Disclaimer: I’m not writing this book-length commentary to make people angry but just to give an opinion about something that is seemingly innocent and can be looked upon by some as extremely racist or insensitive.  I think that the irony in it, as well as the knowledge of Japanese culture, makes this a very funny joke! This reminds me of something: I’ve been watching all seasons of “Friends” on DVD for the past weeks. I’ve also noticed that a BUNCH of jokes from that series, which ran for 10 years (about 93-04), would now be called “inappropriate”. Thing is, are they really inappropriate or is it just that people nowadays think (or feel?) that it’s trendy to be politically correct or, for lack of a better term, “touchy-feely” about everything they see or hear? As soon as I saw that somebody said that it wasn’t funny, and actually used the disasters that hit Japan recently in order to support their opinion, it made me think that people have a tendecy now to take everything way too seriously. It DOES NOT make somebody racist or disrespectful to make a comic strip like this, even if Japan WAS hit by disasters recently. You could make a pretty good argument against a person like Gilbert Gottfried because he actually joked about the disasters and, if you want to go THAT particular disrespectful route, didn’t even heed the old saying “tragedy + time = comedy”.  I live in Mexico and what happened recently concerning the ambassador of Mexico in England actually writing a LETTER to the BBC complaining about jokes made about Mexicans in a show called “Top Gear” was embarrassing. The show IS about guys making jokes and stereotyping nationalities (even, YES, English people themselves).  Just take comedy as comedy. No need to take it seriously and no need at ALL to see some hidden disrepectful or prejudiced or insensitive underlying note in it. Times are changing and people’s sensitivities are changing drastically too, only maybe not for the better.
How will Sony handle the ill will from the PlayStation Network fiasco? Here's a hilarious possibility: a very special kind of "apology".