I’m convinced that the police associate my skin colour and hair with criminality. Before that, I was only stopped and searched once and that was when I was in junior high. That’s the third time I’ve been searched in six months, ever since I got dreadlocks. The man said he was a police officer, asked for my identity documents and searched my bag. At a certain point, I felt someone getting closer to me and so, as a reflex, I tried to move away. ![]() The station is really packed and so, because of the pandemic, I was on guard. I was heading home after work and changed trains at Tokyo Station. He told the FRANCE 24 Observers team about this incident: ![]() Omotegawa says police often stop and randomly search him, behaviour he believes is motivated by racial bias. In the spirit of this movement, Alonzo Omotegawa, a Black English teacher of Japanese descent, decided to take out his phone on January 27 when he was stopped for the umpteenth time by police. 'It’s my third police search in six months' Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and the activism of 23-year-old tennis champion Naomi Osaka – who is Black and Japanese – some Black and mixed heritage people in Japan have come together to speak out about the rampant racism in Japan. Many people express shock and outrage over the racist imagery and, facing a storm of criticism, the company pulled that advertising campaign. “I want straight, silky hair,” reads this poster advertising hair products, which features a Black woman with a striking afro.
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