The US Government's Mario, Pokemon and Naruto Meme Posting Could Damage These Franchises, Japanese Officials Warn (ign.com)
- Reference: 0184881698
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/08/06/186237/the-us-governments-mario-pokemon-and-naruto-meme-posting-could-damage-these-franchises-japanese-officials-warn
- Source link: https://www.ign.com/articles/the-us-governments-mario-pokmon-and-naruto-meme-posting-could-damage-these-franchises-japanese-officials-warn
> Official US government social media accounts, including The White House's X account, have posted various memes and videos using characters from popular Japanese anime and games over the past year. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly called on the US government to cease uploading such posts, stating that "It's inappropriate even for public institutions to reproduce copyrighted materials without the rightsholders' consent." This concern was voiced by Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi [4]in a parliamentary session back in April, when he made direct reference to a pro-war video that used Nintendo's Wii Sports.
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> However, according to [5]a report by Mainichi Shimbun this week, the Japanese Ministry called on the Trump administration to stop using IPs like Naruto, Pokemon and Mario at least twice more this June through the US Embassy in Japan. Japan requested that the US administration take into account the potential damage to these IPs when used without permission in US policy and pro-war related content.
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> [...] It's not just the Japanese government and related parties who have spoken out against these posts. They have also sparked backlash from Japanese anime fans. Notably, self-proclaimed manga and anime fan Nana Suzuki kicked off the "Protect Japanese Manga" petition on Change.org, which has received international news coverage (from the [6]New York Times , [7]BBC and others). The organizer claims to have submitted their petition to the Japanese Cabinet Office back in March, as well as alerting Japanese politicians to the US government's unauthorized use of Japanese IPs, potentially drawing more official attention to the issue.
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> Renewed backlash was triggered in June, when President Trump shared an AI-generated video depicting himself as Naruto, the protagonist of the popular manga and anime of the same name, on Truth Social. This prompted the petition organizer to reopen the petition "as an urgent effort to convey our protest and concern regarding this matter to the rights holders and to work in solidarity to lobby the Japanese government." The Naruto clip also prompted renewed discussion of this issue in Japan's media and government. As reported in the [8]Hokkaido Shimbun and others, Cabinet Minister Kimi Onoda was asked about it in a June 12th press conference. She emphasized that "obtaining permission from the copyright holder is the underlying principle for fair use," and stated that this position had been conveyed to the US government multiple times through diplomatic channels.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ex9n8gxdwo
[2] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/white-houses-use-of-internet-memes-to-promote-iran-war-sparks-criticism
[3] https://www.ign.com/articles/the-us-governments-mario-pokmon-and-naruto-meme-posting-could-damage-these-franchises-japanese-officials-warn
[4] https://www.47news.jp/14165595.html
[5] https://mainichi.jp/articles/20260803/k00/00m/010/133000c
[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/world/asia/trump-anime-manga-japan-memes.html?smid=url-share
[7] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdx7vynyl4eo
[8] https://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/article/1324075/
Or they could ... (Score:1)
... just replace references to roach motels with Trump hotels in exterminator ads.
Re: (Score:2)
Someone up vote this idea. I was thinking the Japanese could do an anime version of the 2018 TV series "Our Cartoon President" given none of the USA broadcasters would dare do another season it under the current regime.
Funny how looking back on the TV comedies "Brain Dead" 2016 and "The Brink" 2015 they suddenly feel less funny given the batshit crazy things happen in the USA now. I get the felling if you pitched a TV series back in 2015 based on stuff trump has actually done it would have been rejecte
Remember Pearl Harbor? (Score:1)
Yeah, pay back is a bitch!
Re: (Score:2)
Total US casualties at the hand of Japan during World War II came to about 406,000, of which the majority were military personnel.
Total Japanese casualties at the hand of the USA were about 2.1 to 3.1 million, of which about 800,000 to 1 million were civilians.
So, it seems the USA got enough "payback" from Japan already during WW II, and then some.
Re: (Score:2)
Ssshhhh, Americans don't like hearing the truth.
Poor Japanese (Score:3)
Expecting respect from the current US government.
Re: Respond like an American (Score:2)
Swamp them with offensive counter memes which can be 100% correct characterizations of the idiot as well as portraying Americans as being like their dear leader, who they supported despite knowing he was scum.
Villains in most those shows are not as evil as our dictator, it's harming even them. I suggest using American "IP" for the counter measures because we have a wealth of fat, ugly, idiotic, evil characters to borrow from that might even be understood by the dictator as offensive. (Just do not pick stro
Re: (Score:2)
> Swamp them with offensive counter memes which can be 100%
that's actually what they're trying to copy/counter in the first place, it's been around for months: [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
and like everything else so far ... it's not going well and blowing up in their face.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOa9JFRHXBA
Re: (Score:2)
In Japanese anime it is interesting the lengths that they go to to change brand names, even when they are being used completely incidentally and not in a negative manor. On the other hand they can sometimes be pretty brutal in the stereo typing of generic foreign characters.
That said you are right, they could take the gloves off on this issue. It could be pretty entertaining. However I think they are trying to take the moral high ground to avoid vindictive tariffs from a thin skinned trump who doesn't
"Obtaining permission from the copyright holder" (Score:2)
> "When Cabinet Minister Kimi Onoda was asked about it in a June 12th press conference, she emphasized that 'obtaining permission from the copyright holder is the underlying principle for fair use.'"
Wait till everyone in Japan finds out that is not the case for fair use in the USA!
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, that's not what fair use means in US law. But I really doubt that a case could be made that this was fair use.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, that's not a step required under the US view of fair use. Why do you think the case couldn't be made? I'm pretty sure it could be and would prevail.
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> The video, posted by the Homeland Security X account and the White House on TikTok, shows several arrests made by border patrol and ICE agents alongside Pokkmon's slogan "Gotta catch 'em all".
> It also features footage from the opening credits of Pokkmon's anime TV show with main character Ash Ketchum.
> The video ends with images of fake Pokémon trading cards featuring the mugshots of men and women arrested by ICE and their alleged crimes.
Sure sounds like they would fail factors #3 and #4 here, and p
Re: (Score:2)
The lawyers (and IANAL) already understand that, which is why they're stressing the "potential damage to these IPs" angle.
Fair use as it applies to a political campaign has four main tests:
The purpose of the infringing use (must be transformative, which this is);
The nature of the work (creative, which this is, receives less protection than factual);
The amount of material and its importance in the original context (each infringement here is tiny); and
The impact on the market for the original work.
IMO
Re: "Obtaining permission from the copyright holde (Score:2)
"The purpose of the infringing use (must be transformative, which this is);"
No, that's not all purpose means. It's also whether it's for educational purposes, ior for critique, which are both valid reasons; or for profit, which is not. And since this whole presidency is a grift, there is undoubtedly a profit motive.
Re: (Score:2)
I apologize if "purpose" was a poor word choice. The applicable test is whether or not it's being used verbatim or in a transformative way.
Political campaigns are inherently informative (in a "free speech" sense) and non-profit. While commercial use matters in general, it'd be a seriously uphill battle to claim a profit motive - even if they're spewing disinformation and raking in the cash.
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I think the Japanese cabinet minister merely misspoke, without understanding the meaning of "fair use" in the USA.
Japan doesn't call it "fair use" but rather grants exceptions to copyright protections in highly specific situations. Basically it's apples and oranges. Too much detail to cover here, and I'm no expert, just someone who can read what Google Gemini tells me.
Pfffft (Score:2)
Sounds like some suits don't appreciate some seriously dank content. Boomers!
dumbass (Score:1)
Doesn't he know he's supposed to play the fiddle while he destroys his country?
Go to court ... (Score:3)
Go to court, the USA protects copyrights.
Re: Go to court ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Copyright does not protect selective enforcement and Courts look at the use itself - such as parody, education, or criticism.
No case here which is why they are whinging in the public square
Re: (Score:3)
Selective enforcement would be a different crime, also something once could challenge in court.
Fair use has a narrow interpretation, and will be balanced against harm to the brand.
Re: (Score:3)
> Copyright does not protect selective enforcement
Hmm. That [1]does not appear to be the case. [georgetown.edu] One holding a copyright could simply claim that certain uses harm the value of their public image where others do not. Or one could break copyright by backing a grassroots movement to use IP without permission, resulting in the copyright holder having to pursue every little case. Now pardon me while I break out a Kleenex and cry for our corporate overlords.
[1] https://www.law.georgetown.edu/georgetown-law-journal/in-print/volume-113/volume-113-issue-5-may-2025/selective-enforcement/
Re: (Score:2)
> Copyright does not protect selective enforcement and Courts look at the use itself - such as parody, education, or criticism.
None of which apply to the US government's current use of these memes. They're using them to express their own geopolitical stances.
> No case here which is why they are whinging in the public square
The Japanese rights-holders have a strong case against the US government for copyright infringement. The US government's use of the memes doesn't qualify as fair use.
On the other hand, suing the US government is not an easy task. The US government can claim sovereign immunity, or "allow" themselves to be sued under various acts of Congress. Not to mention there is potential dip
Re: (Score:3)
> Not to mention there is potential diplomatic harm to the US-Japan relationship.
The mere existence of the current admin is potential diplomatic harm. Is there any nation out there that the orange guy hasn't pissed off?
Re: Go to court ... (Score:4, Informative)
> Is there any nation out there that the orange guy hasn't pissed off?
Russia, North Korea, and other countries who's dictators he admires.
Re: Go to court ... (Score:2)
You say there's no case but your example valid uses didn't apply here, it's nice when bullshit is obviously self-contradictory, thanks for that
Re: (Score:2)
You are thinking of trademark, which is protect-it-or-lose-it. You can be as capricious about enforcing copyright as you want. In this case both the copyright of the individual images is being violated as well as the trademark on the characters/ franchise.
Go to Court... then face Retaliation? (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure, they can go to court to challenge them. They may even get a few bucks out of it. However, that's not going to make up for when the Federal government responds by deporting Nintendo USA's senior leadership and slapping a tariff on their products.
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> Sure, they can go to court to challenge them. They may even get a few bucks out of it. However, that's not going to make up for when the Federal government responds by deporting Nintendo USA's senior leadership and slapping a tariff on their products.
Actually they could go to court for that too. And collect damages for the original case and this new case.
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Yea, and ask the rest of the world how progress is going on stopping tariffs thru the US court system? Far safer for Japan to complain than actually take action. There is merit in the idea of knowing to only pick a fight you can win.
Re: (Score:1)
No one is surprised, he'll keep doing it. Has he been fined for any of the music he has used without permission? I have lost count of the number of artists who have told him to stop using their copyrighted music at his rallies, or later puffery pressers. And the Japanese owe him in his mind. We just helped with a currency intervention. He probably already told them to STFU or we will stop helping. He is such a petty man.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, but we also appear to have different rules about fair use. Did you note the quote in the last sentence?
I want to be Luigi (Score:2)
Are you suggesting they play "Mario Court"? I'm in!!