Jeff Yang, The Wall Street Journal: "These were the American Music Awards, never the high point of televised trophy-tossing tastefulness to begin with. But as the Cirque du Sayonara spectacle of Katy Perry's opening number unfurled, my jaw slowly dropped until it nearly rested against my collarbone. There was Perry, in full kimono, tabi socks, lacquered hair and geikopancake, belting out her latest smash hit. ... This was a full-barreled technicolor assault on a quarter-millennium-old set of traditions that would've given any self-respecting denizen of Kyoto's Gion District a massive fatal heart attack. But Perry's whiteface/yellowface performance was also a harsh reminder of how deeply anchored the archetype of the exotic, self-sacrificing 'lotus blossom' is in the Western imagination. ... While a bucket of toner can strip the geisha makeup off of Perry's face, nothing can remove the demeaning and harmful iconography of the lotus blossom from the West's perception of Asian women."

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