All Eyez On Loco
Influential blogger Baye McNeil (a.k.a. Loco) of Loco In Yokohama notoriety recently released his powerful, controversial and much anticipated debut book Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist. The self-published book was auspiciously released on January 15 2012, the birthday of civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr.
The theme of the book – racism – as suggested by the book’s title, was triggered by a compilation of Loco’s own racial observations and encounters in Japan since his expatriation to the island nation around 8 years ago. He also draws inspiration from a lifetime of experiences starting from his childhood on the streets of Brooklyn, New York.
The 392-page book was spawned by a thought-provoking and critically-acclaimed series of posts that appeared on Loco’s blog – Loco In Yokohama – last year. The series was provocatively entitled “Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist”, the book’s namesake, where he candidly and openly explored the issue of racism sharing with his readers a dearth of unpleasant interactions with everyday people of Japan and contemplated whether these interactions were as a result of racism, xenophobia or another fear-based feeling that his presence inspired. His postulations ignited a raging debate on his blog which prodded Loco to continue the quest in search of an answer.
The immense popularity of the blog series gave birth to the book, which is available as an e-book on Kindle with a digital list price of US$9.99. The paperback version is still being perfected and due for imminent release. Tune in on the buzz about this dream-fulfilling endeavour by an iconic j-blogger and all-round good guy by checking out the following positive vibes:
- Hikosaemon’s brutally honest review
- Bad Communication’s Episode 78: A Loco Chinese New Year
- Amanda Taylor: This is What a Racist Sounds Like
- Tonya Moore’s Baye McNeil Interview
- Our Man In Abiko: 10 Q&As WITH @LOCOHAMA
- J808: Birth of a Legend…
- Foreign Salaryman: It’s completely Loco!
- jlandkev’s YouTube channel: Hi! My Name is Loco and I Am a Racist: the book
- Jay Dee in Japan: Can bloggers be authors?
- The official “Hi! My Name is Loco” site
- Loco In Yokohama – where it all began
Tokyo Summerland
Tsukimi Burger
Whale Safe Beer
Mammorable Ceremonial First Pitch – Japanese Baseball
Japan’s Resolution To Declining Birth Rate
Lee, this is tremendous! Thank you so much. Moved beyond words…
“In today’s music news: the ever-controversial 2Pac Shakur
Has just released another album under the alias “Makaveli”
Music insiders are running wild trying to rearrange other artist’s”
Seeing the title and your intro reminded me of Pac!! I know Loco prefers B.I.G but “Ready to Die” wouldn’t sound right and Pac was born in Brooklyn
Hopefully this book opens some eyes and puts a “Unique” light on Japan
Seeing the title of your book reminded me of flowers.
(no relevance whatsoever but i thought i’d follow Chris’ theme – WTF????) lmao
Loco mentions Rakim, Nas and Biggie in the chapter “AN AUSSIE, A KIWI, AND A COLORED GUY” so thought that the title of this post should have a rap theme hence adapted “All Eyez on Me”, the fourth studio album by 2Pac. It is also fitting for all of the attention that he is getting now over his book. The original working title for this post was “As Nasty As Loco Wants To Be” (based on “As Nasty As They Wanna Be”, the third album by Miami rap group 2 Live Crew).
Thanks Terminator X
fuckin wannabe rapper impersonating wannabe thug gangsta fuh-sho
Flavor Flav is that you again! “Serious”? Is that the best name you could come up with? OK, you bombed on ‘Flavor of Love’, but give it up! It’s over!
Sounds like an interesting read (especially the review from foreignsalaryman.blogspot.com…I never thought that the Japanese would be racists! Particularly since they seem to take in a lot of Western (particularly U.S.) culture. Nice feed Reesan.
I didn’t think Japanese were Racist as well. At least not racist compared to Westerners. Xenophobic, yes. Ignorant of other races, cultures, etc., because they are a “one race” country, yes. Racist? Hmmm. Definitely will have to read this to understand where the author is coming from.
Hi Makoto. Thanks for dropping by. I’d recommend checking out the book. Loco shares a number of unfavourable interactions that he has personally experienced and he searches deep for an answer. I would be interested to hear your opinions on the book if you do get a chance to check it out.
Well, Japanese people aren’t likely to burn a cross on your lawn, if that’s what you mean. But they will treat you differently depending upon what race you are. I live here in Japan, and write about it as well, and my main observation is that the more Japanese you speak and understand, the more you’ll realize you’re being treated differently in subtle ways. As for whether or not that constitutes racism, well, yeah . . . actually it probably does. But it’s still the planet earth and all the normal rules still apply. Guess that’s why they call it Japan, and not Heaven.