Denialmon

Imagine for a moment, you are running a nation built upon a feudal tradition of straight-up, no-foreigners-allowed isolationism.  Further alienating yourself from your neighbors, you continually ignore their requests that you formally apologize for massacring their civilians and forcing their women into prostitution last century. More recently, you've managed to irritate the rest of the world by resuming whaling in the Antarctic and by subjecting all non-Japanese (even permanent residents) to fingerprinting and interrogation at the border.  You are also marking the first anniversary of a high-profile murder case which you bungled so severely, the killer of a foreign English teacher managed to escape nine Japanese police officers, barefoot.  And you still can't find him!

This is definitely the time to appoint an animated robocat from the future to be your next foreign ambassador!

No, really...

Japan appoints its first cartoon ambassador

TOKYO: Japan has created an unusual government post to promote animation, and named a perfect figure to the position: Doraemon.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura appointed the popular cartoon robot cat as "anime ambassador" on Wednesday, handing a human-sized Doraemon doll an official certificate at an inauguration ceremony...."Doraemon, I hope you will travel around the world as an anime ambassador to deepen people's understanding of Japan so they will become friends with Japan," Komura told the blue-and-white cat.

The appointment is part of Japan's recent effort to harness the power of pop culture in diplomacy....This year, the ministry plans to arrange showings of a Doraemon film in Singapore, China, Spain, France, and at other Japanese diplomatic missions around the world.

Doraemon — through voice actress Wasabi Mizuta, who spoke from behind a sliding paper screen — promised Komura that "Through my cartoons, I hope to convey to people abroad what ordinary Japanese people think, our lifestyles and what kind of future we want to build."

Created by cartoonist Fujiko F. Fujio, Doraemon is a Japanese cultural icon and is popular around the world, especially in Asia. The robotic cat travels back in time from the 22nd century and uses gadgets such as a "time machine" and an "anywhere door" that come out of a fourth-dimensional pocket on his stomach to help his friends, allowing them to travel anywhere and to any time they wish.

Astro Boy, another cartoon icon, was named last November as ambassador for overseas safety.

Comments

[peggyann]

And this is precisely why I love Japan :-)

[Mr. Salaryman]

Ok, feel that I kinda have to comment on this one, but first I should say that I enjoy your blog but I reacted to this post.

Not that there aren't problems in Japan in both national and foreign policies but if I understand it correctly you are an american and there are certainly plenty of things to bring up about the US international and national policies?

Japan certainly has issues to deal with regarding abuse and war crimes (including forced prostitution and medical experiments) committed during WWII but you should also remember that the countries also has there own separate political agendas to press this point, it is hardly saintly countries with flawless human rights track records we are talking about here.

At the same time, it is also important that relations are getting better on an Asian level and I've been working together with people from other Asian countries on many occassions and it is important to know that the political problems are mostly that nowadays and that the regular people in other Asian countries do not hold the Japanese population at large at fault but recognizes that it's a political problem.

Norway and Iceland (my homeland neighbors) are also active in whaling, but for some reason they do not seem to get the same level of hatred as Japan from the foreign community?

As a foreigner living in Japan I have no problems with the fingerprinting at the border and it was a lot easier and faster than entering the US where I had to endure a number of searches (once 3 times for one flight) which I hope not was because I have black hair and a beard...? This has never happened in Japan.

I do not know of the murder of the English teacher and if the police has not put in the effort to actively try to solve that murder? But as you yourself brought up in a post earlier, 3 leading members of Aum Shinrikyo (or Aleph as they seem to be like to be called) are still at large and they killed a large number of Japanese citizens. Personally I believe that this was to some extent due to the incompetence of the police, but not due to a lack of dedication or will to solve it.

I understand that you brought up these points as a reflection to the news about Doraemon (who by the way is very popular all over Asia and not only in Japan, kids in Asia doesn't seem to hold it against it that it's Japanese).

I'm not saying that you are not allowed to criticize the actions of the Japanese government/police/authorities/whatever in Japan as a foreigner living here, as a guest, but I think it is better done in a more constructive way than this.

Just my thoughts on this post as a fellow foreigner living in Japan no offense intended.

[Chris B]

Somewhere manga geeks are celebrating!!

No offense manga worshiping geeks!! ;)

[Lea]

With all due respect Mr. Salaryman, I enjoy your blog very much as well, but I think you are quite out of line in suggesting that I am in no position to criticize Japan just because I am an American. I have criticized American foreign (and domestic) policy EXTENSIVELY on other platforms. Am I not allowed a space where I can write about my life in Japan as well? Not all of us are fortunate enough to come from blameless Scandinavian countries with brilliant health care systems and stellar environmental and human rights records.

And why is it that, just because I don't take an academic tone, people start to assume that I need to be further educated about what I write? I don't like to show this off, but I do have a Masters Degree in East Asian Studies. And for the record, I wrote my masters' thesis on the post WWII relations between Japan and its neighbors. That said, I respectfully disagree with you regarding "what regular people think."
I do admit that I shouldn't take so flippant a tone if I want to be taken seriously, but honestly Mr. Salaryman, my tone is not half as flippant as yours is on your own site, so I have a hard time figuring out where you're coming from here.

Good point about the whaling issue though, I hadn't thought about that aspect.

[Mr. Salaryman]

I have to quote myself on this:
"I'm not saying that you are not allowed to criticize the actions of the Japanese government/police/authorities/whatever in Japan as a foreigner living here, as a guest, but I think it is better done in a more constructive way than this."
That basically summarizes what I wanted to say here.

Your education never came into question and in fact, I'm sure that you know a lot more about the issues than what is in your post ( I for one do not have a master in Japanese studies). I know you have a strong relation to Japan (be it love/hate, but that is ok) but I never said that it is uneducated ;)

As for my own blog, the moment I touch politics I hope you will be there to police me just as I have been here :)

Furthermore the comment "Not all of us are fortunate enough to come from blameless Scandinavian countries with brilliant health care systems and stellar environmental and human rights records" is just ridiculous from my perspective since there are a lot of deep disgusting pits to dig into there to and I'm sure you would've discovered them already if you lived in Sweden as a foreigner, from the outside it might look very nice but there's a lot of problems there too:
Racism? Yes.
Pollution? Yes.
Whatever? Yes.

But rest assure that I'm doing my best as an ex-pat Swede to work on those issues and meanwhile not ignoring the issues that Japan has, but dealing with those in a more delicate way.

[Lea]

fair enough.