Dear Logan Paul,

We need to talk.

Your visit to Japan was an absolute disgrace. A disgrace. I could write a book about everything I'm upset about, especially as someone who has a vested connection to many of the things you did wrong. However, for this particular letter, I'm going to try and keep it short. As such, I'm not going to even touch the issue with Aokigahara.

There are many, many, many, many, many, excellent articles on this site already who have said much of what I want to say. Maybe, at some point, I'll add my voice to those, but for now, look those over, to see how what you're doing is affecting very real people, just in case you're unaware that you have messed up quite badly.

In this letter, however, I'm more concerned with something else: namely, your treatment of Japan and the Japanese culture.

First of all, I'd invite you to watch this video. I'm sure you're familiar with the content, it's a compilation of some of the things you and your group did while in Japan. However, what you may not have realized, is that these things you've done are incredibly disruptive, disrespectful, and harmful to the overall climate. Just in case the video doesn't exactly show you what you're doing wrong, I'm going to break it down for you, step by step, but first, I'll talk a little bit about my connection with Japan.

As one can likely tell from my author photo, I am not, in fact, Japanese. I am of the complexion that makes sour cream look beautifully tan. However, I do have experience with Japan and the Japanese culture from an organization called Sister Cities. This was created in 1956 by President Eisenhower to help promote international relations. In a nutshell, what it does is connect two cities that have similarities and facilitate cultural exchange.

In the organization I was a part of, we alternated years, visiting each other's cities. On odd-numbered years, we hosted Japanese delegates for about ten days, and on even-numbered years, we had the opportunity to visit Japan for about ten days.

As such, I've hosted students from a small Japanese village a couple of hours outside of Tokyo five total times, and been to Japan with this organization twice. I've been to a few different cities, Tokyo being one of them, and I like to think that I have a good amount of experience with the Japanese culture.

On top of that, I've been studying Japanese for about five years now, and my major is Japanese. (And before you ask, I don't really watch anime or read manga, my friends in my major have just now started to expose me to it. The Sister Cities organization was the start of my interest.) So though I am certainly not the most qualified person to be writing this article, and I do welcome any corrections from people with more experience, I like to think that I am at least semi-equipped to break down exactly how you messed up.

First of all, Logan, as you so astutely point out in the beginning of the video, the Japanese culture is, in fact, greatly concerned with respect. Their language has many levels of honorific in order to properly respect those in a higher station, many customs exist that are respect-based (for example, it is customary to bring small gifts when a person invites you to their home), and the culture, overall, highly values this. There are many ways to show respect in the Japanese culture. Here I will list a few ways to NOT show respect.

-Throwing plush pokeballs at random cars, cyclers, or police officers

-Riding on random people's vehicles

-Taking a Gameboy, throwing it on the ground, and telling the store clerk that it is broken

-Running through the streets of Tokyo screaming with a GoPro

-Walking around with fish and shoving them up against shop windows and leaving them on random cars

-Taking off your pants in the middle of a crowded square

These ones should be obvious, honestly--they'd be considered disrespectful by, you know, most people. However, let's get a little bit more into some other disrespectful things that have been done.

First of all, let's talk about the traditional Japanese garb you're wearing in the beginning of the video. Now, I don't know exactly what the proper name for the garb is and I don't pretend to. However, there are very specific ways to wear traditional clothing like you are, and they have a lot of cultural significance. I can guarantee you are not wearing them in those particular ways.

To give you an idea of how important this can be, I once wore a yukata (summer kimono) to a summer festival in Japan. My host mother had helped me put it on, because it can be very complex, and she'd tied it with the wrong side up. A complete stranger, at this festival, looked very upset and ushered me and my host mother into a changing room so she could fix it. That was for it being worn properly except for a single mistake, and for an appropriate occasion with appropriate respect. I can guarantee you just haphazardly threw it on and didn't care about how the fabric moved. The police officer who spoke to you even seemed perturbed, pointing to your garb likely for that reason.

I'd also like to touch on your overall "understanding" of the language when you spoke to a shopkeeper. "Much-o broken-o?" Really, Logan? Did any part of you actually think that would enhance a Japanese speaker's understanding of the language? Did any part of you think that would be helpful? It isn't terribly hard to use Google Translate on your phone, it isn't hard to bring a guidebook to at least learn a couple of the basics. Instead of making any sort of an effort, you decided to go for "el spanish-o" in Japan. Japan.

See, when I went to Japan, I was surprised at how amazed people were when they realized I knew some of the language. I didn't really understand why even the simplest phrases impressed people or made them so happy. And now I know why. It's because of people like you, going to Japan and representing Americans, completely and utterly disregarding that this is a different country, a different culture, something that might deserve at least an inkling of deference.

Logan, because of your myriad subscribers, you have some sort of responsibility to present yourself in a favorable way, especially as someone whose subscribers are younger. You're providing an example for how younger people should act, and what did they learn from this video? Don't look into the culture, don't contemplate people besides yourself, just run around and make an ass of yourself while inconveniencing person after person and disrespecting the local culture. Honestly, it drives me insane to know that some kids looked up to you and thought that was funny, thought what you did was even remotely okay. Because it was pure disrespect, disrespect at its finest, and you'll probably never feel any real consequences because of it.

On top of that, you aren't only a representative for your subscribers. Logan, when you visit Japan, as a famous Youtuber from America, you represent our country. People don't just look at you and see Logan Paul, they see Americans. They see our country. We already have problems with our image thanks to our "president". We're already thought of as loud, brash, annoying, insensitive.

People honestly expect the worst when we come to their country. You had such a low bar to get over. Heck, my host family was thrilled when I said a complete sentence in Japanese and adhered to their customs. It's not that hard to be an impressive American because other countries already think so poorly of us. However, not only were you exactly the obnoxious tourist that we're believed to be, you showed a new level of disrespect, both with your little spectacle in Aokihagara and with your daily conduct.

Logan Paul, you are making it more difficult for anyone from our country to prove to the Japanese people that we can respect their culture. You are setting an awful precedent for the young people that follow. And half-assed apology for Aokihagara aside, you don't seem to have an inkling of remorse for it or even an inkling of understanding that what you've done is wrong in any way, shape, or form.

So on behalf of Americans who aren't like you, and on behalf of the Japanese people that you have utterly disrespected, you need to make some sort of change if you're going to continue on the platform that you're on and if you actually want to do something positive. Because right now, you're just creating a tire fire of utter insensitivity to others. And it needs to stop.

Sincerely,

Rachel