Chimpanzee cartoon makes the Japanese TV news

The story of the controversy over a political cartoon that some believe depicts Obama as a chimpanzee being gunned down by the police has been featured on several Japanese TV news broadcasts. Here’s a short clip from NTV:

Update: Here is how FTV covered it.

The news anchors note it as a surprising example of how racism continues in America, even after the historic election of Barack Obama.

It’s kind of odd that the Japanese media picked up this story from the international press, but pretty much missed CNN/Guardian reports about a “racist” Japanese commercial being pulled from the airways last year for a similar offense.

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21 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - February 20, 2009 at 8:44 am

Categories: Japanese TV Tags:

LB

Aw keerist, here we go again. Let all the tired old arguments about “monkeys”, “blacks”, “the Japanese”, “xenophobia”, “cultural ignorance” etc. begin all over again.

*sigh*
James, could you cut us a physical break on this and stop posting variations on this same dead-horse theme every freaking week? Or tell you what – post an article, copy and paste all the comments from the last time it came up, and leave the “new” article closed to comments. You won’t need new comments, the old ones, rehashed, will do just fine.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

I wouldn’t post about it if didn’t keep turning up in the news.

Feel free to re-paste your comments from old threads in response to comments on this one.

putang

do not worry james.
we all are harsh with others and tolerant toward ourselves.
Sen

touche

weirdo

James, I think that this clip is concentrating on the fact that something that represents Obama was shot. Not that Obama being represented as a monkey is racist. So I don’t really see why you’re calling this a “similar” offense.

http://www.squidoo.com/Best-Books-on-Japan Eric

Actually, this clip specifically says that the cartoon in question is racist because it represents Obama as a chimpanzee. One big Japanese stereotypes about America is that all white people look down on and descrminate against minorities. One of the reporters in this clip found it signifigant that the police in the carton were “hakujin”.
One more stereotype showed up in the piece when the main presenter said that the chimpanzee had been “assassinated,” not merely killed; the U.S. is often portrayed in the Japanese media as a country where political assassinations are rife. The conclusion of the final commentator is that even though he had thought Obama’s election signaled an end to racism in America, this cartoon proves that it is in fact deep-seated.
Personally, I finnd the cartoon itself very disturbing; it reminds me of some of the extreme aggression against Obama that was evident at many McCain-Palin rallies during the campaign. On the other hand, I have become jaded about the lack of self-awareness about the very real problems of discrimination that exist in Japan that these kinds of reports exhibit. I’m not complaining on my own behalf here. I’m a white America, and as such more often privileged than discriminated against; I’ve never thought that being called a “gaijin” was any thing like being called a ni–er. But the plight of Koreans born in Japan is analogous to that of African-Americans, and the plight of the Ainu is analogous to that of Native-Americans. Therefore, the kind of slant the Japanese media put on this kind of story is disingenuous at best.

ponta

Eric
I see your point that J media should be more self-aware about the problems of discriminations that exist in Japan, and I agree.

the plight of Koreans born in Japan is analogous to that of African-Americans, and the plight of the Ainu is analogous to that of Native-Americans.

All they share is that they are the minorities who have been discriminated. I don’t see how their plights are similar in other respects.

.
George

“One big Japanese stereotypes about America is that all white people look down on and descrminate against minorities.”

And one big American stereotype about Japan is that the nation is obsessed with stereotypes about America.

“One of the reporters in this clip found it signifigant that the police in the carton were “hakujin”.”

Hang on. It was a NY State Senator who referred to this cartoon as “filth” and “poison”. He also claimed that “some [white] people” have “jungle minds”. Al Sharpton also jumped on the band wagon.

http://www.nyssenate20.com/20/Default.aspx

And given the way news works here in the United States – loops of the same (usually domestic and parochial) story – given “orignal interpretation” (hype) by a series of rotating news celebrities, you can’t really blame the Japanese media for picking up on this as one of their “American” stories of the day. At least they damned well report on foreign news, which is more than I can say of the major U.S. networks unless U.S. soldiers are involved overseas somewhere.

“the U.S. is often portrayed in the Japanese media as a country where political assassinations are rife”

Huh? Do you read the same Japanese papers I do? Or do you rely on SPA! and Sapio for your knowledge of how “America” is viewed in “Japan”? Evidence for this rather groundless assertion please.

“But the plight of Koreans born in Japan is analogous to that of African-Americans,”

Say what? You mean zainichi kankokujin (or whatever the current politically correct phrase is), right? If so, you are referring to a group of people, some of whose ancestors were indentured laborers, but who can now – fairly easily – naturalize as Japanese citizens and be indistinct from any other Japanese as long as no one bothers to go and look at family records. As an American you should know that this is MUCH different from being black in some (most?) parts of the U.S. If you are talking about REAL Koreans, well, I take it you didn’t much notice the Korean wave.

“and the plight of the Ainu is analogous to that of Native-Americans.”

So what is it you are saying here? Japan is roughly analogous to the U.S. and other settler nations (Hokkaido was modern Japan’s “colony”, after all) who have had problems dealing with the indigenous population? So what does this have to do with Obama (in theory) being represented as a monkey?

This news story – as well as the cellphone commercial that raised the ire of some clueless Americans in Japan a few months ago – says more about the depth and intelligence (i.e. there is none) with which race is discussed in the American mainstream media and beyond than it does about some sort of Japanese racism.
weirdo

＠Ｅｒｉｃ
When I posted my comment only the first video was there, I didn’t see the second video until I read your comment. NNN said nothing of racism, which is why I was questioning the Jame’s assertion that this was similar.

mortonsalt

context is important…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090217/ap_on_re_us/chimpanzee_attack
Pingback: Finance Information Blog
Mark

There is a fundamental difference between the New York Post cartoon and the Emobile commercial. Depicting blacks as monkeys has a long unfortunate tradition in America. On the other hand, no Japanese would associate their endemic snow monkeys with foreign kokujin.
A monkey’s uncle

As far as I know Obama didn’t write the stimulus package, he only supported it. Many view the package as flawed, as if a monkey wrote it. Also, as mortonsalt pointed out, police shot a crazed monkey dead for tearing the face off a woman.

The new Attorney General said the US is a nation of cowards for not addressing race more openly. I think it is because whites don’t want to be called racists because blacks can be so sensitive when they want to (take calling each other ni–er but are up in arms if a white says it).

Yes, I know I am generalizing.
Ａｃｅｆａｃｅ

And the monkey wasn’t shot in the Emobile CM.
http://hiddenblog1.blogspot.com/ The Unseen One

Gotta love the NY Post’s apology.
It is always good to see someone not automatically cave to false cries of racism.

*******************************

Wednesday’s Page Six cartoon – caricaturing Monday’s police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut – has created considerable controversy.

It shows two police officers standing over the chimp’s body: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill,” one officer says.

It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.

Period.

But it has been taken as something else – as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism.

This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.

However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past – and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

To them, no apology is due.

Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon – even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.
Eddie

I think everyone is misinterpreting the cartoon. The cartoon is highlighting many issues. Perhaps the cops in the cartoon are racist, but the artist is in no way being racist.

Personally, I think it’s a great cartoon.
T13

Everyone knows Nancy Pelosi wrote the bill, other than that people should be outraged that monkeys are be denigrated by being compared to US politicians.
http://www.blacktokyo.com zurui

misinterpreting?

the cartoon cops did not draw the cartoon. the NY post artist is responsible for the drawing.

the NY cops have a well documented record of shooting “unarmed” and innocent blacks. i’m not sure if the monkey was reaching for his wallet.

although the caption makes no “mention” of blacks, those familiar with the NYPD can infer what the cartoon represents.

the bill is associated with obama, listen to the news or read the papers. i doubt that the majority of americans will put the bill on pelosi. obama accepted responsibility for the bill and any outcomes numerous times.

the cartoon was in poor taste and it angered many americans (judging by the news, press and cyberspace chatter). the artist knew better and decided to say “f” it to murdock (according to news reports) and show what he thought of the press, particularly the NY post, and its love of obama.

there should be no depiction of a us president being assassinated, especially one who happens to be black knowing the us history of killing black political leaders. remember the movie about assassinating bush, wasn’t cool. obama has the biggest secret service protection force and has received numerous death threats. all the cartoon does is fuel the flames of hate and further stupidity. recently FAUX News referred to obama and AG holder as a monkeys.

if a person does not relate the chimp being shot to obama, great! unfortunately, the problem is many will most-likely put two (bullets) and two (“white” cops) together in NY and come up two fours.

The Overthinker

Are we at risk of having to treat Obama with kid gloves as anything too harsh is going to be decried as racist? Bush was shown as a monkey many, many times (his resemblence was truly remarkable, in fact). Is that now verboten with Obama?

“all [sic] the cartoon does is fuel the flames of hate and further stupidity.”

I hardly think some redneck is going to see that and think “right, now I really *will* go an’ kill me a President!”

Yes, this cartoon is tasteless, but not for any links between Obama and blacks and monkeys. It is tasteless because it refers to a very unpleasant attack on someone who basically got their face ripped off by a crazed chimpanzee.
Eddie

Didn’t anyone consider that the artist might be trying to put across more than one message? Perhaps one of his messages was that cops often see all Blacks as monkeys. It’s not the artists own view, he’s simply portraying the views of the police.

I see the outcry towards this cartoon as a positive, as it has highlighted many issues which should be debated.

ponta

I rather wonder why white people are not offended by the long noses of the cops, (a.k.a. gaijin nose)

Chimpanzee cartoon makes the Japanese TV news

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