Several groups in Greater Kaohsiung are calling for the removal of certain episodes of the popular Japanese cartoon Doraemon (哆啦A夢) to protect children’s mental and physical health, saying that it promotes schoolyard bullying.
The cartoon is about a cat-shaped robot sent back in time by its owner to help the owner’s great grandfather.
Greater Kaohsiung Teachers’ Union head Tung Shu-you (董書攸) said that while the bullying scenes in the Doraemon comic appear in only one or two frames, the televised version shows the scenes uninterrupted and can imprint itself on children’s minds.
Web screenshot by Hung Ting-hung, Taipei Times
“We must filter out such programs to ensure our children grow up to be fit psychologically,” Tung said.
Tung, an elementary-school teacher, said many cartoon shows on television contain verbal or physical violence and bullying that is unsuitable for children.
“As Doraemon is very well-liked among children, it has a greater influence over children with its scenes of bullying,” Tung said. “We strongly call for the National Communications Commission (NCC) to withdraw the more violent scenes, and any other shows with similar scenes, from the air.”
One blog recently carried an article titled “Bullying in ‘Doraemon’” in which the blogger wrote: “This is not a cartoon series fit to be watched by children over many years,” adding that the character Takeshi Gouda always tried to get what he wanted and resorted to violence whenever he met with events he did not like.
The blogger said “this is a type of person often seen in schools” and if such people banded together with others, like Takeshi teams up with Honekawa Suneo in the cartoon, “it would be frightening to think: ‘What if your child met with such occurrences at school?’”
The blogger also questioned China Television’s choice to broadcast such shows during the primetime 6pm slot.
A woman surnamed Chiu (邱) agreed with the blog’s content and said that although she taught her children not to pattern their behavior after Takeshi, she was still worried that the show would influence her children.
Adding warning messages to the show would not help at all, Chiu said, adding that she had simply banned her children from watching the show.
Chou Chen (周珍), director of the Down Syndrome Association’s southern office agreed with Tung, saying Takeshi’s violence could easily unconsciously cause children to behave badly.
When reached for comment, commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝誠) on Monday said that the NCC respects the concerns voiced by experts and parents and would forward the issue to its program and advertisement consultation committee for deliberation.
Additional reporting by Kan Chih-chi
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS