Japanese Players Petition Ubisoft To Cancel ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’, Accuse Game Of Being “A Serious Insult To Japanese Culture And History”
To the surprise of no one without a grain of sense, Japanese players are not happy with Ubisoft’s decision to use Assassin’s Creed‘s first official foray into the island nation as a platform for more ‘diversity activism’.
Taking place in the Sengkou Era of feudal Japanese history, the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows will tell its story through the eyes of two distinct protagonists: Naoe, a completely fictional female ninja, and Yasuke, a highly romanticized version of the real-world black African man who briefly served as a retainer to the famous Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga.
Notably, the decision to feature Yasuke as one of the game’s protagonists marks the first time in the entirety of Assassin’s Creed that a real-world historical figure (albeit a highly fictionalized version of them) will be made available as a playable character.
To this end, believing that Shadows‘ portraying of Yasuke as a full-blown samurai rather than a simple retainer was both culturally insulting and outright attempt at historical revisionism, one unhappy Japanese player took to Change.org on June 19th to launch a petition demanding that Ubisoft not just take the game back to the drawing board, but wholesale cancel their plans for its development.
“Recently, a serious issue of historical accuracy and lack of cultural respect has been raised about game developer Ubisoft’s upcoming release, Assassin’s Creed Shadows,” explains the petition’s creator, Shimizu Toru, of its purpose (as machine translated via DeepL). “The game is based on the subject of Japanese samurai and ignores the fact that samurai are a higher class of samurai and should be ‘gokemono’ or servants of nobility. In fact, the first European to receive the title of samurai, William Adams (Miura Anobori), was a bannerman with 250 koku [an ancient Japanese unit of measurement (1 koku = 180 litres/ 48 gallons) used to colloquially to refer to how much rice one’s land holdings could produce] and served Tokugawa Ieyasu.”
“Throughout this history, Ubisoft continues to misunderstand the nature and role of the Samurai,” Toru continued. “This is a serious insult to Japanese culture and history and could lead to Asian racism. We demand that Ubisoft immediately stop the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows and show serious investigation and respect for Japanese history and culture.”
“Your signature is needed,” he ultimately concludes. “Sign this petition to let Ubisoft know the importance of cultural respect and historical accuracy.”
As of writing, the petition has currently garnered 21,465 signatures and counting towards its total goal of 25k.
And contrary to what many supporters of Shadows‘ narrative direction may attempt to claim, most of its signatories are Japanese.
“If it is a fiction, I can forgive it,” reads the top-rated supporter comment, as posted by a user identifying themselves as Taya Yu. “However, we absolutely cannot tolerate such falsehoods as ‘faithful to historical facts’ and ‘Yasuke was a great black samurai.’ If left unchecked and believed to be historical fact, the Japanese will [be seen as trying to] “hide” the fact that blacks were such great samurai, and it will become a story that ‘Tthe Japanese are discriminating against blacks.'”
“It is obvious,” they added. “In fact, the overseas internet is already showing this trend. This is a falsification of Japanese history, an insult to the Japanese people, and clear discrimination against them.”
Likewise, in their second-most-upvoted comment, an unidentified individual from Toyama, Japan opined, “I was a fan of the Assassin’s Creed series, but when it was announced, it was a politically-correct push of black and LGBTQ+.”
“Yasuke is portrayed as a noble samurai who could bow down, and this is treated as historical fact in an attempt to heroize black people and spread false history to the world,” wrote the user. “This false history of Yasuke can be attributed to Thomas Lockley’s book, Nobunaga and Yasuke: Black Samurai Survivors of Honnoji. This false history has already been spread abroad, and even the Brazilian Embassy in Japan has tweeted that Yasuke is a hero. This is falsification of history. We cannot just stand by and let it happen. In addition, the content of the game and the response of the manufacturer showed no respect for Japan. It is unbearable to see black samurai slaughtering Japanese people. I hereby object.”
And coming in third, another Japanese user declared, “Even if the launch is forced, it is better to express an opposing opinion. This is because overseas, if you do not express your opinion, you are considered to be agreeing with it. If you voice your objection as an individual, you are likely to be crushed, so it is better to put it out as a signature so that it remains as an opinion. You should also voice your objection in English and French. It would also be good to make a picture or cartoon of this issue.”
“It is good to put out a free creative game,” they explained. “For Japanese people, skin color is not a problem. But the official should not say that this game is historical fact. It should not be said especially in a series that was said to be faithful to history. If you are going to release the game, you should put a big sign saying it is fiction on the top of the game and in the PR for foreign countries.”
Making note of the ongoing battle on Yasuke’s various Wikipedia pages between actual historians and historical activists regarding his status as a samurai, the user then asserted, “And they should not alter Wikipedia to make themselves feel better.”
“You are going to erase him who was brought to Japan as a slave but worked hard to live in that era,” they continued. “If we allow this to happen, we will be seen as having allowed the unintentional and intentional discrimination against Japanese and Asians to continue.”
“Those who say, ‘Don’t get so mad over a mere game,’ will be faced with the reality 5 to 10 years from now,” the individual concluded. “You will realize that you did not mean to do so when you are confronted with reality. Then it will be too late.”
At current, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set to unsheathe its blade on November 15th, 2024.
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