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Australian Influencer Blasted For Tone Deaf Posts During Japan Trip: “The Casual Racism Is Sending Me”
An Australian influencer faced accusations of cultural appropriation after sharing content from her trip to Japan.
Sophia Begg, who boasts 1.4 million followers on TikTok, made a travel faux pas when she posted a series of photos from her first day in Tokyo with audio from a song performed in Mandarin by Chinese rapper SKAI ISYOURGOD.
Highlights
- Aussie influencer Sophia Begg was heavily criticized for cultural appropriation after posting photos from her trip to Japan.
- Critics argued that her use of Asian cultural elements reflected ignorance and white privilege.
- Others defended the young woman, arguing there was no harm in posting touristy photos.
The photos, accompanied by the track Blueprint Supreme, show the 21-year-old and her friends eating ramen and matcha ice cream and posing next to a vending machine.
RELATED:
Sophia Begg faced backlash after sharing photos from Japan featuring a Mandarin-language song
Image credits: sophadophaa_
The social media star got the language right when it came to her outfit, wearing pink shorts and an oversized T-shirt printed with the Japanese word suki (好き), which translates to “like” or “love.”
Still, she was accused of racism for overlaying her photos with a Mandarin-language song and wearing Japanese text as a fashion statement.
“As an Asian woman, [I find] her using Japanese words as an aesthetic racist,” one commenter complained. “She also seems to be unaware that the song she’s using isn’t Japanese, it’s Mandarin. Using Asian culture as an aesthetic is racism, period.”
Critics accused Sophia of cultural appropriation for using elements of Asian culture as a “trend”
Image credits: sophadophaa_
Another user echoed this feeling, writing, “Looks good, but it’s giving racism.”
A third shared: “This honestly reflects white privilege on another level… being able to pick and choose parts of someone else’s culture for aesthetic without needing to understand or respect it. Meanwhile, we as Asians grow up being shamed or mocked for these same things.”
Image credits: sophadophaa_
The user criticized Sophia for treating Japanese culture as a “vibe” or “trend.”
Others came to the influencer’s defense, saying there was nothing wrong with the touristy photos she shared. “She’s posting photos from her trip. I don’t know what else she’s supposed to do on holiday? How is that appropriation?”
Cultural appropriation involves using elements of a minority culture in ways that are seen as disrespectful or exploitative
Image credits: sophadophaa_
Sophia and her friends traveled from Australia to Japan on Thursday (July 17). Since then, she has posted several photos and videos on TikTok and Instagram, but has not addressed the criticism.
Cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture by members of another, typically more dominant culture, in a way that is considered disrespectful, exploitative, or stereotypical.
The term implies a difference between appreciating a culture—which might include enjoying a country’s cuisine or learning a new language—and appropriating it, which involves taking something “without authority or right,”according to the Merriam-Webster definition.
The issue often involves Western or white populations adopting aspects of non-Western or non-white cultures
Image credits: sophadophaa_
For instance, some have criticized the use of Native American warbonnets worn as headdresses as a trend at music festivals like Coachella.
Because cultural appropriation is often seen as an issue of the post colonial world, it is commonly used to describe instances in which Western or white populations adopt aspects of non-Western or non-white cultures.
Image credits: sophadophaa_
This includes when a member of a majority group profits financially or socially from the culture of a minority group.
In 2013, Katy Perry was criticized for perpetuating harmful stereotypes of Asian women after performing at the American Music Awards dressed as a geisha. The Firework singer appeared on stage dressed in a kimono, with her face heavily powdered.
Some netizens defended Sophia, stating that she was simply sharing typical tourist content from her trip
Image credits: sophadophaa_
As per Britannica, a member of a majority group adopting an element of a minority culture without consequences, while members of the minority group have historically faced backlash for the same practice is also cultural appropriation.
An example of this is white people wearing their hair in dreadlocks.
Image credits: sophadophaa_
Image credits: sophadophaa_
Stars like Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and Kim Kardashian have been accused of cultural appropriation for wearing the hairstyle, which is traditionally connected to the culture and identities of Black people.
Image credits: sophadophaa_
Critics said the incidents highlighted how white celebrities are sometimes seen as edgy for wearing cornrows or dreadlocks while Black people are degraded for wearing their hair in similar styles.
The 21-year-old’s content from her trip to Japan sparked mixed reactions online
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What do you think ?
R Dennis 4 months ago
Hold up... so wearing clothes with Japanese writing is "cultural appropriation"? Then by that (il)logic, Japanese people shouldn't wear anything with English writing, wear "western" clothing, drive cars, watch television, or do so many other things that are "cultural appropriation". Some people have gone off the sensitivity rails. Using or doing something that came from somewhere else doesn't automatically equal appropriation. Using Chinese music over Japanese imagery is definitely ignorant, but the worst they have done is be vapid.
Sarah 4 months ago (edited)
It’s soooo offensive as an Irish person when most people over the world celebrate it .culturally inappropriate. With their greens and parades and dying rivers green. It’s abhorrent. And then drink Guinness , eat Irish stew?or Irish smoked salmon with irish brown bread. The worst I’ve heard .. apparently Some foreigners are teaching their children Irish dancing, appalling behaviour- I need to find out who to write to for formal complaint . When I’m Over in US(elgin Chicago) celebrating thanksgiving in Nov .. I’ll enquire .
Load More Replies...
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 months ago
My Chinese now-ex and I used to talk about cultural appropriation a lot. His parents are immigrants from China/Taiwan. They LOVED when I used chopsticks, tried traditional foods, and tried to speak Mandarin (terribly.. though I learned to understand it well.) They DGAF if non-Chinese people get a tattoo in Chinese characters or wear shirts with Chinese on it (they WILL laugh at you behind your back if it says "Gweilo" or "I Like Donkey Weiners" when you thought it said "Fierce Thunder Dragon", though.) Most Asians don't care about "cultural appropriation"; tourism pays the bills. But playing a song in CHINESE while you're in JAPAN is sh!tty - not all Asians are the same and doing that implies you think that they are. At least learn a little of the culture before you go on vacation, enough to differentiate the languages at least :/
Roxy222uk 4 months ago
I can’t imagine one Japanese citizen felt their culture was being demeaned by them buying and wearing tee shirts that said love in Japanese script. Besides which, Japanese culture is much more anti-immigrant that people realise, on top of which, Japan has been a powerful country in its own right for a long time. Who exactly do people think colonised Japan?? I’d love to know what their half baked and ignorant theory is.
Load More Replies...
David Andrews 4 months ago
If you choose to be offended over the choice music a person you do not know puts on their holiday photos, you need to get a life. With everything going on in the world right now, there are plenty of actual things to get upset and complain about.
Midoribird Aoi 4 months ago (edited)
Ok...can someone enlighten my autistic self as to why wearing a shirt with Japanese print is racism? I own a T-shirt with some Japanese text; now I am worried about wearing it. I am so confused 😕 ps I agree about the music being tone deaf, though...
R Dennis 4 months ago
It's not. The very premise is ridiculous. There are surely examples of appropriation - from blackface, wearing native headresses (generally insulting/mocking a culture) to taking an aspect of a culture and profiting from it without crediting the source. Buying and wearing a shirt in a different language is NOT appropriation.
Load More Replies...
Leslyann W 4 months ago
im more offended by how grossly full of themselves they are. I mean, ick!
takasaki takagi 3 months ago
I’m Japanese. I want to say only " I can't understand." I felt she enjoy trip in Japan. I don' t know where is any problem.
YAKITORI_DAISUKI In Japan 4 months ago
Dont you think you are over reacting to this nonsense? Do you go around telling teenaged girls to dye their hair back to black? It's kids just being kids. I am sure she didn't have a master plan to be a sneaky racist and spend thousands of dollars on a trip to Japan.
Space Invader 4 months ago
If you complain of her lumping together a chinese song with japanese culture it makes you seem quite hypocritical if you then use phrases like "as an asian" or "using asian culture". Asia contains a large array of very different cultures - and lumping them together and presuming to speak for all of them sounds a lot like... well, "cultural appropriation".
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 months ago
How would you like an Asian person to refer to themselves? "As a person specifically descended from the Han Chinese ethnic subgroup which lived on the island of Taiwan"? That's ludicrous. If that's the case, you aren't allowed to tell people that you're "an American" or "a Brit" (or are of whichever ethnic group you're descended from) since THOSE places also contain a large array of very different cultures. As an aside - ever wonder why I specifically mention I'm from *Southern* California? :p Cali is a huge state and ethnographically speaking, the "culture" of the people is INCREDIBLY different between NorCal and SoCal. But am I still "a Californian" and "an American" as well? Yes. Saying "as an Asian person" doesn't make them NOT an Asian person if they leave it at that without mentioning their specific ethnogroup.
Load More Replies...
Janelle Collard 4 months ago (edited)
Influencer usually equals trash. I thought Gens X, Y + Z were more "culturally aware?"
ί𝔫ＣίŦᵃт𝐔𝐬 4 months ago
No one is mentioning something that stood out to me; in several pictures she seems to be squinting when there's no reason to do so. Who was that influencer/celebrity who just got called out for saying "chinky" consistently? That's what she seems to be doing - giving "chinky eyes" at the camera to imitate Asian eyes. THAT'S not causal racism.
ί𝔫ＣίŦᵃт𝐔𝐬 4 months ago
Omg please understand that was her phrasing not mine!!
Load More Replies... R Dennis 4 months ago
Hold up... so wearing clothes with Japanese writing is "cultural appropriation"? Then by that (il)logic, Japanese people shouldn't wear anything with English writing, wear "western" clothing, drive cars, watch television, or do so many other things that are "cultural appropriation". Some people have gone off the sensitivity rails. Using or doing something that came from somewhere else doesn't automatically equal appropriation. Using Chinese music over Japanese imagery is definitely ignorant, but the worst they have done is be vapid.
Sarah 4 months ago (edited)
It’s soooo offensive as an Irish person when most people over the world celebrate it .culturally inappropriate. With their greens and parades and dying rivers green. It’s abhorrent. And then drink Guinness , eat Irish stew?or Irish smoked salmon with irish brown bread. The worst I’ve heard .. apparently Some foreigners are teaching their children Irish dancing, appalling behaviour- I need to find out who to write to for formal complaint . When I’m Over in US(elgin Chicago) celebrating thanksgiving in Nov .. I’ll enquire .
Load More Replies... LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 months ago
My Chinese now-ex and I used to talk about cultural appropriation a lot. His parents are immigrants from China/Taiwan. They LOVED when I used chopsticks, tried traditional foods, and tried to speak Mandarin (terribly.. though I learned to understand it well.) They DGAF if non-Chinese people get a tattoo in Chinese characters or wear shirts with Chinese on it (they WILL laugh at you behind your back if it says "Gweilo" or "I Like Donkey Weiners" when you thought it said "Fierce Thunder Dragon", though.) Most Asians don't care about "cultural appropriation"; tourism pays the bills. But playing a song in CHINESE while you're in JAPAN is sh!tty - not all Asians are the same and doing that implies you think that they are. At least learn a little of the culture before you go on vacation, enough to differentiate the languages at least :/
Roxy222uk 4 months ago
I can’t imagine one Japanese citizen felt their culture was being demeaned by them buying and wearing tee shirts that said love in Japanese script. Besides which, Japanese culture is much more anti-immigrant that people realise, on top of which, Japan has been a powerful country in its own right for a long time. Who exactly do people think colonised Japan?? I’d love to know what their half baked and ignorant theory is.
Load More Replies... David Andrews 4 months ago
If you choose to be offended over the choice music a person you do not know puts on their holiday photos, you need to get a life. With everything going on in the world right now, there are plenty of actual things to get upset and complain about.
Midoribird Aoi 4 months ago (edited)
Ok...can someone enlighten my autistic self as to why wearing a shirt with Japanese print is racism? I own a T-shirt with some Japanese text; now I am worried about wearing it. I am so confused 😕 ps I agree about the music being tone deaf, though...
R Dennis 4 months ago
It's not. The very premise is ridiculous. There are surely examples of appropriation - from blackface, wearing native headresses (generally insulting/mocking a culture) to taking an aspect of a culture and profiting from it without crediting the source. Buying and wearing a shirt in a different language is NOT appropriation.
Load More Replies... Leslyann W 4 months ago
im more offended by how grossly full of themselves they are. I mean, ick!
takasaki takagi 3 months ago
I’m Japanese. I want to say only " I can't understand." I felt she enjoy trip in Japan. I don' t know where is any problem.
YAKITORI_DAISUKI In Japan 4 months ago
Dont you think you are over reacting to this nonsense? Do you go around telling teenaged girls to dye their hair back to black? It's kids just being kids. I am sure she didn't have a master plan to be a sneaky racist and spend thousands of dollars on a trip to Japan.
Space Invader 4 months ago
If you complain of her lumping together a chinese song with japanese culture it makes you seem quite hypocritical if you then use phrases like "as an asian" or "using asian culture". Asia contains a large array of very different cultures - and lumping them together and presuming to speak for all of them sounds a lot like... well, "cultural appropriation".
LakotaWolf (she/her) 4 months ago
How would you like an Asian person to refer to themselves? "As a person specifically descended from the Han Chinese ethnic subgroup which lived on the island of Taiwan"? That's ludicrous. If that's the case, you aren't allowed to tell people that you're "an American" or "a Brit" (or are of whichever ethnic group you're descended from) since THOSE places also contain a large array of very different cultures. As an aside - ever wonder why I specifically mention I'm from *Southern* California? :p Cali is a huge state and ethnographically speaking, the "culture" of the people is INCREDIBLY different between NorCal and SoCal. But am I still "a Californian" and "an American" as well? Yes. Saying "as an Asian person" doesn't make them NOT an Asian person if they leave it at that without mentioning their specific ethnogroup.
Load More Replies... Janelle Collard 4 months ago (edited)
Influencer usually equals trash. I thought Gens X, Y + Z were more "culturally aware?"
ί𝔫ＣίŦᵃт𝐔𝐬 4 months ago
No one is mentioning something that stood out to me; in several pictures she seems to be squinting when there's no reason to do so. Who was that influencer/celebrity who just got called out for saying "chinky" consistently? That's what she seems to be doing - giving "chinky eyes" at the camera to imitate Asian eyes. THAT'S not causal racism.
ί𝔫ＣίŦᵃт𝐔𝐬 4 months ago
Omg please understand that was her phrasing not mine!!
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