Forum - View topicINTEREST: NHK Apologizes, Removes News Program's Racist Cartoon About Ongoing Protests
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The Anime Binge-Watcher
 Posts: 96 |
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I still find it remarkable that Japan's this interested in the Floyd protests. People were marching for Black Lives Matter in Tokyo; this really HAS become a global issue. That's just freaking cool, man.
(Now let's see how long it takes before the "Japan is free of politics" crowd starts spinning conspiracy theories about evil Western Ess Jay Dubelyues infiltrating Glorious Nippon) |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5536 |
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What is up with their arms, they look like they have wires within them.
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Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1603 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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I think it's supposed to be a simplistic representation of arm hair. I'll be honest, I was expecting worse when I clicked those links. Problematic, sure, but far from the most stereotypical representations of African Americans out there. |
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LadyKuzunoha
 Posts: 91 Location: United States |
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The statistics they cite are accurate to the best of my knowledge, but I think the issues that people are highlighting (including in the article itself) lie primarily with the fact that there was no mention of George Floyd's death or any of the other incidents of police brutality that sparked the powder keg, or any acknowledgement at all that this issue is deeply rooted in our history, and on top of all of the rest, the caricatures being used. For a segment of a show that purportedly helps explain the goings-on in the world to children, it sure did seem to gloss over some important factors.
On an side note, to anyone who might be thinking of looking into the comment section under that video, be warned that there's a mess of people saying blatantly racist crap (some of which the video uploader "loved", so that's a yikes). |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 3076 Location: Email for assistance only |
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Thanks for that, we're not linking to re-uploads of the video for that exact reason. There are screenshots included in the article if viewers want a better idea of what the segment looked like.
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SailorTralfamadore
 Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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There are whole bibliographies you could build about the long history and present of political protest in Japan, but okay sure, this is definitely a thing that "real Japanese people" don't ever do and is imposed on them by evil foreigners. Let's all take one random person's word for it on what an entire country of 126 million people thinks about politics, a person whose "evidence" that "real Japanese people don't support this" is that a non-ethnic-Japanese person (not at all questionable as a disqualifier for Japanese identity!) posted an image with information about a protest in Osaka, not Tokyo.
Last edited by SailorTralfamadore on Tue Apr 25, 2023 6:09 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 849 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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It's good to know that this is a truly global phenomenon. Unlike what the naysayers will say, there was the participation of locals in the protests.
https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/japan-holds-anti-racism-rally-protesting-homegrown-police-brutality-in-solidarity-with-black-lives-matter/ ... But then again the naysayers will chant the "Japan is Apolitical" mantra everytime LGBT issues are brought up, so never mind. Really though, NHK, do some checking before airing that. |
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AmpersandsUnited
Posts: 633 |
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Doesn't that work both ways? If Japan has 126,512,743 people living there, saying a protest of a few hundred people represents Japan's overall view seems a bit fallacious. Especially if it was indeed organized by non-Japanese people. If people get upset at people generalizing Japan based on a few individuals , I don't see why doing the exact same thing. only now saying the opposite instead, is supposed to be any more valid or better. Obviously everyone in Japan has their own opinion. Personally, the low turnout alone would indicate to me the vast majority of Japan doesn't seem to care about this issue, and I honestly wouldn't expect them to given the incident happened in America. With every person, organization, and company in lots of western nations coming out with a statement about it, meanwhile only a couple individuals in Japan have mentioned it at all while everyone has been acting Business as Usual, that speaks volumes to me more than anything else. |
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Horsefellow
 Posts: 262 |
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I think at this point I've seen more people complaining about people saying "Japan is apolitical" than anyone actually saying "Japan is apolitical". Although I'm sure it's just a strawman argument to begin with. |
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SailorTralfamadore
Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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Yup! That's why I didn't say, or even imply, anything like "a protest of a few individuals represents Japan's overall view" anywhere in my post. 
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Brutannica
Posts: 257 |
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While I can't defend some of the more obvious stereotypes in the video (black people as musicians, etc.), it's worth noting that Sekaima always portrays people this way in its cartoons. The show's mascot, "Mr. Ship," portrays every character in the cartoons, so they always look like him: muscular and grim-faced. People from all kinds of countries (given the show's global focus) are drawn this way.
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Stampeed Valkyrie
 Posts: 863 Location: PA |
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So I'm going to point out the elephant in the room. But I am willing to this video was created going by how media (movies,music) portrays specific groups of people. Considering the amount of product we create and then gets exported, you can't blame other countries for assuming exaggerated stereotypes are correct when that is what Movies/TV and Music put out there.
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nargun
Posts: 931 |
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To point out: structural racism in the US is actually no-shit-for-real one of the biggest social problems in the world, in terms of numbers of people affected and the degree to which it impacts them. The US is actually one of the largest population countries on the planet, and to have one-in-eight subject to lawless lethal violence (and the rest!) is forty million people. That's a lot, no? In terms of actual death rate, or any other measure of impact, there may not be a larger problem. Like, anywhere. Possibly if you lumped together anti-gay violence in africa and the middle east together you might exceed that, maybe? I'm not sure. For there to be a local problem in japan bigger you'd need a third of the populatiokn afraid the police will just flip out and kill them: this is needless to say not the case. In australia you'd need two hundred percent of the population needing to be affected, which again. It is actually one of the biggest problems in the world. The international response is reasonable or if anything underproportionate. |
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