Controversy at Canadian university over use of sumo suits
Controversy over the use of inflatable sumo costumes:
Sumo suits, the plastic novelties that can transform a skinny sports fan into a comically unstable sphere for the delight of a stadium audience, are racist and dehumanizing instruments of oppression, according to the student government of Queen’s University.
They “appropriate an aspect of Japanese culture,” turn a racial identity into a “costume,” and “devalue an ancient and respected Japanese sport, which is rich in history and cultural tradition.” They also “fail to capture the deeply embedded histories of violent and subversive oppression that a group has faced.”
The Alma Mater Society yesterday published a two-page apology and cancelled a food-bank fundraiser scheduled for today, which was to feature two Sumo suits. The letter scolds the student government’s own executive for “marginalizing members of the Queen’s community” and failing to “critically consider the racist meaning behind [the fundraiser].”
Some do not agree that the use of sumo suits should be considered offensive. Of the two blog posts that came up on Google News about this topic, one called the Alma Mater Society a bunch of “PC Nazis” and the other said that they had “crossed the line” is becoming too sensitive.
Do you think sumo suits are racist and dehumanizing instruments of oppression?
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Categories: Anti-Japan
Chinese man arrested for poisoning frozen dumplings
After having initially blamed the Japanese for the case of the poisoned dumplings that badly sickened several Japanese people back in 2008, the Chinese authorities have found a disgruntled former factory employee whom they blame for the entire fiasco:
The employee is said to have admitted that he used a syringe to inject poison into the frozen dumplings. It is not clear how the Chinese police obtained the man’s confession. The suspect’s father has declared that his son would never commit such a crime.
The FTV report embedded above includes interviews with people on the street in Beijing, none of whom have heard about the news. One man expresses disbelieve that a Chinese person was responsible. Chinese newspapers have reported the story, but it has apparently been played down.
Meanwhile, the Mainichi has pointed to some strange things about the case presented by the Chinese authorities:
According to the Security Ministry, police concluded that the syringes found in a sewer matched those described by the suspect and the results of their inspections at the Tianyang Food Plant in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, where the dumplings were produced. However, the head of the public security bureau avoided confirming whether the syringes contained traces of methamidophos, while also stating that “as they were in the mud for more than two years, we probably won’t get fingerprints.”
The needles of medical syringes used in China are 0.25 millimeters in diameter or more, but according to a source in the Chinese government the syringe needles used in the poisoning were unusually slim, probably measuring 0.2 millimeters in diameter or less. Furthermore, Chinese authorities provided no explanation for the organic phosphorous-based insecticide dichlorvos and the toluene Japanese tests uncovered in Tianyang Food Plant products.
Do you believe the findings of the Chinese police?
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Categories: General Japan
CNN digs up old story about Japanese hentai games
CNN and their Japan reporter Kyung Lah have dug up an old story about a game called “Rapelay.” It was a pretty big deal one or two years ago, but I guess somebody is still offended by all the vile crimes being committed against 2D characters:
“It’s obviously very difficult to curtail activity on the Internet. But the governments do have a role in trying to regulate this sort of extreme pornography of children, both in their countries, and through the Internet ,” she said, adding that they were calling for the Japanese government “to ban all games that promote and simulate sexual violence, sexual torture, stalking and rape against women and girls. And there are plenty of games like that. ”
Those games are known as “hentai games.” Almost all feature girlish-looking characters. Some of the games are violent — depicting rape, torture and bondage in detail.
Hat tip to Magus, who sent us the following comment in his link submission e-mail:
I last heard about RapeLay more than a year ago, and now it’s long past old news. But everyone’s favorite CNN Japan reporter probably decided that with US-Japan opinions not at their highest, now would be a great time to bring up the topic again like it was new.
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Categories: Anti-Japan, Otaku & Anime
Swimming Frog Commercial
A commercial for NTT Data Group:
They give companies the power to change (“kaeru” – which happens to be sound the same as the Japanese word for “frog”), hence the swimming CG frog.
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Categories: Japanese TV
Paypal crippled in Japan? – Sending money for non-business purposes disabled due to new regulatory requirements
Nick Ramsay over at JapanSoc reports some very bad news for anyone with a PayPal account registered to a Japanese address:
Thank you for being a valued PayPal user.
We wish to inform you that effective 31 March 2010, you will not be able to send funds using the “Send Money” function for non-commercial transactions only, until further notice.
The changes to our personal payment services are necessary in order for us to comply with new regulatory requirements in Japan. This does not affect anyone outside of Japan sending money to any Japanese residents.
Please note that you will also continue to be able to shop online and use the PayPal services for the payment of goods and services as you normally would.
This restriction of services only applies to non-commercial transactions such as the sending of money to a family member for living allowance.
We deeply regret any inconvenience this temporary restriction of service may cause you.
We will update you as to when our personal payment services will be available again.
We thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely yours
PayPal
Can anyone with a Paypal account registered to a Japanese bank/address confirm the extent of this restriction? Is the “Send Money” button completely disabled, or is it still possible to send money directly to other users as long as you mark it as a business transaction? Can money be sent to freelance workers who don’t have registered business accounts? The changes should be noticeable tomorrow morning…
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Categories: Technology
More Japanese media reporting on American Toyota bashing
Toyota vs. lawyers and the American media, as reported a couple days ago by NTV’s “Bankisha”:
The report paints a negative picture of the legal action being taken against Toyota by people who claim defects in their automobiles caused deaths and injuries. Lawyers and consumer advocacy groups make aggressive statements about monetary compensation and how it will take Toyota years to recover from this mess. The participation of Mark Geragos, a lawyer known for defending celebrities like Michael Jackson doesn’t particularly help the image of the cases against Toyota. Geragos declares that Toyota is guilty of ““corporate murder.”
The guy who made dubious claims about an out-of-control Prius and ABC News’ exaggerated reporting of Southern Illinois University engineering professor David Gilbert’s “proof” of electronic flaws in Toyota vehicles are brought up, just in case viewers missed it. The man who funded Gilbert’s research project is revealed as Sean Kane, president of Strategic Research & Strategies, Inc. SR&S conducts research on behalf of lawyers suing companies so that it can obtain evidence to support lawsuits against those companies. In an interview with NTV, Kane reveals that SR&S is commissioning research of other Toyota vehicles. Despite the fact that the studies are not yet completed, Kane confidently declares that there will be more recalls of Toyota vehicles in the near future. Reporters from the LA Times, which first broke the story, say they were just doing their job by reporting the results of the studies commissioned by SR&S.
The report is pretty good overall, but I find their treatment of ABC News’ exaggerated report to be a bit ridiculous. They are criticizing ABC for airing a clip that unnecessarily sensationalized a news report, yet NTV made the Japan end of their “research” into ABC’s conduct similarly sensational. NTV feels the need to send reporters to car experts in Japan with a screen capture of the ABC clip so that they can find out if it was really filmed inside a moving vehicle. Considering the fact that ABC had already admitted the clip was filmed in a parked car, there was no need for NTV to include the faux scenes of dramatic investigative journalism. I’m also not sure why NTV has to use a junk quality YouTube version of ABC’s report.
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Categories: Anti-Japan