Drawing that parodies Tokyo Olympic logo pulled from FCCJ website

"In the media in Japan, many of my colleagues feel very much annoyed by the restrictions on parody, and on the the TV footage," Azhari said. "There are so many restrictions here. I hope this incident will be a very good chance to open a good discussion about this issue in Japan."

Amen!

I can't believe any of the editors and journalists could point out this is pure plagiarism before it went published.

I can't believe any of the editors and journalists could point out this is pure plagiarism before it went published.

Parody is not plagiarism in much of the civilized/developed world.

I'm trying to figure out who was damaged by this illustration, which was privately circulated among a few hundred members of a club of mostly foreign journalists.

The Olympic Games are not sacrosanct. And it would seem that threats of gratuitous (and expensive) lawsuits will further serve to constrain freedom of expression in Japan.

Parody, imitation, satire in J political life is met with intolerant bewilderment.

It can be considered unacceptable behavior.

I have mixed satiric sarcasm, with lashings of deadpan irony and have upset and enraged so many I have lost count.

The FCCJ were hit with a SLAPP, that is a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, which are intended to silence criticism and intimidate the target. The Japanese Olympic Commitee has unlimited funds, the FCCJ has nothing much, which means the FCCJ would either lose or be financially exhausted.

Many US states have anti-SLAPP laws to protect freedom of speech and the EU is moving in that direction too. Well-known targets of SLAPP actions are British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalldr, who investigated secret funding of the Leave EU Campaign and the family of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who worked on the Panama Papers.

For the JOC to attack the FCCJ like this is a ludicrous over-reaction that reflects very badly on freedom of expression in Japan.

FCCJ showed how toothless and weak they are.

Same as all media here in Japan, the FCCJ plays the same games, if they want "stories" they have to play along!

I suspected yesterday something like this would happen. Parody in Japan seems only to extend as far as lame imitations of celebrities. Biting mockery of authority figures like we’re used to in the West seems an alien concept here in Japan. And the country is much the worse for it.

Many tourist places in Japan have stands selling parody T-shirts with variations of the Puma and Adidas logos or the Suntory Boss coffee logo redrawn as a baldie with "BOZU" in the Boss font. I have seen them many many times, and each one is a 100% commercial use of someone else's stuff. Maricar even, they got away with blatant use of Nintendo's trade dress rights for years.

I suspect the problem here is the FCCJ is a small organization with shallow pockets and its easier to desist than pay someone to fight a case that political influence may not let them win. Without political influence, I think a judge would rule in their favour if the judgement were based on principles.

itsonlyrocknroll: I have mixed satiric sarcasm, with lashings of deadpan irony and have upset and enraged so many I have lost count.

Parody and sarcasm are excellent forms of education. I love it because it points out our blind spots and helps people look past their self centered view of things. It’s too bad that the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee has such thin skin. We all benefit from parody (and sarcasm). It doesn’t typically change people’s minds but can help us better understand why we believe certain things and allows for re-evaluation.

FCCJ is a joke that serves little value. Always quick to take up anything that goes against the system - numerous examples over the years (Ghosn, etc) and now they resort to this to try to be in the spotlight. I have zero time for them.

Action to pull the drawing came after the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee demanded the withdrawal and claimed copyright infringement.

oh yeah, I’m sure that it was just about copyright infringement. Yeah, sure it was. eyeroll

Tokyo 2020 will always be remembered as being postponed due to the Corona virus and thus be associated as Covid-19Tokyo Olympic 2020! It’s the reality and nothing to be shamed about! In the future whenever people talk about the Tokyo Olympic Games they’ll remember the outbreak. The JOC can’t hide this fact!

FCCJ is a joke......I have zero time for them.

Zero time for them and yet you are reading an article and writing a lengthy comment about FCCJ!

Japan and /or some Japanese do not understand parody and get instead offended.

In France , after a famous TV guy made a bad joke about Fukushima, which among French and the local context was accepted, this was pointed out by a Japanese person who did contact his embassy, then an official complain was file. The TV had to apologize. He shouldn’t in my opinion as this kind of humour was not directed at all toward the Japanese.

In the present case, I think it is a good picture and also a fact.

Many Japanese organizations (especially government-related ones) seem to misunderstand the likely effects of their complaints. By complaining about this, they have created a news story where none existed, and have ensured that the offending image is shared far and wide. Sometimes it really is better to just ignore stuff like this.

OK, maybe the Olympic committee can say it's a copywrite issue, maybe not. I've seen a satire cartoon for the 1996 Olympics where the logo was distorted to 'create' an '800' to indicate a Pan Am jet 800 that some scumbag destroyed in NYC that same year.

Nonetheless copywrite or not, having the CoVid-19 involved into an Olympic parody is a bit of bad taste if nothing else.