The kokujin here in Japan are really only visible in one place. You can't find them on trains, you won't catch them sightseeing, and you never spot them shopping with some Japanese girl on their arm. No, the kokujin, the black people, are to be found just outside their stores, lackadaisically calling at those Japanese boys passing by--you know the type, the ones like Masashi, obsessed with American hip-hop style, so much so that they exaggerate the exported fashion in stupendous proportions that astonish even someone seasoned in the art of bizarre warddrobe watching.

These teens are the target of the kokujin, who, at first I thought were rich and successful, fluent and happy, though now I know the truth.

Despite their flamboyant, expensive clothing, flashy cellphones and jewelry, these highly visible store owners aren't really owners at all--but actually are africans, pulled from their native land by the allure of an exotic Japan, where they now live and work, for invisible Japanese bosses who employ them to hustle Japanese boys who want to look just like them. They are employed for their skin color only.

Want to sell African-American clothing to Japanese people? Any kokujin will do, American or not, just get them in the right clothes, and get them in front of a store to holler at passerby. To the casual observer, these stores appear independently operated, though truly they are just part of larger conglomerates.

This is something I didn't realize on my first dozen trips to Harajuku. I assumed these kokujin were Americans living good, breaking into the Japanese market through extremely aggressive entrepreneurship, elbow grease, and clever advertising strategy. I wanted to know their secrets. I started asking questions.

But one question led to another, and soon I hit on the important one: why aren't there any white store owners? After this question, all the smoke disappeared and the house of cards fell down. I realized that 99.99% of the black people in Japan weren't there on their own prerogative pursuing their chosen life goal, but were actually glorified indentured servants, living in pseudo luxury so they can sell an overpriced jacket to a wannabe-American.

And, they are locked in.