Yellow Cab (stereotype)

Yellow Cab (stereotype)

Yellow cab (イエローキャブ, Ierō Kyabu?) is a term referring to an ethnic stereotype of Japanese women, and by extension other Asians, suggesting that they are sexually available to foreign men. The term combines the use of "yellow" to refer to Asians and the image of a yellow taxicab which can be "ridden at any time." It specifically refers to wealthy women who travel overseas or to foreign enclaves in Japan seeking to meet foreign men. The term is alleged to have been coined by English-speaking foreigners who encountered such women in the late 1980s, but was quickly appropriated by the Japanese media as a way of sensationalizing and censuring the women's behaviour. The Japanese term is a gairaigo (i.e., transliterated from English).