NBC News, Sept 15, 2015: “The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players have canceled its winter production of ‘The Mikado,’ a Gilbert and Sullivan opera set in feudal Japan. The show, which faced backlash from the Asian-American theater community and bloggers over accusations of ‘yellowface,’ was set to open in December at New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.”

This bullshit reminds me of when William Styron faced (no pun intended) accusations of blackface for his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Confessions of Nat Turner. That was way back in 1968 and the accusers were rightly put down for their narrow-minded xenophobia. Hard to believe we have not progressed, that an entire play can be shut down -- never mind the money lost by backers, performers, stage crews, orchestra, makeup, costumers, set designers, etc. -- because of out-of-control PCism.

So, an actor can only portray a character of his or her own “race” (that horrible, artificial word that invites racism?) -- really? I will not bother to name all the great performances of actors in roles that would violate this PC-inspired rule. Or we could list all the great (or even not-so-great books) where the author’s and protagonist's “races” were not the same. [Cough, cough, mine included.]

Miss Gone-overseas has its critics but none so far has called me out, saying I should not be allowed to write about a Japanese woman -- and in first person, no less. Most disgruntled readers were unfamiliar with the “pillow-book” format, while others seemed to like the book so much they wanted it to be longer. I don’t regret my decision to end the story where it ended. However, I do regret attempting to tell what happened afterward in the short story that leads off the collection in Overseas: stories. (I think it’s a muddled mess.)

Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha (1997) -- does anyone remember folks griping about that and accusing him of wearing yellowface? How about Lisa Dalby’s classic books on geisha, including at one point her masquerading as a geisha herself -- any gripes there? Anyone remember Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, Dick Cheney’s disgraced fall-guy, and the book he wrote set in Japan in 1903 and with nary a Westerner in it? The Apprentice (2002) -- I rather liked it.

I lived in Tokyo during my twelfth year. We had a day maid, Sada-san (as opposed to the live-in housekeeper, Rose), who would come to work in kimono and then change to a skirt and blouse and mama-san apron. One day (a school holiday or I was playing hooky) Sada-san and Rose dressed me in Sada-san’s kimono -- the multiple layers and tightening the obi which they tied in a bow (to denote my age) instead of the boxy matronly form, as Sada-san wore it. What a thrill.

I breathed Japan that year, sucked it up into my DNA by living in a real Japanese house in a totally Japanese neighborhood, walking through a market street everyday to ride the train to school, a school housed in buildings that were once the residence of a Japanese princess. My mother always called me a Nipponphile, and if the subject ever comes up, I’ll claim to be half Japanese and entitled to wear yellowface.