriously where the F&^% does he get these people who think its so cute to do the stupid gaijin routie for laughs. There used to be this show on wed or thu nights which was filled with nothing but fluent gaikokujin who would bitch and moan and argue about everything in japanese that show was another example of let the gaijin loose. sorry for the rant but damn this whole thane and bobby routine has to go.

by **Dman** on 2005-02-20 Sun 10:04:08

xenophobia sells, so camus is here to stay

Back up your reasoning that xenophobia, and not just being unique, drives the reason why foreigners show up on TV screens across Japan.

...but the way they are presented in this al jolson-like manner which leads to only one conclusion foreigner=clown

The way they're presented? I don't see any cattle prod making Bobby or Bob Sapp act like asses. They're milking their 15 minutes of fame the way they see fit.

And I've been watching Camus for 3 years and I've never seen him Al Jolson for the locals. He's a rare person among rare people. He speaks Japanese without fault, no accent (as my wife tell me), has a good sense of humour, good looking, and a good host. He's no different than most Japanese talento.

You just sound bitter mayhem.

by **newsboy** on 2005-02-20 Sun 10:23:50

Like I said before imagine the thane and bobby skit being played out in the west....look dear it's those cute immigrants who can speak our language making idiots out of them selves

by **mayhem** on 2005-02-20 Sun 16:50:47

my bitterness notwithstanding, i think it's more a matter of a freeking huge carrot (i.e. lots of yen being dangled in front of people with low integrity) than any stick (or cattle prod, if you will)

the xenophobia comment came from not only the way foreigners are presented, but in particular, the way black foreigners (particularly those from africa as i believe bobby is) are shown on tv (i.e. they're dolts, athletes, entertainers/singers, but not real/3D/fleshed-out personalities)

you hit on a good point, dman, in relating foreign tarento with the more native variety: japanese are riduculed as well, but there are japanese who are respected/taken seriously. ironically enough, i think camus gets as close as any foreign tarento has to achieving a status of respect, but i think the problem with that dude, as the OP alluded to, is that he's willing to participate in a weekly skit/act that is set up to mock foreigners (the main vehicle being broken Japanese........)

by **Johira** on 2005-02-20 Sun 17:11:30

mayhem wrote:ironically enough, i think camus gets as close as any foreign tarento has to achieving a status of respect, but i think the problem with that dude, as the OP alluded to, is that he's willing to participate in a weekly skit/act that is set up to mock foreigners (the main vehicle being broken Japanese........)

In other words, the problem here isn't xenophobic Japanese, the problem is foreign talent with more interest in money then pride.

by **mayhem** on 2005-02-20 Sun 17:19:43

why choose when you can have both

you've got xenophobic japanese people in control of what gets on tv, dangling large sums of money in front of foreigners and telling them to act and talk a certain way that fits stereotypes (has anyone else noticed that bobby's voice has gotten lower and 'stupider' over the years?), or they don't get paid

the worst thing about it is that i think a sort of stockholm syndrome begins to sink in to these tarentos after a while

by **yamato** on 2005-02-20 Sun 17:39:15

this site always goes against thane and sanma show. I think it's weird as Bobby was turned into a hero. I don't think anyone can seriously suggest the show is using or exploiting him after his K-1 episode.

If you don't know what I'm talking about then you shouldn't really be posting your opinion about it.

by **mayhem** on 2005-02-20 Sun 17:42:51

i don't know what you're talking about, but my opinion is that bobby makes an a.ss of himself weekly on the show

by **van-island** on 2005-02-20 Sun 19:13:55

It's so bloody obvious how Bobby dumbs down his Japanese... I can't believe how anyone could believe the guy is a moron. He's hit onto a big money maker for himself and his other buddy, the only catch being that he has to act like that. Money makes the world go round though.

As for Thane though... I feel sorry for him. I read an interview he gave the other day where he said that inside he was basically Japanese. It must be hard for him to live here in Japan as an egg. Anyways, I can't blame him for exploiting his situation... the Japanese would be racist enough if his show was on or not.

by **honesty** on 2005-02-20 Sun 19:27:59

Two points:

1. Thane Camus is Albert Camus's grandson, correct? Odd perhaps that he should living in bad faith and complaining of his feeling estranged.

2. If I were an ordinary black guy trying to make a go of life in Japan, I can't think I'd much thank Bobby and Bob Sapp for the genial savage schtick that only reinforces negative stereotypes.

by **lifer** on 2005-02-20 Sun 19:39:08

I cant really fault these guys for making a living. Its not like they are killing anyone, just playing to the crowd.

You have to ask yourself; "Why are these guys popular in the first place?" Not due to their talent or skill, they are popular because the general public of Japan wants them to be. It shows more about the Japanese than about the gaijin talento IMHO.

It is comforting for many Japanese to see the Gaijin Monkey Show on TV, because it reinforces their core belief in a binary world. An us vs. them situation, where the 'other' (gaijin) is different from 'us' (Japanese) to the extent that the 'other' loses its humanity. TV that shows gaijin as regular people (paying taxes, raising families) won't be as popular. Nah, the quick gag and cheap laugh are what the public wants. Too much thought is not wanted.

by **yamato** on 2005-02-20 Sun 20:33:45

van-island wrote: He's hit onto a big money maker for himself and his other buddy, the only catch being that he has to act like that.

sounds like being an ALT :lol:

by **RuffnReadyOzStyle** on 2005-02-20 Sun 21:54:48

Honesty, nice call on Thane living in Bad Faith. I wonder how much of his grandfather and Sartre he's read?

Yes, Thane and Bobby do reinforce negative gaijin stereotypes with their dog and pony show, but really what is the alternative? Would anyone listen if they went on a serious crusade to wake the Japanese up to their racism? No, of course not. No-one listens to Debito, why would they listen to Thane?

So they take the money and live the life - who can blame them for that? Hell, I'd be gaijin-rent-a-monkey for a year or two if they paid me the dosh and gave me access to the high life in Tokyo. Why the f#ck not? I'd even go on cooking shows and say "oishiiiiiii" a lot while making an "I'm coming!" face, or wander around screaming jibberish and throwing cream pies at random tarento... hey, that's not a bad idea. Maybe I should pitch it?

by **Muff Richardson** on 2005-02-20 Sun 23:33:08

Dman wrote:
[Thane Camus] speaks Japanese without fault, no accent (as my wife tell me)...

Authentic conversation from a jackass Jap "chat show" some years ago where TC was the guest, gamely fending off predictably imbecilic questions from the audience:

Leather-faced old Jap obattarion bag in audience who sounded like she'd been gargling gin all day: "Thane-san, you speak beautiful Japanese! How did you learn to speak Japanese so well?"
Camus: "Well, it's my first language. I've spoken almost exclusively in Japanese since I was three years old. I've lived almost all of my speaking life in Japan."
Leather-faced old hag: "But, you speak Japanese so well. Just like a Japanese person!"
Camus: "Yes, but as I say, it's more or less my mother tongue..."
Leather-faced old banger: "Demo, honto ni Nihongo ga o-jouzu desu neeeee..!"
Camus (eyes glazing over, brow now in "furrowed" mode, but impressively steady under fire): "Tonde mo nai desu kedo..."
... return to beginning and repeat until the comercials come on so someone can slap leather-faced old bag over the head with a hammer and the show can move on to whether or not Thane Camus can use chopsticks, eat natto, smells like rancid butter, has a hairy arsehole, likes Jap birds etc. etc. ...

You've gotta admire the cat. If I regularly had to go through shit like that on national TV I'd be hitting the f*cking crack pipe every night. My current Jap squeeze (or one of them, trivia fans ;—)) agrees that TC's got no accent, but she reckons she could tag him as a non-native speaker because of his sometimes peculiar intonation.

I reckon old Thane's okay. Thank god he lost the ponytail. Put it like this — I'd buy him a pint if he walked in to a pub I was boozing in and he was broke, which is more than I can say for most of the gaijin rent-a-clowns on Jap telly. TC's got a ot mellower (and softer round the midriff) since his scond wife had a kid a while back. Funny how they never mention the first wife he dumped and left behind penniless before he became a celebrity when he's banging on about how great it is changing nappies and happy-familying.

Still, if his first missus was anything like my ex-wife, he's well shot of the cow. Good luck to the c*nt.

It makes you think.

Muff @-)

by **Kanmuri** on 2005-02-21 Mon 06:00:19

It is quite subjective, however IMHO Thane Camus is not a native Japanese speaker. He is fluent in Japanese and his pronunciation is very, very good. But he does not speak Japanese like a native Japanese speaker would.

by **okazakiOm** on 2005-02-21 Mon 07:43:33

Kanmuri wrote:It is quite subjective, however IMHO Thane Camus is not a native Japanese speaker. He is fluent in Japanese and his pronunciation is very, very good. But he does not speak Japanese like a native Japanese speaker would.

Does the above sentence mean anything?

by **newsboy** on 2005-02-21 Mon 08:20:12

I would probably buy the man a pint as well, outside of the Bobby thing he is less toxic than spector and his bleached do....but still I would ask him WTF w meaning both what and why on the tap dancing gaijin hour. As far as making bobby a hero with the K-1 Stunt, it was merely that a stunt, had he gone for real he would have been hit so hard he would have started speaking japanese like a 40 year old salaryman from saitama.....

by **tokyofoxes** on 2005-02-21 Mon 08:21:29

who's that prick with the pink hair? can we not just have him shot?

by **may** on 2005-02-21 Mon 08:21:57

i don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but he also has a stint on NHK about babies (i haven't actually seen the show lately, but he and a japanese woman (wife??) host this show for moms and dads of small children...is this show still on??)

by **newsboy** on 2005-02-21 Mon 08:25:37

better him doing a show about kids then that guitar playing paedophile looking ass trying to make Japanese kids sing along to his songs......what ever happened to the white guy with an Afro in the car ad??? did 15:01 hit......

by **Dman** on 2005-02-21 Mon 09:07:48

According to the wife, Camus' Japanese is perfect in every way. In fact, she says his pronunciation of sa/shi/su/se/so sounds is better than hers since she started studying English and screwed her pronunciation. As well, she says that he even acts like other Japanese tarento. He's goofy, slap-stick, humble, respectful.

Camus is on the tube because he's talented, has the looks, and skills. Xenophobia plays no part. If it were the case, they (the xenophobes) would have tired of him long ago.

who's that prick with the pink hair? can we not just have him shot?

That's George Williams. He's a double: British and Japanese extraction. He has one of the few good radio shows in Japan--KDDI Prime Time Radio on Sundays at 12:30pm.

I do not believe for a second that any of these foreign tarento are asked to play the dumb gaijin. When they act like asses, they do it on their own accord to stay in the business.

by **yamato** on 2005-02-21 Mon 09:39:16

Oh My God! I've never read so much SHITE.

you people are bizzare. Here's some history for you bandwagon jumpers.

1. the show spot started off as funniest "English" as was popular. It used to make fun of Japanese people's bad English by asking them to tell a story once in Japanese and then in English.

Anyone think that was racist or demeaning?

2. it then went (for one week) to funniest Japanese. The section was seemingly popular and so was continued. A LOT of the foreigners they showed spoke excellent Japanese and the audience "ohhed" and "ahhed" about how great they were.

3. later 3 people were selected for funniest Japanese language school. Bobby, Adony and an American guy who left the show after about 1 year.

Anyone who claims this is racists and panders to please Japanese audience are really creating a self defeating argument. If you claim the show panders to a racist Japanese audience desperaet to see the gaijin present in a certain way the YOU YOURSELF are making the exact same claims about the Japanese. Ridiculous!

It's easy to jump all over an unfunny show like this and say "oh it's rascist" and dismiss it out of hand but I've been watching this show for 4 years and seriously it's the opposite. The only black guys who appear on TV are the "natives" on the travel show. Bobby is J-TVs first really really big black star. He's a household name.

I've been watching this show for 4 years and I wonder how many of you complainers can say the same. Some of you will find anything to label "racist" seriously! The guy isn't being forced to do anything and whatsmore Adoby plays an exact opposite role to Bobby so the station can't be accused of sterotyping.

Those of you who say it's racist haven't got a clue. The segment on the show was called "funniest foreigner school." And therefoer it's neccesary for bobbys character to mess up his Japanese. ITS HIS ROLE! Read his web page or any one of the number of interviews he's done and you'll see he speaks excellent Japanese. Do you think Charlin Chaplin was being exploited too? "oh they keep making that guy bump into stuff it's so cruel!!"

Last year saw the single release or a song by that section of the show and bobby winning a new year K1 fight. Anyone who claims he is being exploited hasn't got a clue. That section is clearly the most popular on the show and Bobby is a national hero.

who gives a shite if he's camus grandson. Camus used to play in goal which means he's a big girl and he thought arabs should be shot...perhaps. :wink:

Deport Thane Camus

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