# Japanese cuteness in Iraq **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 23, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377 "2007-02-23T14:37:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/1 "2007-02-23T14:37:06Z")
It’s about a week old – but I just saw that the Japan Self Defence Forces are trying to win over opnion in Iraq with [cute cartoon characters](http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/16/news/japan.php). Right, It should work better than shock-and-awe, or even torture and indefinite detention. I’m now waiting or them to use cartoons of 16-year-old girls giving fanservice in giant mechas: that might have an even greater impact on Iraqi culture. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/2 "2007-02-23T15:11:40Z")
Hello Kitty would definitely be less nauseating in a burqa, or even a chador. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/3 "2007-02-23T15:14:34Z")
He has round eyes. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/4 "2007-02-23T15:25:29Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] He has round eyes. 😕 [/QUOTE] Big round eyes are standard in anime and manga. [Why Do Manga and Anime Characters Look the Way They Do?](http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/dec03/ao_1203_3.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/5 "2007-02-23T15:45:15Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] Big round eyes are standard in anime and manga. [/QUOTE] Thanks for the link. I recall seeing an historical Japanese (from the article, perhaps predating Perry) illustration of various whale and dolphin species that showed folds in their eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/6 "2007-02-23T17:49:55Z")
“'Prince Pickles is our image character because he’s very endearing, which is what Japan’s military stands for,” said Shotaro Yanagi, a Defense Agency official." _O tempora! O mores!_ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/7 "2007-02-23T17:53:52Z")
So, do they let them have firearms? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/8 "2007-02-23T18:05:00Z")
No – they’re insufficiently cuddly. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/9 "2007-02-23T18:14:00Z")
Well, they let [Mahoro Ando](http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5668/mahoro127zx.jpg) have a gun – why wouldn’t they let the SDF soldiers in Iraq have them too? (And for those who are not familiar with Mahromatic, – Mahoro doesn’t need a gun, she can defeat large battle robots with her bare hands). ---
**Author:** ![Viridiana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/10 "2007-02-23T19:55:55Z")
It definitely worked on me! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/11 "2007-02-23T21:50:35Z")
Cartoon characters have an extended history of successfully participating in military operations - Snoop shooting down the Red Baron; Daffy Duck outwitting Hitler; Bugs Bunny nipping the “Nips”; the Care Bears running black ops in Central America. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/12 "2007-02-23T21:56:12Z")
It’s good to know that their royalty aren’t exempt from military service. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/13 "2007-02-23T22:18:03Z")
I’m gonna get flamed, but I just can’t see Prince Pickles at the Rape of Nanking, or executing the enlisted men from the Doolittle raid. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/14 "2007-02-23T22:24:46Z")
Me either, but I _could_ see him diving his Mitsubishi Zero straight into the control tower of an aircraft carrier, his happy little face just beaming all the way down. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/15 "2007-02-23T22:29:12Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] I’m gonna get flamed, but I just can’t see Prince Pickles at the Rape of Nanking, or executing the enlisted men from the Doolittle raid. [/QUOTE] No flaming from me on your pointing that out. There has been an immense change in perception of the Japanese since the 1930s and 1940s, caused (in part) by a big change in Japanese military policy. Of course, the change was imposed on Japan by the US in 1945, but on the whole the Japanese embraced the change. It’s more fun manufacturing better and cheaper exports than sending young men to fight overseas while people at home half-starve. The Germans worked that one out too at about the same time, and from the same teacher. ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/16 "2007-02-23T22:58:33Z")
From what I’ve seen some Japanese cartoons do, I certainly wouldn’t want to be fighting them, and their many dirty, dirty tentacles. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/17 "2007-02-23T23:25:26Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] the Care Bears running black ops in Central America. [/QUOTE] No, no, that was “My Little Pony” that way the Sandanistas could associate them with llamas. Tripler The FARC ended up running with it and introducing “My Little Alpaca”, and you see how far that got 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/18 "2007-02-24T00:25:52Z")
As I learned when I was there in October- Everything in Japan has a ‘cute’ version and institutions all have a cartoon mascot. The bullet train has a cartoon mascot as do Police Stations. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/19 "2007-02-24T00:30:09Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Snoop shooting down the Red Baron [/QUOTE] Snoop Dogg fought in World War Wizzle? As for Japanese cartoon characters fighting in Iraq, how about Pokemon? A bunch of Pokemon in Iraq could get rid of the insurgents faster than you can say “Pidgeotto.” And if all else fails, Pikachu could give 'em seizures. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2007, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377/20 "2007-02-24T01:35:25Z")
[QUOTE=cmkeller] Hello Kitty would definitely be less nauseating in a burqa, or even a chador. [/QUOTE] Heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-cuteness-in-iraq/393377.md?page=2)