author

 
 

Meta

Baye McNeil
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Mar 20, 2016
Playwright brings voices of America's enslaved to the Tokyo stage
Follow-up show to an upcoming Huck Finn musical grapples with how to strike a balance between relating the true horror of slavery and telling the whole story.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 21, 2016
In Japan, don't just celebrate black history, be black history
There are a number of annual celebrations of Black History Month here in Japan. I've attended dozens of them over the years. Have even spoken at several, and in fact will be speaking at one later this month. And more often than not, I'll be asked the question, "Why?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Jan 17, 2016
'Being black can be more fun than being gay'
A look at the experience of two black men in the LGBT community in Tokyo, a 'minority of a minority of a minority.'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Dec 20, 2015
Celebrating success with catfish and cupcakes
A look at two power couples of African descent who have focused their skills, talents and wherewithal on introducing tastes of the West to Eastern palates.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Nov 22, 2015
Bring back that Kobe feeling, 'cause it's gone, gone, gone
From the moment I stepped off the shinkansen at Shin-Kobe Station, I could feel a subtle difference between the Yokohama-Tokyo area and this city.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Oct 18, 2015
Dan teaches us how to be 'the man' in Japan
Every time I turn around, it seems, people are always asking me, "Do you know Dan Smith?" Or, they'll assume I already know him — what with his being black, working in the media and living in Japan for, like, forever and all. Sometimes I nod that I do, sometimes I even front like I know him ("Oh yeah,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Sep 20, 2015
'Don't sell your soul for a Japanese man'
Having overcome isolation and a loss of self-confidence in Japan, one American mother now finds herself doling out advice to women seeking Asian men.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Aug 23, 2015
'Are you serious, God? An Asian dude? Really?'
When I approached Tara Kamiya — a 38-year-old housewife, mother of three biracial kids and self-professed workforce dodger — about being interviewed for this story, explaining to her the goal not only of this series (about black women and their Japanese guys) but of Black Eye as a whole, she was...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Jul 19, 2015
Women of color bound to Japan by love and family
Part 1 of a series looking at the black women who have taken vows binding their fates — and sometimes that of their children — to Japan, for better or for worse.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Jun 21, 2015
One year in, issues and inspiration are still driving Black Eye
Last week's killings in Charleston show that ignorance and fear over race are still driving people to violent extremes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
May 17, 2015
Black filmmakers 'find their edge' in Japan
This month's green-tinged Black Eye focuses on black filmmakers in Tokyo — a group of brothers forging their dreams into reality, getting it done here in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / BLACK EYE
Apr 19, 2015
Meeting Miss Universe Japan, the 'half' who has it all
Progress occurs when people of substance assume the mantle of leadership, and it appears Ariana Miyamoto is equal to the task.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Mar 18, 2015
From a minstrel no-show to a black beauty queen, in a week
From preventing a blackface TV broadcast to the nation embracing a black face as the embodiment of Japanese beauty, it's been quite a week.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Feb 18, 2015
Time to shut down this modern-day minstrel show
If Fuji TV airs the modern-day minstrel show it has planned for next month, it will shine a national spotlight on Japan's extreme ignorance about issues of race and discrimination.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 1, 2015
Bringing a 'cesspool to sushiland' life to the stage
"Coming to Japan was the best decision I've ever made," says Stefhen Bryan, loud and enthusiastically, contrasting with the frown he was making a moment earlier at the miso-flavored ramen he'd ordered and just tasted. "Should've gotten the salt-flavored."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Jan 14, 2015
African-American community gets a voice in Tokyo
The African American Youth Travel Program NPO, which organized a recent demonstration in Tokyo in response to the Ferguson case, brings black U.S. youths to Japan to broaden their horizons.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Dec 17, 2014
Japan and others gain from Jamaican brain drain
In the last part of this series on Jamaicans in Japan, Baye McNeil speaks to a teacher, author and poet in Yokohama and an attorney in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Nov 28, 2014
A world away from Ferguson but feeling the flames
I went through an entire day in Yokohama without a single person mentioning that my country was on fire. Of course, they knew, but what could they have said, anyway?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Nov 19, 2014
Jamaican sisters come bearing victuals and vibes
Baye McNeil profiles two Jamaican women who have built thriving careers for themselves in the Land of the Rising Sun, half a planet away from the Land of Wood and Water.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Oct 22, 2014
Another island nation, idolized and imitated: Jamaica and I
Only in my 30s did I learn that I, too, had roots, or at least branches aside from my mother's, which only extended to some cotton plantation south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?