re: Japanese people are targeting the historian Ubisoft relied on for their black samurai

quote:

---

I think Yasuke was always meant to be a "secondary" character, even though you can play a large portion of the game with him. Ubisoft has a history of this, they intially want to lean in on a female protagonist but eventually crater and tack on either a male version of it or do the Odyssey thing of brother and sister. The voice acting for Alexios and male Evior were pretty bad compared to Kassandra and the female version.

---

quote:

---

Split protagonists tends to water down the story or at least it did with Syndicate.

---

quote:

---

Male/Female version of the same character is the way to go.

---

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

quote:

---

Shadows is such an affront to the Japanese that their prime minister brought it up before their parliament.

---

quote:

---

The Assassin’s Creed Shadows question was asked by Japanese politician and member of the House of Councillors of Japan, Hiroyuki Kada. Kada, who will campaign for re-election this summer, said:

“I fear that allowing players to attack and destroy real-world locations in the game without permission could encourage similar behavior in real life. Shrine officials and local residents are also worried about this. Of course, freedom of expression must be respected, but acts that demean local cultures should be avoided.”

Prime Minister Ishiba responded:

“How to address this legally is something we need to discuss with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Defacing a shrine is out of the question - it is an insult to the nation itself. When the Self-Defense Forces were deployed to Samawah, Iraq, we ensured they studied Islamic customs beforehand. Respecting the culture and religion of a country is fundamental, and we must make it clear that we will not simply accept acts that disregard them.”

---

quote:

---

Those are accurate translations of the exchange, but what’s the context surrounding them? Our colleagues at IGN Japan helped us understand the situation.

What needs to be understood here is that Japan has seen record numbers of overseas visitors in the wake of the country reopening its borders after the pandemic and the lure of the weak yen. In this government budget meeting the politician Hiroyuki Kada twinned his complaints against Shadows with the controversial subject of what he called “over tourism” and an attendant perceived rise in vandalism and graffiti in Japan.

His argument is that if players are able to deface a temple or harm individuals with a katana in the game, they may be inspired to do it in real life when they visit Japan, similar to the age-old argument that Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto inspire copycat violence.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba responded that if such actions were taken in real life, he would oppose them, but the “if” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. His comments were aimed at theoretical real-life copycat actions rather than at the game itself.

The shrine being defaced in Shadows gameplay videos online is Itatehyozu Shrine in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, which is within Kada’s constituency. He said that he has consulted with representatives of the shrine who say that Ubisoft did not seek their permission to show the shrine and use its name in the game.

While Masaki Ogushi (Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry) responded that government agencies will work together to handle matters “if the shrine seeks consultation,”, that again is a big if, and anyway, in a work of artistic expression Ubisoft would probably be clear legally to use the shrine anyway under the Constitution of Japan.

Responses from both ministers were vague at best and seem unlikely to result in any particular action, especially as Ubisoft appears to have addressed these concerns proactively with a day-one patch – showing they may be more sensitive to the feelings of Japanese citizens than Kada gave them credit for.

---