We're one week into 2018 and it seems Japan has an image problem.
You can thank the country's New Year's Eve TV block for the bulk of that. The controversy marathon began with popular comedy special "Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!," which, hours before 2018 arrived, managed the rare feat of angering viewers both international and domestic.
Let's start with the prior. This year's "Gaki no Tsukai" boasted the already tightrope-clinging theme of "American Cops," meaning the five comedians starring in the seven-hour-long laugh jamboree sported law enforcement clothes. Except for Masatoshi Hamada, one half of the comic duo Downtown, who dressed as Eddie Murphy from the film "Beverly Hills Cop" — complete with blackface.