http://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/14266148
Nippon Television Network Corp. took the unusual step of using a news program to apologize for anoth
Nippon Television Network Corp. took the unusual step of using a news program to apologize for another program that on March 12 used a pejorative to refer to the nation’s indigenous Ainu people.
In the program that aired, a comedian used the word “inu,” which means “dog” and was apparently intended as a pun on Ainu, when a documentary about an Ainu woman shown on the Hulu streaming video service was introduced.
According to Jirota Mokottunas Kitahara, an associate professor at Hokkaido University’s Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies, dog has been used to belittle the Ainu people since olden days.
“After watching the broadcast, I could not concentrate on my work,” said Kitahara, whose mother is Ainu. “While I realize from what came before and after the comment that there was a positive intention to introduce the documentary, I believe it is a serious matter to broadcast a word that has caused trauma to many people over the years.”
He added: “The video was originally meant to focus on the importance of diversity. I hope this issue is taken up to show how utterly insensitive a major media company was toward an important domestic topic.”
In response to questions, an official with Nippon Television Network expressed a deep apology and promised to make efforts to prevent a recurrence, saying:
“We lacked the appropriate understanding that the expression constituted discrimination and there was insufficient checking before the broadcast. As a result, we ended up broadcasting an inappropriate expression that hurt the Ainu people without making the proper judgement.”
(This article was written by Yusuke Miyata and Takumi Ono.)
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Personally, I find this apology pathetic. These adult-ass Japanese media professionals didn't check with any about whether or not it's okay to use a KNOWN SLUR against an Indigenous Woman, calling her a fucking dog. It was a judgment call, made by writers, the graphics and subtitle department, producers... this has to go thru so many people and all of them said, yes. Call that woman a dog.
You can't save face when you have two of them, and none of these people had the spine to even admit they made a bad judgment call, claiming ignorance on a racial slur every Ainu child in Japan has heard their Wajin classmates call them.
Shame on Nippon Television Network Corp.
Shame on Hulu. Shame on Disney. Shame on Japan.
Yeah I call bs. You never call ANYONE a dog in Japanese. This guy knew what he was doing and honestly thought he'd get away with it.
