Micuko

[thomas]

Hungarian group in Japan regrets TV program mocking Japan

A group of Hungarians living in Japan condemned and issued an apology Friday for a TV show in their country that makes fun of Japanese people, saying they hope it will not harm bilateral ties. "On behalf of the vast majority of the Hungarian nation, we hereby would like to express our deepest apologies to our Japanese friends and the whole Japanese nation," members of the Tokyo branch of the Hungarian Civic Circle, a major civic movement, said in a statement. Broadcast by Hungarian television station TV2, the prime-time program "Micuko -- the world in slanted eyes" pokes fun at everyday Japanese life and Japanese customs. It features a Hungarian TV reporter who wears a black hairpiece and fake teeth and misrepresents herself as a goggled-eyed Japanese woman, using the stunt to surprise and interview Hungarian celebrities. The Japanese Embassy in Budapest earlier filed a protest with TV2, claiming the program gives an inaccurate and biased image of Japan. The station has said it will suspend the show for three months from June and that when it returns it will have a new name and other changes.

=> http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030530/kyodo/d7rbj8f00.html

[Musashi]

Hmmm, I haven't seen it so I can't say whether it was a just decision or not. But shouldn't Kazachstan then file a complaint against Borat aka Ali G? Isn't comedy just comedy? Anyway, I'd love to see it once!

[thomas]

A few days ago I had the chance to watch "Breakfast at Tiffany's". I haven't seen the movie in twenty years, so I forgot about Mickey Rooney acting as Mr. Yunioshi, Holly's idiotic buck-toothed Japanese landlord. Though I'm not exactly an advocate of political correctness, I found his role quite offensive.

Here's an angry article about the movie

=> http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/18/18_yellow.html

[suntory]

ok fact is I am not saying I agree with making a mockery of another person or peoples.
BUT how often do the Japanese make a mockery of white people and black people on their TV????
what about the racism in Japan????
who listens???
you see how it is is Japan is a powerfull country now so its quite simple "Dont knock the Japanese" but on the other hand its ok for them to knock other people with they frequently do.
Infact its very similar to the Jews......the Jews who control Hollywood have never been knocked....but they have knocked everyone out there......even Marlon Brando stated this.
Its comes back to POWER. If Japan was not such a rich country you think the Hungarian Gov. would give a crap??? they would laugh.
its all political.
Anyhow I am not saying its right to knock other people as I have said but believe you me the Japanese are in NO position to cry!!

[Tiger]

Mocking someone else is wrong. Period.

Japanese people rarely mock other ethnic minorities in the way this was done by Hungarian television.

It could be argued that that Bob Sapp clowning around on Japanese TV makes black people look dumb, or the ridiculous white American guy on NHK's Japanese language show may make white Americans look stupid.

The point is though, that it is Bob Sapp (a black man) and the American guy (a white man) who are doing the clowning and sending themselves up. In this case it was someone who was NOT Japanese, dressing up as a Japanese and mocking another ethnic group. I have NEVER seen a Japanese try to dress up as a black, white or any other color in order to mock them (apart from once, during the World Cup, when a bunch of comedians dressed up as Beckham, Ronaldo etc... but then the joke was about football - not their nationality).

Frankly your comments are ill-judged and misplaced. Additionally, If you want to moan about Jewish people, I would suggest that this is completely the wrong forum in which to do it.

Tiger

[Mandylion]

I have, on several prime-time shows over the years, seen Japanese people blacken their faces, or wear wigs and big noses to poke fun at foreigners in Japan. I have usually found these funny though, but I have a pretty liberal sense of humor (a little bit of truth kind of thing). I don't see these bits very often, so that might make a difference. If there was a show in Japan dedicated to making fun of foreigners, I would be mad. However in Japan, Japanese tarento masking foreigner (generic foreigner, not superstar foreigners), as it were, does happen in bit sketches on occassion.

[Hollandi�]

Hungary and Japan have a long history of good relations, which predate their WWII alliance. Hungary and Japan are both considered to be part of a large group of (Uralic-Finn-Turk-Mongol) countries sometimes called "Turan" and some Hungarian words are related to Japanese, for instance Hungarian 'katona' (military) is like Japanese katana.

This Judit Stahl lady is not ethnic Hungarian by her name, nonetheless the TV station should not have allowed this on the air. They probably felt they could get away with it because Japanese are not very numerous in Hungary and Hungarian TV shows are not really exported anywhere.

I did watch a skit from Japanese tv where a family spoke in black lingo the whole time, it was all in good fun and hilarious.

[Satori]

I agree with Thomas and Tiger on this one.

[senseiman]

It is kind of true that it works both ways. Does anyone watch Akashiya sanma's Kara Kuri Terebi? Its a comedy show, saturday at 7:00. They have one skit every week where these three black guys -Bobby, Eric and I forget the other guy's name - go around trying to speak Japanese in various situations. The comedy bit comes from their broken Japanese, they have a white guy 'minder' who speaks fluent Japanese and whacks them on the head whenever they make a mistake.

Its all just an act, I think the guys can really speak Japanese fluently and just screw up to get laughs. I have kind of mixed feelings about the show. The guys can be really funny at times, especially Eric. They have good timing and know how to make people laugh. But the only reason its popular is because Japanese people enjoy the spectacle of stupid foreigners making fools of themselves trying to speak the oh-so complicated Japanese language. I think it must instil a kind of smug feeling in the audience to see these guys having so much trouble with their language. Its not really offensive, but whenever I watch it I get an uncomfortable feeling.

[Uncle Frank]

I hate shows that stir up feelings of hate towards others. I feel like a puppet on strings when a story on war or terrorism makes me so angry.

Frank