NEWS: Tokyo Governor Sued for Insulting French

Tokyo's governor is being sued by a group of translators and teachers for insulting France. The group is demanding that Governor Shintaro Ishihara pay 10.5 million yen for calling French "failed international language". The remarks came last October according to NHK officials. French is spoken in 3 dozen countries and is an official working language for many international organizations.



I thought this was amusing coming on the heels of Chirac's commentary regarding English food and agriculture. How exactly does this suit have merit? I thought that the legal system was running amok in the U.S. but never thought that Japan had become infected with the "Litigious" curse. So can English citizens sue Chirac for his comments?

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Its teachers and translators in japan that are suing.

To not compare apples with oranges, you'd have to ask "could english speaking people in France sue Chirac for his comments on the english".

And then even further, the professor made comments on the french language, not the french themselves, its not only an insult to france, but also to half of belgium, half of canada, half of afrika and other parts of the world. Chirac's comments were directed at British cooking, which is, to be honnest, quite crappy indeed, especialy compared to French quisine, theres no secret in that.

French as a language is worldwide recognized as one of if not the greatest for songs, poetry, writings and most important of all, as the most romantic language.

Yes it is teachers in Japan suing but are they Japanese?

From the same article:

It's natural for different languages to have different names for numbers and different ways of counting them, so it's unacceptable for him to insult French in this way," Malik Berkane, who heads a French-language school in Tokyo,

Not a traditional Japanese name eh?

How many Asians live in the US or UK or whatever other nation, with their asian names yet are citizens of that country?

I'm not talking about genetic origin, I'm talking about nationality.

Shintaro Ishihara pay a total of 10.5 million yen ($94,600) compensation for insulting the French language

compensation for what????? :shk:

Malik Berkane or whatever is not a japanese person/name. I lived in Japan for almost three years and never not once met a Japanese person with a non-japanese name (in japan), especially the last name is Japanese.

BTW, "YES" vote from me....

[edit on 13/7/2005 by SportyMB]

Mustafa Abdul Mohammed Idris, Chi Kin Long, Madera Alvares, Ben Mervine, Adolf Bernhard, Daniel McKearn, Mustafa Nonenkeni, Pherio Nanodapolis, Sergio Marciani or Ivan Manuchenko aren't exactly belgian names either, yet all of these people were born in belgium(some of their family's have been in belgium for at least 5 generations), live in belgium, speak dutch or french, work here and so on.

Again, when sueing someone its about your nationality and not your genetic origin.

Again, when sueing someone its about your nationality and not your genetic origin.

I agree Im just saying that the Japanese are VERY keen on keeping to traditional Japanese names....it's a family pride thing. More so in Japan than an other countries. And as stated in my last post, I have NEVER seen a Japanese person (in Japan) with a non-Japanese lastname.

And since the person is heading a school...he/she has a good chance of being foreign (non-japanese)......many foreigners go to and teach school in Japan...especially in Tokyo.

But that's besides the point...anyways, what are they suing for exactly? emotional damage? what? I thought the Japanese were good about freedom of speech......

in Japan Japanese people are really all that matter:

www.japantimes.co.jp...

How is that any different from France's domestic content laws for say Music? Not sure if it still in force with all the EU stuff, but they used to require radio stations to play 40% domestic content minimum. So If in Japan its all about the Japanese, perhaps we should not throw stones in our glass chateau eh?

Of course its a failing language, if it wasnt then they wouldnt have to forbid the use of English words. Its a sign of desperation and the fact that they are suing only serves the point I made.

This is crazy, the French are so uptight about their language. In France you can be prosecuted for using an English term on the radio or TV if an equivalent French word is available.

I hope the Japanese throw this out of court...the statement was pretty true. French is really no longer the language of diplomacy nor a world lingua franca, that role has been taken by English.

This story is pretty ridiculous, but the fact that the Associated Press is running it is not. There is a concerted smear campaign for all things French lately. We have seen how Chirac was set up before the London bombings. Now the French Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has come out and said that the London bombers were arrested by UK police but re-released to try and break a wider terrorist network.

It seems France is really willing to throw political curve balls at both Britain and America. Is this smear campaign a reflection of that?

It doesnt take much to incite French bashing in Anglo/American's. If they, later down the line, release some information so earth shaking against our current British and American administrations are we to automatically assume its more tit-for-tat bickering? Stories like these are leading me to think so.

Keep an unbiased ear open for what might come from the French, and SOON.

I have to say again.

What on earth does this have to do with FRANCE?

French is a language spoken, as stated in the article, in several douzens of country's around the world.
Examples are of belgium, luxemburg, switserland, france, canada, good parts of marocco and nearly half of the other african nations(not gona sum them all up).

This trial is started by Japanees teachers and translators against a Japanees professor (most likely a true US style lawsuit just for the money).

You know what the french would say about this situation?

JE M'EN FOU!!

France has nothing to do with this, except as being the originator of the french language.

AND I repeat, Many of the Litigants are NOT Japanese but French

Malik Berkane, a 46-year-old principal of a French language school in Tokyo, filed the suit at the Tokyo District Court, together with 20 other French and Japanese people, demanding an apology over the remarks and 500,000 yen in compensation for each plaintiff.
asia.news.yahoo.com...

thematrix, dont you see? Thats not the point. As evident in this thread, the publishing of a story like this merely fuels anti-French sentiment. It doesnt really matter that its not France that is behind this litigation. That "French people" are seen to be so arrogant as to sue over something so frivolous merely stokes the French bashers and aims to discredit anything that the French do and say.

It started in earnest during the lead up to the Iraq war with the anti-French bills passing through Congress. Now it is being revved up again. Why?

thematrix, it's not necessarily the French government in France per se, it's the French culture. French Canadians that have been in Canada for centuries are exactly the same way.

subz: thats my point with saying this has nothing to do with france. People see it as a way to slander france, thats just it, it has nothing to do with france.

I don't know why they are suing him for telling the truth, i think the next terrorists will be the ones pursuing an agenda that stops people criticizing anything French.English is the international language now , so if the French feel miffed thats bad luck.

Where exactly in the article does it slander France? Chirac is a great example because it compares politician with politician????? So if somebody who runs say in English school in France sued Chirac for his comments would you have the same objections?

So now someone can be sued for having an opinion?? He's not making a false statement of fact to intentionally harm anyone or anything. He's simply stating his OPINION. It isn't anything close to slander. At the very most it was inappropriate, but not worthy of a lawsuit. This case will be thrown out if there is any sense in the Japanese legal system. If not, then I'll have to say that the Japanese legal system is a failed legal system!