Still Here. Still Writing. Still Watching.
- Baye McNeil
- Jun 21
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 23
Eleven Years of Black Eye at The Japan Times
It’s hard to believe, but this month marks eleven years since my first Black Eye column appeared in the pages of The Japan Times. Eleven years of writing unapologetically, with clarity and intention, about life in Japan from this very particular vantage point—Black, foreign, unfiltered.
Over that time, I've learned that telling the truth—especially when it's inconvenient—has a price. But what I’ve gained in return is far greater: connection, conversation, growth. Not all of it has been comfortable. Some of it has been downright painful. But I didn’t come to Japan to make people comfortable—I came to bear witness. And Black Eye has been my witness stand.
There have been moments that caught the world’s attention. In 2015, when Fuji TV planned to broadcast a segment featuring singers performing in blackface, Black Eye spoke out, and the station didn’t air it. In 2018, when comedian Hamada stepped out in blackface on national TV, Black Eye called it for what it was. The world listened. In 2019, when Nissin whitewashed Naomi Osaka in a commercial, Black Eye helped get it pulled from rotation and even a fauxpology from the CEO. And in 2020, when Osaka took the court in BLM masks and refused to be silent, Black Eye got her back, sharing ideas about the weight and power of representation when it shows up with receipts. That was Black Eye and I.
But the work isn't just in the headlines. It’s in the steady cadence of columns that question what’s seen as normal. It’s in the emails I get from folks—Japanese and non-Japanese alike—who say something finally clicked. It's in the discomfort that leads to dialogue, and the dialogue that leads to change.
Black Eye has never been a column about Japan. It’s always been a column about people. About perception. About who gets to belong, and who’s expected to translate themselves just to be heard.
So, to the readers who’ve walked this road with me, I want to say thank you. Whether you agreed, disagreed, reposted, or wrestled with a paragraph for days, you made the conversation real.
To those just arriving—welcome. There are eleven years of columns waiting for you, and I'm not done yet.
I’m still here. Still writing. Still watching.
Still keeping on the right side.
Regards,
Baye
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