Japanese Stereotypes

Traditionally, Japanese people in cinema were depicted like this:

And why wouldn’t they? 9/11 proved that if you fly a plane into something, people will remember.
Then things gradually moved into this territory:

So now the Japanese, no longer the enemy, were fearful, and delicious tasting.
Then, someone remembered that Japanese people know karate and shit, so they became ninjas. This went on for quite some time.

Most ninjas are fond of turtle soup, or are turtles.
In the past thirty years or so, there’s been a small change. With all the anime, robot toys, and efficient cars coming out of Japan, American audiences thought to themselves: Hey, the Japanese people must be a bunch of nerds.
So there was Takashi in Revenge of the Nerds. Of course, he liked robots. What Japanese man doesn’t?

Also: Saki.
The Japanese weren’t just nerdy, however, but generally unhip. So along came G-Fresh in Orgazmos. A hip-hop sushi restaurateur.

Last night, I watched How High on Netflix, which was a mistake. The movie included a Japanese Harvard freshman called Tuan who was basically the love-child of Takashi and G-Fresh. The resemblance was uncanny: a nerdy virgin who was way into the hip-hop lifestyle.

In a movie filled with racial stereotypes (the blackest dudes they could find juxtaposed next to the whitest), they added a nerdy Japanese dude, as if it were automatically required by law if they were making a college movie. I find it bizarre how easily recognizable he was as a blanket stereotype, especially since it’s not that common. Also: the movie sucked in general. I was worried I was the only one to make the connection to two other movies.