It seems that a few careless words are all it took to do in Hatsune Miku, one of Japan’s most well-known characters. Following an off-hand (and bizarre) comment by a politician on a panel discussing revisions to the Japanese anti-child pornography law, Nico Nico Douga users have uploaded a few tongue-in-cheek “funeral videos” for the character.
First, let’s get some background.
In case you don’t pay much attention to Japanese political news, there’s a big discussion right now about a proposed revision to the nation’s anti-child pornography law. The potential revisions have drawn the ire of publishers and Net users for a variety of reasons, but the main ones are that the definition of what constitutes “child pornography” is very unclear and that the bill seems to unfairly target manga and anime.
▼”Wait, child what???”
Satsuki Katayama, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (the current ruling party of which Prime Minister Abe is also a member), made the following statements at a panel discussing the revisions. The panel just happened to be broadcasting on Nico Nico Douga, a Japanese video site somewhat similar to YouTube.
The best-selling solo singer in Japan right now is clearly Hatsune Miku, right? If she suddenly retired or died one day, I imagine her funeral would be comparable to that of Rikiishi from Ashita no Joe. Within the creation of that icon, young people get rapidly pulled in, and they’re constantly shown these kinds of child-pornographic, sensational things and I don’t know whether or not we can say that’s not turning them to crime.
▼Satsuki Katayama: Baffling the Internet since 2013
If you’re scratching your head right now, you’re not alone. Japanese netizens had a hard time understanding both what she said and what she was trying to say. Some even went so far as to suggest that the politician was either senile or simply not very good at speaking Japanese. Either way, it’s not exactly clear what Hatsune Miku’s (potential) death has to do with child pornography, though some have suggested that the politician simply wants to blame social ills on manga and anime.
By the way, Rikiishi was a character in the 1970’s boxing manga and anime Ashita no Joe. When the character died after a boxing match, 700 people took part in a funeral called for by the legendary Japanese poet Shuji Terayama.
▼”Ah! Sorry! I wasn’t listening! Could you say that again?”
But out of all of the confusion and Internet outrage, something amusing has been born!
Nico Nico users, latching on to the utter absurdity of Hatsune Miku’s death as imagined by Ms. Katayama, have created two “funeral videos” for the animated singer.
The first one, which you can watch below, is basically three minutes of Buddhist funeral rites, chanted by a chorus of what we assume are monks.
The second video is a very brief clip of a crudely animated Hatune Miku singing “When I die, give me a funeral, okay?” The video ends by zooming out to reveal Hatsune Miku in a black and white funeral photo.
Internet commenters still seemed sore about Ms. Katayama’s statements:
What does she want to do? Crazy old woman.
Don’t get lured in by Katayama!
Look, Katayama Satsuki! Is the number of sex offenders increasing??
I really am not sure what she’s trying to say.
Of course someone would turn this into a video.
We found one more video of a song made using Hatsune Miku’s voice about how the character was sacrificed by a politician to “save” the youth of Japan. It’s actually pretty catchy!
Let’s hope no more fictional characters will be sacrificed by the errant remarks of politicians. It’s just so…sniff…sad.
Sources: Esuteru, Japan Book Publishers Association
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