The caption mistakenly reads "child abuse promotion character" instead of "child abuse prevention promotional character." Photo: YouTube
national

Tokyo gov't website ridiculed for child abuse snafu

22 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

22 Comments
Login to comment

The mistake was pointed out by a resident and fixed Tuesday, two months after the errant text was first placed on the site following its April 10 relaunch. An external contractor was outsourced for the project, according to the officials.

Proof once again that far too many people dont pay attention to what they read on the internet!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

A character to raise awareness of such a horrid act? Just deal with the problem like a normal country please Japan

9 ( +11 / -2 )

They were trying to promote the awareness of child abuse or the prevention of it.

What is the correct phrase?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

A character to raise awareness of such a horrid act? Just deal with the problem like a normal country please Japan

I agree it is weird to have a mascot for every little thing including that which is crime-related. In Japan, cuteness is big business.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

How about forgoing the kawaii nonsense and actually tackling the problem.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Just deal with the problem like a normal country please Japan

For a change

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Yubaru

Also proof of exactly how effective yet another mascot character is at raising attention about an issue.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

More cartoons, mascots and stuffed toys for the adult children. Child abuse is a very serious issue and is increasing in both frequency and callousness in Japan. It’s difficult to take it seriously when awareness campaigns have a childish cartoon mascot. Grow up Japan!

7 ( +7 / -0 )

I'd like to know how much taxpayer money was spent on the creation of this infantile doodle, money which could have been spent much more wisely on actually doing something about child abuse.

What kind of idiot can read about Yua Funato, begging her evil parents for forgiveness for playing and promising never to play again - at age 5 - before they beat and starved her to death, then say to himself, "Hmmm, what we need here is a snail mascot"?

It makes me weep.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Maybe if the cute mascot was beaten, sexually abused, starved, locked outside, torn apart, then the message might get through to the public.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

yet more infantile nonsense from Japan, just deal with the problem and stop messing about.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Japan as always does it in cute way but makes mistakes in such terrible way.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I thought at first glance the "mascots" were two children with a tot in a snail blanket. Certainly did not read it as two adults with their child. Even the kawaii kara doodle is unsuccesful.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Those children will be abused at school by having their hair forcibly dyed. As usual, as with all things “hard to talk about” they “foreignize" it, at least this time they are using actual Japanese, not the usual hiragana version from another language -- even when they have their own word for the crime, such as rape, domestic abuse etc. This country: grow up!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

As a non-Japanese person, I also cringe at the cute mascots everywhere, and particularly for serious issues like this. But, in an effort to try to understand... Anyone who has looked at and experimented with online article readership and hit-rate knows that an article with a picture will always do better than a text-only article. Articles with videos do better. Articles with catchy, clever headlines of a certain length do better than those that are too long, too short, not clear enough, not clever enough. And so on. I think we'd all like to believe that we're better than that... "I'm a discerning, intelligent adult. I judge content based on its own merit. I'm not easily swayed by the bells and whistles." But the data states very, very clearly and consistently that the opposite is true. The public at large is strongly influenced by these things. (And while I have no data or experience regarding kawaii Japanese mascots, I'm sure they provide a similar bump to readership that all the

other decorative elements do.)

So if you have a really important, life-saving message (like child abuse prevention) that you want to spread to as many people as possible... wouldn't you use those same strategies too?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well done, Japan. I swear, the editors Japan hires to do promotion...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Moron's they are to blame not the 1000yen / hour outsourced company.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Child abuse shouldn’t be cute to begin with. I’m not a fan of assigning a cartoon character to everything.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

What? You expected them to actually know something about what they are talking about and not just pay lip service to it? You thought there would be something to make you think and applaud? Well, this is what they almost always produce. Some stupid new mascot. Instead of characters representing what seems to be kids who look way too young to be taking care of a "child" (snail), maybe they could have put adult-looking ones there and skip the "cute" snail. It takes away from what you are trying to promote when you treat everything like one cute little problem. Cute doesn't work in everything so leave out the snail. Try something different and show a bunch of real people who look like an average family, talk and act politetly to each other and with the whole family being nice to each other; no silly catchphrases or dumb gimmicks.. It could even cover several forms of domestic abuse, but that is just my two cents.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Derek-Grebe

What kind of idiot can read about Yua Funato, begging her evil parents for forgiveness for playing and promising never to play again - at age 5 - before they beat and starved her to death, then say to himself, "Hmmm, what we need here is a snail mascot"?

Ahh...

I read about her!

Her sufferings will be turned-&-twisted into something insidiously-palatable if the masses end-up doing what they always do: Taking the lid of pressure off, as they always do.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Cricky:

Maybe if the cute mascot was beaten, sexually abused, starved, locked outside, torn apart, then the message might get through to the public."

You can read or buy from your local manga rack or store.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites