Musical Monday - Japanese Boy by Aneka

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: The week of August 29, 1981.

While Endless Love by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross was dominating the U.S. music charts, the U.K. was busy being just a little bit racist with Japanese Boy by Aneka.

Aneka was actually a Socttish singer named Mary Sandeman who adopted the pseudo-Japanese name and an image bordering on yellowface to promote the single, complete with an affected pseudo-Japanese accent. The backup dancers in the videoed performance shown above are also particularly cringeworthy. This recording and this video are just embarrassing now - and the weird thing is that the song itself isn't particularly offensive, it is just the way it is presented that is so very awful.

It should probably come as no surprise that Sandeman abandoned the Aneka persona relatively quickly after this song hit it big and went back to singing Scottish folk music. When asked to revive it years later for a "One Hit Wonders" event, she refused, which seems to me like a wise decision.

Previous Musical Monday: Endless Love by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross

Subsequent Musical Monday: Tainted Love by Soft Cell

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: Green Door by Shakin' Stevens

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Tainted Love by Soft Cell

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

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