Jero is a Black ship
Jerome Charles White Jr. had something to prove when he came to Japan in 2003 and when, just after arriving, he entered a popular television singing competition. "Jero" sings enka, a Japanese soul with traditional hints and American country style lyrics about sad people doing sad things. Jero has proven that he has singing talent beyond the marketing instinct for dissonance that would be a young, black, enka singer and that prefers hip-hop clothes to the traditional male enka singer's lounge tuxedo. Released in 2008, Umiyuki, a collection of standards, is now at the top of the enka charts and Jero's face is billboarded on the top of buildings all over Japan. Jero has surpassed initial hype and engaged an authentic audience.
Jero's career has also proven that for many in Japan, the Japanese identity is pure, and, like the traditional notion of white, no amount of Japanese heritage short of everybody-in-your-family-tree makes you Japanese. As Japan marvels over Jero's enka skills, articles mention it as a casual fact explaining his odd choice of the genre, and not an essential aspect of his ability to have mastered it "like" a native, that Jero's Japanese grandmother taught him enka when he was a young boy. Its true that a talent like Jero could probably fake a Russian or Tagalog tune, but in Japan's mainstream press, the Afro-Japanese crooner is an Afro-American who has astoundingly mastered a Japanese skill.
Tellingly, Jero has lately been called a blackship, evoking Admiral Perry's cannon flashing, "gift bearing," steamboats, and used figuratively for foreigners who seek to, like Perry and those who sent him, infiltrate and profit from Japan.
