I think this can be a complicated and nuanced discussion that unfortunately can be difficult to have on the internet (even HN!) without devolving into flame war

I think this can be a complicated and nuanced discussion that unfortunately can be difficult to have on the internet (even HN!) without devolving into flame war My answer is that it largely depends on the context and power dynamics, so it’s hard to say whether a caricature of a Japanese man is racist when made by a Japanese-American business owner In 1930s America I would lean towards racist, i.e. denigrating towards Japanese ethnicity for the sake of appealing to / surviving in an oppressive culture. That’s not a statement of indictment on the business owner but the environment that the business exists in. That said, Hawai’i is quite different culturally and demographically from the rest of America, so I genuinely don’t know in this case. If this were New York or San Francisco, especially if outside a “Japan town”, i would absolutely say it’s racist.