Tokyo Breakfast

It's easy for some to call Tokyo Breakfast racist and sophomoric due to the content of what it's parodying. In reality, though, this short film is a completely brilliant and well-executed multi-level satire of:

1- America's emulation of black culture. 2- Japan's blind emulation of American culture. 3- America's stereotyped perception of Asian people.

The execution is nothing short of genius. It's just a shame that most people don't get it. They choose to lump Tokyo Breakfast in with the very dime-a-dozen comedies that it is parodying. That's a mistake.

Watch this short film if you can find it. And just try to remember to think of it as a social critique before you go off, get offended, and start typing out your disgust in the form of an IMDb review. The pair that wrote and directed this thing aren't high school idiots. They've worked with the Onion. They know comedy/satire and they know what they're doing. So let's just trust them, OK?

The first time I watched Tokyo Breakfast, I was on the ground laughing. There's something so lovable about a family of Japanese people using the N word at each other. After that, I showed it to everyone I knew, and they all loved it. To fully get the joy out of this, you need to be able to overlook the expletives and the how wrong it really is. The ending, of course, is the punchline. No point in spoiling it, 'cause there's not much substance there to spoil. Aside from being so politically incorrect, it's awesome. Google for it if you want to see it. It's well worth your six minutes.

And yes, the Japanese on the bottom is correct. :]

This short was awful. I don't think there's anything offensive about it, the whole premise was stupid. First of all, hip hop is very popular in Japan and there are plenty of good Japanese rappers. There's nothing unusual about Japanese dressing in hip hop fashion or trying to emulate African Americans. Go online and listen to MP3s of Kick The Can Crew and Rip Slyme. The directors of this film are two unfunny white guys who thought it would be hilarious to have a Japanese family say Whas up ni**er every 5 seconds. The acting was horrible. People who like the FOX show Banzai probably thought this was funny. It might have been good if they set it in a country where hip hop is unknown, like Saudi Arabia.

PS: Congratulations on The Onion Movie going straight to DVD. Kuntz and Maguire will never work in Hollywood again. They're probably down at the bus station begging for change right now. Karma, ain't it grand!

A very good commentary on whole-scale importing American culture, and doing it the wrong way. It's also a parody on (my understanding of) Japanese pop culture, as well as the result of overusing and devaluing obscenities. It's rather intelligent, despite its first appearance, kind of like an episode of South Park.

I would recommend obtaining and watching it, especially if you're a cynical and bitter person who hates popular culture and today's youth. I think it's a frighteningly possible look at how the near future might be in Japan, or really any other country, for that matter.

Six minutes of art.

Actually, having just downloaded this from another web site, I found it to be hilarious. The format was definitely intended for an American audience, rather than a Japanese one. In addition, the studio audience was also laughing on-cue to the jokes, which were in English (rather than the Japanese lines, which although they were aimed at comedy, fell short of anything truly comedic). The show lost points from me for the reason of being openly racist against both black people (which was the entire point of the comedy) and Asian people (which was unintentional and shows a lack of involvement of anyone really Japanese... stereotypes aside, this was not what I would call good form). Being an American, I appreciated the humor side of it far more than a friend of mine, who is from near Tokyo (Chiba City? Is that right?) and who explained some of the finer points of error to me. As pilots go, this wasn't entirely bad, and actually showed some promise. However, I'm not sure that the content was appropriate to a pilot on the basis of broad appeal and I have to wonder if there was something ulterior where motivations are concerned. Was this going to be a standard situation comedy? Was it going to be a series of skits, a la MadTV? Was it going to be a show about some Japanese people who were simply far too influenced by Western culture to fit into either Japanese or American societies? The point, it seems, was lost in the translation, and so I can see why this was never picked up beyond the pilot.