White Man In A Kimono — White man in a black kimono with a Japanese woman leaning on his shoulder outside a Japanese temple

White Man In A Kimono

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Published August 15, 2026

White Man In A Kimono is a photograph of a heavyset white man and an Asian woman posing in traditional Japanese kimonos at a shrine, used to mock weebs and anime fans who insist on Japanese terminology instead of English translations. The image first surfaced on 4chan in August 2021 and went viral as a reaction template on X and Reddit in 2024.

otaku culture memes reaction memes 4chan memes copypasta memes anime manga

Overview

The White Man In A Kimono meme centers on a single photograph showing a heavyset white man and an Asian woman posing together in traditional Japanese kimonos in front of a shrine1. 4chan users decided the man in the picture was Ken-Sama, a fictional weeb character from a 2009 copypasta about an American obsessed with Japanese culture3.

People use the image to mock Japanophiles and anime fans who insist on Japanese terminology when perfectly fine English translations exist2. Typical captions call out people who say 'shichibukai' instead of 'warlord,' 'Kamehameha' instead of 'Turtle Wave Beam,' or refer to Goku by the joke translation 'Gary'4.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan (source), X / Reddit (viral spread)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2021

The photo first surfaced on 4chan's /r9k/ board on August 30, 2021, posted anonymously with the caption, 'I can't fucking believe that this is Ken-sama. Not only he slimmed down, he now has a qt Japanese gf'7. A week later on September 6, 2021, users on 4chan's /fit/ board picked up the same image and kept arguing about whether it was really the man from the old copypasta3.

The Ken-Sama character himself dated back much further, originating from a copypasta first posted on 4chan's /jp/ board on July 6, 2009, about an adult American male obsessed with Japanese and otaku culture8.

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How It Spread

X user @KasaiKaiser reposted the photo alongside the original Ken-Sama copypasta on September 7, 2021, pulling over 14,300 likes across the following three years7. The image then sat mostly dormant until January 31, 2024, when @Extralongdokkan turned it into the reaction template most people know today, gathering more than 18,000 likes over ten months1.

That same day, Redditor /u/NeverrrGreen posted it to r/PirateFolk with the caption 'one piece fans who say tenryuubito or shichibukai instead of celestial dragon or warlord,' hitting over 1,000 upvotes2. On April 5, 2024, /u/Piotral_2 posted the Dragon Ball version to r/Ningen with the caption 'When you say Kamehameha instead of Turtle Wave Beam,' pulling in more than 1,700 upvotes4.

The template really took off on X later that year. @downsad69's June 23, 2024 post about people calling Frieza 'Freezer' hit 25,000+ likes in four months5, and @dots2005's October 25, 2024 post about people using 'goku' instead of 'gary' reached 40,000+ likes in just three days6.

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How to Use This Meme

The template is straightforward. People typically pair the image with a caption calling out anime fans who insist on Japanese terms when English translations exist2. Common versions swap character names (Goku vs. Gary, Frieza vs. Freezer), attack names (Kamehameha vs. Turtle Wave Beam), or general anime jargon (shichibukai vs. warlord)4. The joke works because the picture itself reads as peak weeb behavior, so the caption often lands as self-aware recognition of that same energy3.

Frequently Asked Questions