Japanese Government Complains About International Herald Tribune’s Radioactive Apple Cartoon

The Yomiuri reports that the Japanese Consulate in New York has officially complained to the International Herald Tribune after the newspaper printed the following comic:

The consulate complained that it was “regrettable” to see such a comic, given the fact that the safety of Japanese food exports is being verified by customs officials in both Japan and America.

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41 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - April 22, 2011 at 1:16 pm

Categories: Anti-Japan Tags:

sublight

Shrug.

If the Japanese government first makes an apology for all the newspapers here that frequently ran cartoons over the years about American beef, Mexican pigs, or Chinese anything, this might not be so laughably pathetic.

I guess with nobody interested in coming to Japan, the consulate staff have to find something to keep busy with.
- william
  
  Great comment. I agree.
- Day-Bee-Toe
  
  If the Japanese government first makes an apology for all the newspapers here that frequently ran cartoons over the years about American beef, Mexican pigs, or Chinese anything, this might not be so laughably pathetic.
  
  Which cartoons? There might have been something similar in tabloids and weekly magazines, maybe. However, I am quite sure major newspapers such as Asahi, Yomiuri and Nikkei would never dared to insult foreign countries with such an unpleasant cartoon. This almost reminds me of propaganda (imagine if it were “are you Jewish?”), even though I do know the cartoonist never meant that.
  - bakamerikan
    
    Great comment. I agree.
  - Hamachiman
    
    Exactly.
    
    Where exactly are these cartoons?
    
    Not saying it wasn’t, but where’s the ‘proof?’
    - http://www.billowykimono.com Senor Science
      
      Hey man, anti-Japan comments never need a source to be true. The loser eikaiwa lifer getting trashed during happy hour on poorly made well drinks at any Hub in Shinjuku is any proof you need!
    - Hamachiman
      
      Of course, such is the privilege Japan haters enjoy!
      
      Where else can you get by with such shoddy “research” or “facts.”
Jay

Or that the folks at the consulate have no sense of humor. One could just as easily see it as poking fun at the irrationality of it all.
- fish taco
  
  I have to agree with that, this looks more like it’s condemning international media.
- Robin
  
  Exactly. Look at the headline on the paper that Snow White is holding.
Greeeeen

Judging from the look on the witch’s face, you could take it as making fun of irrational fears about radiation poisoning.
ThyGoddess

I think they’re getting it backwards. I get the message that Snow White is shown as being irrational.
- Tony D
  
  Yeah, same. I think it’s pretty clear that she’s an idiot for asking about Japan and not noticing that she’s getting it from an evil witch.
  
  Since the Japanese like to blame complaints of racism etc as “cultural differences”, let’s notch it as one of those…
- maggie
  
  ditto (I agree. And I’m Japanese).
  - maggie
    
    My ‘ditto’ is to my other comment, to the comment by Greeeeen above, but that comment has been failing to get displayed
flowby

Such comments really are beginning to set my doubts whether certain members of Japanese society have an inkling of satirical/cynical humour at all.

The consulate missed the boat on this one. Someone should have spelled it out.
- Day-Bee-Toe
  
  For some Westerners, “humor” is a good excuse to defend their insult.
  - flowby
    
    And a lack of understanding of how humour works could be a good excuse for feeling insulted.
John L

Smow White should have blond hair, then the comic would make sense.
- gustaf
  
  people always take cheap swings at us blonds. sob sob.
MarkSteps

They have nothing to complain about. The Japanese Government and TEPCO got Japan into this mess. They now need to answer to the people of Japan for bringing the nation to the brink of destruction. Complaining about this is ridiculous as it is not unwarranted on the part of the Herald Tribune.
- http://tepido.org LB
  
  The Japanese Government and TEPCO got Japan into this mess.
  
  I take it you didn’t hear about the largest earthquake to hit Japan in modern history, followed by a monstrous tsunami, then?
  - Scott M
    
    Yup and they knew that there was a danger of tsunami larger than 6m hitting the plan as far back as 2007 and did NOTHING about it. They are criminally responsible.
    
    http://wilberforcedmr.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/tepco-study-revealed-tsunami-risk-in-2007/
    
    Japanese bureaucrats would better serve the nation by helping to solve the problem, rather than reading comics.
    - http://tepido.org/ LB
      
      No, there was a 10% possibility of a wave greater than 6 meters hitting the plant over a 50 year time span. That was what the report said. Absolute worst-case scenario.
      
      There were also any number of siesmologists who said that no, there would not be an earthquake in that area of sufficient magnitude to create a wave over 6 meters high. That was based on the best understanding of plate dynamics prior to March 11. In order for a quake to reach magnitude 9 it was assumed that several hundred kilometers of a nearly straight-line fault would have to slip all at once – because that was what had happened in all previous quakes of that magnitude. The fault that slipped and caused the quake this time did not match those parameters – therefore it was assumed, based on the best available knowledge, that the most powerful quake possible would be about an 8, and that while a 6 meter wave might be caused by such a quake that would be the upper limit.
      
      Sure, one of TEPCO’s own engineers came up with a nightmare scenario that proved true. But to say they are “criminally liable” – there is a possibility of meteor strike on a nuclear plant. Would TEPCO be “criminally liable” for “ignoring the danger” if one of their plants was hit by an asteroid? What if a volcano suddenly appeared beneath one of the plants? That is a mathematically calculable possibility as well! Or a massive swarm of frogs plugs up all the water inlets, leading to an inability to cool the reactors…
      
      Lots of things are “possible”, and you can even assign a “possibility percentage” to them. Does not mean that they will actually occur or even that the percentage assigned is accurate or meaningful.
- Robin
  
  Tepco were warned 2 years ago about that the Fukushima Dai-ichi Plant wasn’t prepared for the event of a tsunami. They were SPECIFICALLY warned about the location of their back-up generators (More detailed information can be found via Wikileaks).
  
  The government knew about this too, but because many government officials get a cushy job at Tepco following their retirement from the government, no one pushed Tepco to make the necessary safety changes.
  
  METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) is supposed to see that safety procedures are met. However, quite ridiculously, METI works as a promoter for nuclear power, while at the same time being the safety regulator for nuclear power.
  
  The relationship between the government, Tepco, and METI is highly unethical – it wouldn’t stand in most countries.
  - Day-Bee-Toe
    
    Well, TEPCO and METI should be severely blamed, of course. But MarkSteps’ statement “The Japanese Government and TEPCO got Japan into this mess” is clearly wrong. While no one has died (or expected to die) in the Fukushima accident, tens of thousands were killed by the tsunami and the earthquake itself. Observing the situation objectively, the Fukushima accident is a rather minor thing, even though many Tokyoites and foreigners may disagree.
    
    By the way, Fujinuma Dam in Fukushima Pref. failed due to the earthquake and it killed eight people. It is interesting that many people neither know it nor there is any anti-hydroelectric power movement.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujinuma_Dam#Failure
    
    The relationship between the government, Tepco, and METI is highly unethical – it wouldn’t stand in most countries.
    
    I doubt it. As far as I understand, the relationship between the Bush administration and petroleum industry was not so ethical, for instance.
    - Robin
      
      I hear what you’re saying, but I assumed that MarkSteps was referring to the problem of the West’s overreaction to the radiation leaks which have led to a huge drop in demand for Japanese exports.
      
      The Fukushima accident is not “a minor thing”, it has turned many people off of Japanese products, and during the summer will cause huge disruption to production and, in turn, damage to Japan’s already struggling economy.
      
      I said the relationship between the government, Tepco, and METI wouldn’t stand in MOST countries, using the famously corrupt US government as an example hardly discredits my statement.
      
      You bring up the example of a Dam failure, as if I am some sort of anti-nuclear type. I never said I was anti-nuclear power.
wyatt

I think the most objectionable thing about the cartoon is the use of Comic Sans in Snow White’s speech balloon.
- Comment
  
  Yes, why on earth would anybody use comic sans in a comic?
  - ThyGoddess
    
    Good question. It’s actually the worst font to use.
    - wyatt
      
      Wow, my sarcasm meter is freaking out! But amazingly enough, both responses still sort of validate my point… which is that Comic Sans is a typographical atrocity… 😉
    - Comment
      
      My meter that measures fonts from “best” to “worst” is freaking out.
yankdownunder

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110422p2g00m0dm039000c.html

“The cartoon was credited to Luojie of the English-language China Daily. It was not immediately known whether it appeared first in the Chinese paper before being reprinted in the International Herald Tribune.”

I think the consulate is doing a good job.
- JL
  
  The “China Daily,” owned by the PRC. Figures. Not only do they have the brass to put up a fake Disneyland(R) in Beijing, but they use Disney characters to bash Japan. I’ll bet they’ll say “oh, it’s not really Snow White(R) and the Evil Queen(R)…”
yankdownunder

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110422p2g00m0dm039000c.html

“The cartoon was carried on the editorial page of the International Herald Tribune, which is owned by the New York Times, in its Thursday edition.”

I can’t say every New York Times article is anti-Japan but most are.
- Day-Bee-Toe
  
  I agree. As far as Japan is concerned, the NYT is like Pravda.
yankdownunder

The evil Queen(Japan) tried to kill Snow White(China) several times but failed.
Then the Queen(disguised as an old lady) gives Snow White a poisoned(radiation) apple.

Ship Rejected in China on Radiation Heads to Japan
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-27/ship-rejected-in-china-port-on-abnormal-radiation-heading-back-to-japan.html

I think it’s clear that this cartoon is anti-Japan.
- flowby
  
  Sorry can’t see the clarity you described.
  
  We can read whatever we want into anything – you know conspiracy theories and all that – but the giveaway in this is the look on the witches face.
  
  To me it suggests – “F*k, here we go again – how many times, how many times?”
  
  And snow white’s contorted sly expression is anything but beautiful.
  
  And cutting political editorial cartoons are a mainstay of newspapers around the world.
  
  We often may not agree with the content – but that’s the satire, that’s the humour, that’s the intention. Since when have political cartoonists wanted to bring everyone under the umbrella of “sanitized news?”
  
  If it offends I’d suggest stay clear of most newspapers in the democratic world and stick to the local “non-offensive” offerings.
sublight

Ok, judging by the comments here, apparently nobody reading this blog has ever encountered an editorial cartoon before.
http://escaravelhoandarilho.com r.

: (
http://twitter.com/charms55 Mark Richey

I live in Japan and the fear of contamination is very real. My wife is Japanese and we regularly check where our meats, milk and eggs, etc. come from to insure we are not consciously consuming products from the Fukushima area. This is especially important for our children who are consuming vast amounts of milk daily. Yes, this can be taken as a slap at the Japanese for marketing potentially dangerous products, and it can be taken as taking the international press to task for sensationalized coverage of the same. However, thousands are protesting the restarting of various nuke plants on a daily basis and likely, they will be ignored.

Japanese Government Complains About International Herald Tribune’s Radioactive Apple Cartoon

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