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Apr 06 2006 10 Comments

Animation animosity

“I hate Mickey Mouse. He has nothing like the unique sensibility that Japan has.”

Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara speaking at the capital’s recent anime fair
.

Briefly turning his bile away from Japan’s Asian neighbours last week, powerful politician and infamous xenophobe Shintaro Ishihara inexplicably opted for a below the belt jab at the United States; his denunciation of a cartoon mouse surely set to destabilise the two country’s close economic and political ties.

shintaro ishihara

However the 73-year-old may not be done with his cartoon character shenanigans, as rumours abound that the grumbling governor is set to further anger French speakers by dismissing Gallic-gadabout Tintin as nothing more than a tufty-haired troublemaker — a character who pales into insignificance when compared to Japan’s own elaborately coiffured superstar, Atom Boy.

Or alternatively he will revert back to form and continue on his quest to insult as many non-Japanese Asians as is humanly possible.

Categorized: General

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tyler says

    4/6/2006 at 10:57 pm

    Let’s be honest now- who would YOU put down your yen on in a fight? Tintin? Or Astroboy?
    Forget for a minute that Tintin is french- Astroboy has that cool cool hair!
    And if I know anything about french-japanese relations and animation,
    which I don’t, the character with the coolest hair ALWAYS wins.

    Good work man, please keep me smiling.

    Thanks,

    Tyler

    Reply
  2. e. says

    4/7/2006 at 12:25 am

    I totally agree with mister Ishihara.
    When’s the last time you saw Mickey Mouse raped by alien tentacles?

    Exactly. That’s how lame non-japanese animation is. Lame-o.

    Reply
  3. scubajim says

    4/7/2006 at 12:43 am

    I don’t get the appeal of tentacle rape. Actually, I don’t get the appeal of rape. (consentual sex, but not rape and my consensual sex fantasies don’t have any tentacles in them)

    Reply
  4. Jonas says

    4/7/2006 at 2:38 am

    I hate that man, one of his many ideas is to build a new arena in Yoyogi park! How ridiculos is that! The only decent park Tokyo has.

    Reply
  5. Bart says

    4/7/2006 at 4:50 am

    I have to protest loudly here, Tintin is not a French comics figure, but a BELGIAN one. He was created by Hergé, who was a French speaking Belgian, and Tintin remains one of our national symbols, even in the Dutch speaking part.
    That concludes our lesson for today, back to the studio…

    Reply
  6. Sumiyoshi Pilgrim says

    4/7/2006 at 6:18 am

    When youo strip away the fact that he’s an infamous politician, does anyone else see a racist old bugger without any concept of an inside voice of sensibility?

    Reply
  7. Shay says

    4/7/2006 at 2:10 pm

    Yeah, when I heard about this it was pretty funny. Just because it’s so outrageous. Getting all political and xenophobic about cartoons (especially Mickey and TinTin) is ridiculous.

    Reply
  8. Tyler says

    4/7/2006 at 11:19 pm

    Ever notice how in most places it is called “racist” or “prejudiced”, but in Japan it is just “xenophobia”? I am not trying to bash the Japanese at all- there are many who adore westerners- but there are many who are quite racists and believe the Japanese to be the most superior of peoples. As a Japanese lady told my friend when he suprised her with his excellent Japanese, “It was just weird to hear a westerner speaking a civilized language.”

    Reply
  9. Thomas says

    4/8/2006 at 9:36 am

    What strikes me as odd is that if Mickey Mouse would have had any of the unique sensibility that Japan has, then Japan’s sensibility wouldn’t be very unique at all…

    If he really hates Mickey Mouse that much, he should be grateful.

    Reply
  10. Dave says

    4/17/2006 at 7:40 pm

    that’s kinda odd… considering japan practically has to thank disney for popularizing the medium

    Reply

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