Uh, I'm not too sure about this, maybe race isn't an issue, but why was there a Japanese guy in the gang, that dude from Mortal Kombat, and he spoke Spanish! Not being racist, I'm Asian. Was he really Asian or were they hoping he'd pass for Mexican?
Please help,
Totally confused
Naw they had an asian dude in the mexican mafia in real life. While its mostly a mexican gang they did have other races such as whites and asians.
shareI'm assuming it's a portrayal of how non-mexican members showed their respect to the boss(es). Perhaps the asian grew up with hispanics, and adopted their mannerisms and way of talking, or maybe he just wanted to be accepted by the gang, so he acted like them.
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He didn't really do too much in the movie, but to me he played a helluva good part, he was believeable in that he always had that serious face ..
shareHis role was intentional. An early, high ranking member of the Mexican Mafia was an asian guy. I would say his nickname, but it's insensitive.
shareWe see in the begining when Santana is explain La Eme...he talks to Japo...obvisouly meaning he's from Japan....He says La Eme is your family to...baiscally imply that if you stick with us we have your back and he did...he actually grew very close to them especially Santana as we see in the end that he did not want to come out of his jail cell...hopefully he wasn't going to get marked next.
There can be many reasons why he's in La Eme and this is my theory:
It could be that obvisouly there weren't so many asians in jail and Japo probably didn't have no one to turn to ( not that he was in any danger or threatened)... then that part were Santana tells him that La Eme basically have you back if you have La Emes back... he grew really close to Santana since at the end he doesn't want to come out. Santana isn't oppose to letting someone like Japo into La Eme...J.D who is not a Chicano and he is in La Eme( baiscally because Santana and him grew up together) and so were other Caucasian people.
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There was a real Japanese EME member. His name was "Jap Mike". "Japo" in American Me was based on him.
Note- I'm only quoting these nicknames from other sources. I don't use such language.
Not to mention, one of the most influential members of the Mexican Mafia throughout it's history was Joe Morgan, a white man. ("J.D." in American Me is based on him...) Morgan being White and having the connections he did was likely the reason they got away with so much in the CDC. Morgan was a professional, respected con man before the EME was even started.
To StopSnitchin:
What about Joe "Pegleg" Morgan? I don't have a map handy, but Croatia is its own country, not part of Mexico or anything, right? Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to just rush in and post like I know something when in reality I'm just talking out of my ass.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_%22Pegleg%22_Morgan
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I just saw it on HBO the other night not having seen it in awhile. I didn't much of El Japo during the watching but found several posts about him. One says he is based on a real life counterpart like J.D. That would be Jap Mike Kudo. Now I don't know the vato but if you do please find out if he is indeed of Japanese lineage. I would say based on the casting though he is Filipino.
Traditionally speaking Filipinos to me are nothing but Japanese Mexicans what with both being conquered and lorded over by the Spanish empire. It is also a well known fact that the Filipinos in the early days of the 20th century worked the fields right along side the Mexicans up north and down south.
I know this because my Uncle Philip is part Flip on his father's side. My Grandma being Mexican gave birth to him.
"Life is for the Adventurous"
El Japo is based on "Jap" Mike Kudo who is Japanese... and fyi, Japanese were field laborers in the early 20th century along with Mexicans... it wasn't just Filipinos, it was most Asians on the west coast/Hawaii actually...
shareYou mean like the lame ass farmers from the north?
In real life Mano Negra started in DVI and one of the founding members was Joe Morgan. You had to have killed someone to be in.
You were born a pig farmer.
You'll always BE a pig farmer.
And now, you will DIE a pig farmer.
"El Japo" is short for El Japonese... Meaning Japanese in spanish.
Two possibilities:
1. The character could've been a Mexican that looked Asian, so they nicked named him "El Japo"
There are a lot of Hispanics that look Asian due to their Native indian ancestors. Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, and Equador have a lot of native blood ancestors.
2. He was an Asian who was able to get into the click!
"This half saturated in darkness, that half consuming all that I stand for"
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You shouldn't have to preface your post with "I'm not being racist."
If you have something on your mind, ask it. If someone is too sensitive and thinks it "may be racist," too bad for them.