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.
{democracy:451}
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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.
{democracy:450}
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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
