Kamiya's Replies To Kotaku Cross The Line
Posted on Friday, January 11 @ 08:24:00 Eastern by Heath_Hindman
In the ongoing Kamiya vs. Kotaku showdown, the well-known Platinum Games designer recently made a slight misstep in the handling of his offensive toward the game blog. When replying to certain Tweets, he has used variations of the line "クソ馬鹿ガイジン", or "damn stupid foreigners".
For a high-ranking member of a company speaking in a public forum, this is unacceptable. Some people, in Kamiya's defense, have pointed out that the Japanese word "gaijin," meaning "foreigner," is not offensive. And they are correct, it isn't. The word on its own has nowhere near the negative connotations associated with racial slurs we hear Stateside—you know the ones I'm talking about.
But the point Kamiya's internet defenders are missing is this: He's using the term in a way that sounds like a man's foreignness is grounds for disregarding something he said. There's much more to communication that the words used; context and climate are huge factors as well.
To say, "多くの外人が毎年東京に行く" (every year, lots of foreigners go to Tokyo) is completely fine. But when a foreign person says something to you, even if it's totally ridiculous, saying "Damn stupid foreigners" is the kind of thing that places you right next to the dumbass asking the stupid question that got you so angry.
Imagine it another way. "Women" is by no means an offensive word, right? But acknowledge that in this world, men and women probably say, approximately, an equal amount of completely inane bullshit. Right? Right. So now imagine that several times in a row, females ask you, a male, a string of stupid questions (ladies, reverse the roles for this hypothetical; I'm a dude so I'm writing this as one). Is it okay for you to respond with "No! Fuck off! Gah, damn stupid women!"? Hell no it isn't. That's a dickhead response, right there, because even though it might not necessarily be true, and even though you might not have ill feelings towards all women, it looks like the reason for your dismissal of the question is the fact that it's being asked by a woman.
Similarly, while "foreigner" or "gaijin" isn't derogatory, it makes you look like a super tool when you use that way.
As a foreign national who lives and will one day die in Japan, I see this sort of thing all the time. One recent example relates to the nuclear power plant shutdowns that are happening across Japan in the wake of the 2011 tsunami. One problem, and suddenly, 80% of Japanese people (according to polls) want every single nuclear plant shut down, despite this area having few other options that would be as clean, as efficient, or affordable. (Well, geothermal is an option, but that would kill many of the country's bath houses, so whoa, whoa, that's off the table right away.)
This is kind of a knee-jerk reaction, based on little more than the emotions of the disaster, but what happens when I point that out? It's virtually a race to see who can be the first to point out that I wasn't born here and therefore my opinion is biased and invalid. The present tense doesn't matter, just the birth certificate and native language. Doesn't matter that I live and pay taxes here, doesn't matter that my kids will go to school here, doesn't matter that I have been to Iwate prefecture to clean up tsunami wreckage.
Is this attitude that of all Japan? No. Is xenophobia exclusive to Japan? Of course not. But the point remains that any foreigner living here will eventually see this very thing pop up: your thoughts will be labeled as invalid because you are foreign. That adds another layer to just how dumb Kamiya's comments are.
Kotaku may have made a bit of a blunder with its inflammatory headline, and Kamiya didn't do anything wrong in lashing out against such things. It's deflating, however, to see "Damn stupid foreigners" used as a go-to reply to non-Japanese people who happen to say dumb things. No matter how stupid a question or comment, a blowoff reply that brings the commenter's nationality, race, religion, social status, or gender into the mix is simply inappropriate.
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E3 2013 has been very silent for me. There's tons of media, but most of it buzzes past my ears without them catching the important keyword that my ears are fine tuned to receive: "PC" or "Personal Computer". Microsoft, Sony, EA and Ubisoft have all shown their cards...
majorcoxsore
Joined: Nov 2012
Nick_Tan
Joined: Jul 2006
danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009
Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011
What makes me think so even more is that he has done it again and again and again; he's used this line and variations of it a LOT, meaning it's more than just a slip-up in the heat of the moment. We all say dumb stuff that we regret or doesn't reflect how we actually feel, but with his use of things like "dumb effing foreigner," it's happening repeatedly. That's where it gets especially uncool.
oblivion437
Joined: Nov 2006
Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011
They were also after the "Damn Stupid Foreigner" remarks. I feel that NEITHER one is justified, and the Hiroshima comments are way worse.
oblivion437
Joined: Nov 2006
MasterRabbi
Joined: May 2007
elmoreoocyte
Joined: Apr 2012
Sammo
Joined: Oct 2005
sandineyes
Joined: May 2008
WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010
Not disagreeing with you Heath, your article is still perfectly valid.
Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011
He is a Jew and he is saying dumb things, and "Jew" is not a hateful slur, but in that context, bringing his religion into it is out of bounds.
WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010
I'm not saying it's totally cool to go around calling people stupid ****ing foreigners, just saying it doesn't really bother me in this situation.
Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011
It doesn't matter what the Jewish person said, when the rebuttal *brings up* things about the other person, that are different from you (the speaker), they'd better be relevant to your point, else the whole matter is way out of line. What you're seeing as different is that you're used to "stupid" and "Jew" being derogatory together, but since people don't like Kotaku, it's altering the way people see the situation.
"It's all okay or none of it's okay" is kind of how I feel.
I don't say "Ugh, stupid freaking Japanese people" when locals here do or say stupid things (which happens just as often as it would in any other country) because their nationality has nothing to do with their stupidity -- be they speaking about any topic.
WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010
WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010
Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011
"Kuso" for damn, "Baka" for stupid, and "Gaijin" for foreigners. That's a pretty direct shot. It doesn't matter if the criticism is about a part of Japanese culture from outside Japan, as two wrongs don't make a right. If he wants to say "Your perspective is biased because you live outside Japan" well maybe that's fine, or if he wants to say "You are a total a**hole shut the f*** up, that's fine too. But to say "Damn stupid foreigners" as your reply? That IS the same thing as what I'm demonstrating above. It IS out of bounds and takes things down a level.
WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010
Anyway, that was a good civil discussion in my opinion, far better than anything I'd expect to have over the internet hahaha, and as I said I think the article is great.
Sebastian_Moss
Joined: Apr 2011
KoalaRainbowPoop
Joined: Feb 2009
you are a idiot heath. koutaku is the national esquire of video game journalism. kamyia is one of the few good game developers left. you don't know anything about journalism, and i should know since i have no idea about journalism. but i still know more about it than you.
(now you know how it feels)
p.s.
nice article
Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011
You chose a rather unfortunate sentence upon which to stumble....
My sympathies.
oblivion437
Joined: Nov 2006
omnimodis78
Joined: Jul 2012
Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011
I didn't ask them to accept me as Japanese, I asked them to accept valid statement instead of disregarding them because I white person said them.
Question: do you feel the same about legal immigrants to your country (wherever that is)?
When someone born outside your country -- who is now a citizen of your country -- says something like "I think assault rifles should be more strictly regulated" or something similar, do you say "Oh jeez, thanks but no thanks, you foreigner."?
Because I mean, by what you said above, you should. So I'm asking: do you?
oblivion437
Joined: Nov 2006
This whole conversation is bizarre to me.
Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011
I know I'm a foreigner. But "Kuso baka na gaijin" is a pretty rude phrase. To say "You damn stupid foreigner" isn't okay, just as me saying "You damn stupid woman" to a lady isn't okay.