On the outside, Japan may seem to be a peaceful and modern country which accepts foreigners to visit with whole heart, however, there is still a bit of a dark side to that as racism and xenophobia are still rampant in the country.
Japan is currently plagued by anti-immigrant and anti-ethnic Korean demonstrations led by a political organization known as the Zaitokukai, or Zainichi Tokken o Yurusanai Shimin no Kai – Association of Citizens against the Special Privileges of the Zainichi. They are protesting against the rights of immigrants, particularly those of Korean descent known as the Zainichi Koreans.
Examples of these Zainichi Koreans include the voice actress and singer, Pile, best known to fans as the voice behind Love Live!’s Maki Nishikino, as well as Romi Park, best known for voicing Zoe Hange in Attack on Titan. And now, several otaku have marched to Akihabara to defend foreigners and protest against the clear discrimination
The protest was spurred on when a neo-Nazi anti-foreigner group went to Akihabara to protest against foreigners and demanded for the to “Go Home”. Well, this clearly did not sit well for many otakus who organized a counter-racist rally of their own.
秋葉原で「在日外国人は出て行け」系のデモをやっててそのデモに反対する人がこんな段幕を掲げていた。そう。オタクに国境はないのだ。 pic.twitter.com/wfUeT8jzzt
— Simon_Sin (@Simon_Sin) May 17, 2015
Here are a few photos taken from that anti-racism rally
The Love Live! and shinto holy land known as the Kanda Shrine, even has some emas written by Koreans to show their love for Love Live!, and this has become one of the rallying cries for the movement as anime fandoms really don’t have any borders.
『ラブライブ！』の“聖地”に奉納された韓国人ファンの絵馬。OTAKUは国境を越え、#yuri も国境を越える！ pic.twitter.com/PsAb40mPre
— 百合魔王オッシー (@herfinalchapter) May 17, 2015
Well, racism is still a serious issue in Japan, and the country’s otakus standing up to them is surely a welcome sight for many
Don’t miss a single update from SGCafe! Follow us on Twitter: @SGCafe
Read more on your favorite anime here on Sgcafe! Also, join in on the community’s discussions at http://forums.sgcafe.com
source: Crunchyroll
Otakus march to Akihabara to protest against racism in Japan
No comments:
Post a Comment