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© KYODOMinister calls curators of cultural properties 'cancer' that need to be eradicated
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Yubaru
Seems to me that Abe's cabinet ministers have been spreading an infectious variant of "Foot-in-Mouth" disease.
The only way to stop it is to (figuratively speaking) cut off the head and the rest will die off along with it!
Nessie
The government has been trying to make more use of cultural properties by opening them to the public. This is official policy.
Alfie Noakes
Another week, another arrogant, entitled elderly man who doesn't know what he's talking about. What could Mr. Yamamoto's qualifications for this job be?
As ever, the internet is our friend. Let's see:
Nippon Kaigi - check!
Let's do Shinto group - check!
Let's go to Yasukuni group - check!
Abenomics staunch supporter - check!
And there you have it. What kind of future does Japan have with people like these in control of the country?
katsu78
One of the consistent problems we're seeing come out of the Japanese government lately is that politicians say things that aren't necessarily wrong, but completely ineptly phrased with needless aggression. You would think these were punk kids on 2chan, not supposedly dignified representatives of state.
Kozo Yamamoto made the remark Sunday at a seminar in Otsu in western Japan's Shiga Prefecture, arguing that Japan's cultural properties are not being presented in ways that tourists from overseas can easily understand.
This is totally true. And if you can't express this without calling the people who don't know how to market what they love to people with a totally different culture as "cancer", maybe you ought to keep your mouth shut.
kurisupisu
"The worst cancer is the curators. We have to eradicate the lot of them," he said.
Is Mr Yamamoto advocating murder? Is he calling for the death of his fellow Japanese? Surely this is a type of hate speech?
And as a recent visitor to Nijo in Kyoto i found it an excellent experience with or without any type of sign..,,,
Fred Wallace
Opposition party? What opposition party?
bones
ITS AMAZING THAT THESE "OFFICIALS" CAN COMMIT SO MANY GAFFES AND STILL KEEP THEIR POSITIONS! BUT IF AN LOW ON THE TOTEM POLE WORKER WERE TO EVEN DREAM OF SUCH A MISSTEP !!!
itsonlyrocknroll
"The worst cancer is the curators. We have to eradicate the lot of them,"......
If Kozo Yamamoto had a point to make about presentation of Japan's cultural properties to overseas tourists, the comment above steamrollered over it. Trophy winning insensitivity.
"(Yamamoto) is undeserving of the role of a Cabinet minister," said Akira Koike....
It's assigning Yamamoto a position in the queue.
Either in front or behind Japanese Minister of Defense, Tomomi Inada. Then there's gaffe grandmaster disaster reconstruction minister Masahiro 'shut up' Imamura could well sneak in. Not forgetting, the lizzard king of lapsus linguae Deputy PM Taro 'hurry up and die' Aso, yes that was a off the cuff keynote suggestion to aid long term care for the elderly
gogogo
Wrong choice of words but I know many companies that are taking money from the government under the "cool japan" banner and their "contents" is far from entertaining.
kwatt
It seems that stupider and more useless ministers should be eradicated first.
nakanoguy01
if you would stop the abe-bashing for a second and take a look at what he says, it's true. japanese curators do very little to help foreign visitors to museums. i don't know how many times i've gone to an exhibition and have almost no english information available for the artwork. these curators really do need to get with the times and make the experience more enjoyable for foreign tourists.
btw, love the spell check highlight now!!
Striker10
Why does the page reload everytime you up/down vote a comment? Very annoying...
Alex Einz
I actually agree with him on this one, in general majority of curated shows in public museums are just not on par with shows you see abroad , and in terms of larger cultural events it is even worse, tourist - wise , English information is highly lacking ( how its possible that major exhibition doesn't even have English titles for displayed works) and it is even worse for smaller events . Its time to re-school the curators.
Disillusioned
I beg to differ. Most of the museums and historical sites I have visited have tried very hard to accommodate foreign visitors albeit quite poorly. In quite a few cases, their efforts to accommodate foreigners were quite xenophobic and/or prejudiced. Unfortunately, many of these operators do not have foreign language skills or experience dealing with foreigners. I was asked if I could eat pork at a museum restaurant, I mean, my girlfriend was asked because they had no English skills and wouldn't expect a foreigner to speak Japanese. I have fair hair and was drinking a beer when they asked her. They just don't have any idea about foreign cultures. It's not the curators that are the cancer. It is an education system and culture that does not bestow any knowledge of foreign cultures that is the cancer that needs to be eradicated - and this stupid old fart, of course. I wonder what his TOEIC score is.
wildwest
Good point, wrong words.
socrateos
The guy does not deserve such a big picture on top.
Goodlucktoyou
THANKS@alfie. you saved me a lot of time. but i guessed as much. recently went to NIJO castle. all works inside were being renovated. had to pay the full price, just to see the garden and amuteur reproductions.. no information outside that all the treasures were fake.
smithinjapan
Is it any wonder these clowns just say whatever they want without any serious punishment? All they have to do is say later they retract their comments and in Abe's book "that's that".
mukashiyokatta
Replace.
toshiko
Abe needs to learn how to scold and fire officials who degraded him.