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NEWS: Barefoot Gen Manga Pulled from Izumisano City's School Library Shelves


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lizardking461





PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:10 am Reply with quote
Right, yes, let's remove all copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, Uncle Tom's Cabin, 12 Years a Slave, Bleak House, Ulysses, Lord of the Flies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, White Teeth... retrospective censorship, especially of literature that is intended to capture a sense of cultural 'state' for a given time, is absolutely ridiculous. For a country that allows so much political incorrectness in much of its media, Japan sure can be just as idiotically bureaucratic as the worst of the West some times.
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Mister Ryan Andrews



Joined: 28 Jan 2014
Posts: 219
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:16 am Reply with quote
lizardking461 wrote:
For a country that allows so much political incorrectness in much of its media, Japan sure can be just as idiotically bureaucratic as the worst of the West some times.


Not really fair to compare one school district to Japan's views as a whole. Or more specifically, one mayor. Japan can have super conservative figures too.
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Utsuro no Hako



Joined: 18 May 2012
Posts: 1032
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:34 am Reply with quote
So is this actually being pulled because of the depiction of beggars, or is that cover for a right-wing agenda like the other cases?
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Shadowrun20XX



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 1935
Location: Vegas
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:36 am Reply with quote
How dare old manga not self update to get with my ideals!

Coo-Coo!

While we are at the crazy helm, who here wants to apologize for the atomic bombs we dropped? Thus creating barefoot gen thus creating this man's severe problems.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
Posts: 3524
Location: Bellevue, WA
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:36 am Reply with quote
My God, what were people thinking, allowing impressionable young minds to see an accurate depiction of post-war Japan by someone who lived through it? Won't someone please think of the children? What kind of emotional scaring is being done here?

I'll be curious to see if this sort of censorship starts to spread more widely throughout Japan. I hope not.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:37 am Reply with quote
Japan has been having a stark rise in nationalists since Abe was elected Prime Minister. Just take a look at what's happening at the NHK headquarters with the new appointees.
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Catseyetiger



Joined: 20 Oct 2009
Posts: 779
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:47 am Reply with quote
Seeing as how the Government here in America has so many issues. Why worry what they do with the shelves in Japan.
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zeo1fan



Joined: 02 Sep 2011
Posts: 1016
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:47 am Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
Japan has been having a stark rise in nationalists since Abe was elected Prime Minister. Just take a look at what's happening at the NHK headquarters with the new appointees.


Dat rise in hate groups.
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RestLessone



Joined: 02 Aug 2009
Posts: 1426
Location: New York
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 10:54 am Reply with quote
Catseyetiger wrote:
Seeing as how the Government here in America has so many issues. Why worry what they do with the shelves in Japan.

People are allowed to provide commentary, support, and opposition to more than one cause. Certainly some issues trump others, but it doesn't nullify them. It's actually an annoying deflection people use to undermine or dismiss a cause--"There are more important problems" or "Why don't we worry about starving children?" and such. (Irony is, many of these people are not heavily involved in the 'more important cause.')
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mgosdin



Joined: 17 Jul 2011
Posts: 1302
Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:07 am Reply with quote
Catseyetiger wrote:
Seeing as how the Government here in America has so many issues. Why worry what they do with the shelves in Japan.


What happens in Japan is important to the US, even seemingly minor things such as how a manga like Barefoot Gen is handled in public schools there.

Turning our backs on the world, turning inward, did not work out well the last time it was tried.

It does not appear to be working any better now.

Mark Gosdin
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AnimeMaine



Joined: 11 May 2009
Posts: 123
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:11 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Japan can have super conservative figures too.

Quote:
So is this actually being pulled because of the depiction of beggars, or is that cover for a right-wing agenda like the other cases?


When I read this I assumed it was a left-wing mayor who objected to
Quote:
"many expressions in the manga that impact human rights," including derogatory terms for beggars and the unemployed.
I do not think we can assume the mayor's political leanings; politicians of both ends of the spectrum often advocate for censorship.
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Sailor S





PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:26 am Reply with quote
This sounds a lot like when The Adventures of Huck Finn was pretty much banned from schools and public libraries because of its use of the word [slur], and subsequent printings of the book no longer used the name [slur] Jim, but rather just called him Jim. I guess I'm curious as to what these offensive terms for beggars and unemployed people are that has them all up in arms over this manga series though.
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DTJB



Joined: 20 Jan 2010
Posts: 671
Location: Dubuque, IA
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:40 am Reply with quote
And the overall point and lessons of this manga still continue to be missed.
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Hiro94



Joined: 21 Sep 2009
Posts: 299
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:58 am Reply with quote
What is with the United States and Japan trying to cover up history?I mean we all know some of history is a lie but why try to hide the facts that everyone is already aware of? It reminds of That politically correct version of Tom Sawer i read 10 years ago in the 5th grade. Injun Joe was changed to Native American joe and N-word Jim was just changed to jim. Ofcourse i wasnt aware the book had been altered until i looked up a summary of the book on the internet.
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7jaws7



Joined: 17 Aug 2013
Posts: 704
Location: New York State
PostPosted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 12:23 pm Reply with quote
When you censor one thing, it's easy to censor another.
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