China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites.
In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products.
China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.”
Photo: AFP
The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in sports and culture.”
Last month, a Pokemon card game event that was scheduled at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo for Jan. 31 was canceled after Chinese backlash.
The shrine commemorates the 2.5 million Japanese soldiers who died in war, including 30,304 Taiwanese.
Countries that were targets of Japanese aggression, especially China and the Koreas, see visits to the shrine as a lack of remorse about Japan’s wartime past.
China condemned the Pokemon Co for holding an event at a shrine, with the People’s Daily saying that enterprises “must not make light of the heavy weight of history in the name of entertainment.”
The article also condemned table tennis player Tomokazu Harimoto for praying at the Togo Shrine, which is dedicated to Togo Heihachiro, an admiral in the First Sino-Japanese War who China sees as a pioneer of Japanese militarist expansionism.
It also referenced the Japanese boy band Rampage, whose choreography was previously criticized for resembling the Nazi salute.
The Japanese right wing is using mediums widely consumed by young people — such as sports, idols, anime and textbooks — to instill a fictional version of history that lays the groundwork for a revival of Japanese militarism, the article said.
Additional reporting by CNA and AP
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