A Japanese political aide indicated that the backlash to Ubisoft’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows game could escalate into a “diplomatic incident.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
As first reported by Mark Kern aka Grummz on X, a Japanese political aide detailed the game and its false depiction of Japanese history, culture, and aesthetics primarily revolving around the depiction of Yasuke as a legendary samurai could result in a “diplomatic incident.”
Grummz reports that “Letters are being sent with questions to the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.”
He added, “While the government have not take action yet, they are waiting for final release of the game to decide, and there is mounting pressure in Japan to address the issue with Ubisoft portraying false information to Japanese children.”
As seen in the video below, the political aide detailed that he sent a variety of questions to the Japanese government and received a report back from them. He noted he sent the questions to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, and the Ministry of Computation.
As translated and shared to X by Grummz, the aide shared the first question he asked, “It has been pointed out that Mr. Thomas Lockley (Associate Professor, Foreign Languages, Faculty of Law, Nihon University) wrote a book about Yasuke’s story, which he created from his own imagination, and spread the contents of the book as historical fact all over the world, and that this is a movement to make a fabricated history the truth of the world without many Japanese people even knowing about it. Please tell us the government’s opinion on this point and its future policy.”
He shared that this question was sent to Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
As for the second question, he inquired of Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, “Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a new game being developed by the French game company Ubisoft, is set in the Sengoku period of Japan, and Yasuke appears as the main character. This game company has been taken over by people of the political correctness movement, and from the pre-release interview footage, the disrespect for Japan is blatant. The content of the game that has been partially released has also been distorted and grossly disrespectful of Japanese culture, history, and Japanese people.”
It continues, “For example, in an interview, a person in charge of the grotesque decapitation scene said, ‘Death was a common occurrence in Japan at the time, and most people died by having their heads neatly cut off.’ I would like to know the government’s views on this matter and its future policy.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
The third question was sent to Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It states, “If it were a game made by a private company, there would be no need to be so concerned, but it has been announced that it was ‘based on Japanese historical facts,’ and if this goes viral, people all over the world will start to believe it, which I think is extremely malicious. In fact the following message has been released: The Brazilian Embassy in Japan publicly announced on Facebook that Yasuke was ‘Japan’s first black samurai’ and that ‘Yasuke was brought to Japan in 1579 and became a hero.’
He then linked to the Brazilian Embassy in Japan’s Facebook post and concluded, “Please let us know the government’s views on this matter and future policy.”
Brazilian Embassy in Japan’s post about Yasuke on Facebook
Using YouTube’s machine translation, this is the response he received from the first question, “In general terms, if there is any suspicion that the content is contrary to deduction reading, careful measure should be taken.”
He also detailed “that this game is currently undergoing ethical review, so it has not been officially released, so it will not be published as a separate game.”
Key art for Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
A response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “It is not possible for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to respond because it is a game-related matter and has nothing to do with diplomacy.”
However, he would later state, “But after receiving the [response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs], there was a phone call. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded that it is just a game that has nothing do with diplomacy, but the matter has become quite large, and there is a possibility that it could escalate into a diplomatic issue. I have said that there is a possibility, but at this current stage, it is just a game and I cannot give an answer.”
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
Still later in the video, he also indicated he’s requested Japan’s National Diet Library to confirm what is and is not true regarding the history of Yasuke. He noted, “Regarding the request to the National Diet Library, it would be helpful if you could check the information in the primary source about Yasuke in Thomas Lockley’s book. And then summarize the information that is clearly wrong after checking these two.”
He indicated he would receive a response to this inquiry by July 31st.
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
What do you make of the political aide’s information and comments?
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