Lawsuit Against Bandai Namco Claims Anti-American Racism

Bandai Namco – the studio behind several popular games including Rise of Incarnates and Supernova – are in a spot of trouble as a recent lawsuit filed against the company, accusing its Japanese staff of prolonged anti-American racism.

[Kamikaze135]

Holy crap. Wow

[turdburgler1080]

Got to say I'm not totally suprised. While not all Japanese are racist there is a inward looking mentality when it comes to the country. They sometimes look down upon "outsiders."

[kraenk12]

Tbh the whole world kinda looks down on Americans though. Also Americans do have their own problems with racism and are deeply uneducated and stereotypical concerning other countries so it's kinda ricdiculous to be offended by that.

[nicksetzer1]

@kraenk Yep, america is so terrible that we have the highest number of immigrants come here every year, in hopes to better their lives. (Legal and illegal)

Also, you claim americans stereotype people (which is not the definition of "stereotypical," despite your attempt at it) yet you think claiming all americans are "uneducated" isn't a stereotype.

Sadly, it seems your feelings of americans seem more like a self reflection.

[NatFanBoyRestricted]

Thanks Nick. Kraenk, your comment shows the kind of filth and and lack of thought and perception that's in the gaming community as a whole that people have to put up with. Good thing there are people in this world that know not to judge a whole cause the actions of a few.

[starchild]

@kraenk12

Curiously, your own comment is an example of the kind of stereotyping and uneducated, ignorant thinking you try to paint all Americans as having. Some hilarious irony there.

As to this specific lawsuit, these attitudes and statements wouldn't accurately be described as "racism" in any case, since there are Americans of every race. It would be an example, perhaps, of chauvinism, xenophobia or bigotry.

[RedTriangle53]

The united states do have a poor education system for the general public, and they do have a problem with racism and bigotry. These are facts. So I find it absolutely hilarious that you try abusing the racism card just because you don't like those facts or think they don't apply to you. Now that's closed minded, closing off the big picture because it doesn't have enough of you in it.

Criticism of American culture and administration is not a taboo, and never will be. Stop with the drama.

[memots]

@nicksetzer1 "Yep, america is so terrible that we have the highest number of immigrants come here every year, in hopes to better their lives."

If you want to better your life dont move to america lol.

[ShinMaster]

I'm sorry but- ""the studio behind several popular games including Rise of Incarnates and Supernova"" -those are their least popular games.

That said, it does sound like a legitimate complaint. Everyone else^ needs to stop deviating the subject and focus on the matter at hand.

[Ashlen]

My question is, why is everyone so quick to assume anything this guy says is true?

This would hardly be the first case of a disgruntled employee making fraudulent charges for revenge or any other crazy reason they justify to themselves.

[AndrewLB]

I find it hilarious that you "enlightened" non-Americans actually took the bait and bought into the left's manufactured race problems they're trying to perpetuate.
The Democrat party in the United States has a complete failure in the White House whose policies have destroyed the middle class, genocide is raging across the middle east because of an irresponsible withdrawl, and he's about to give Iran the bomb which will spur a nuclear arms race across the region. So instead of changing course (which would require admitting a mistake), they've decided convince people that there is a war on women, that cops are murdering blacks at record levels, and if you disagree... they label you a racist, misogynist, or a homophobe to shut down any discussion.

The last thing they want to do is address the fact that they've been in charge of the inner cities for 60 years (baltimore, chicago, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Detroit, etc) and after trillions of dollars spent... those areas have only gotten worse.

Is it a coincidence that their solution to everything is more government and dependency? Keep in mind, the Democrat party is also the party of slavery, of segregation, of Jim-Crow, were the opposition to the Civil rights act, and much much more. The only thing that has changed with them is their tactics.

[Ashlen]

@AndrewLB Wow, thats some impressive revisionist history your spewing.

The country had it's best economy in recent history under Clinton. And before that it was Reagan and Bush that took the country to recession. And i'd like to remind you that the current economic problems (to big to fail banks and the problems to come from that) happened during Bush but since it was near the end of his 8 year term he chose to not to do anything and force the problem to be fixed by the next president.

And those problems only were able to come about after years of deregulation by the republicans in congress that allowed the bankers to split up and resell to each other bad credit debt from loans (aka subprime) they wouldn't have even been able to do if there had been more regulation.

And it's just insane to imply the civil rights party is somehow responsible for the simple racism involved with cops killing blacks. And i'd like to point out that the movement and revisionist history your spewing comes straight from the south which is the place where people actually kept slaves and for years have been angry that they lost the civil war and had to change there way of life and deal with the economic collapse from the loss of slavery.

It's pretty funny seeing people fighting to be able to wave the rebel flag in the courthouses and public buildings accusing other people of being racists and insensitive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

The above link shows that banks started failing in 2007 which was when Bush was in charge.

And I encourage you to read factual information about what caused the collapse on your own.

[indyman7777]

Sometimes? They even look down on their own half American Miss Japan because she is not pure Japanese! Because her father is American. I've been to Japan hopefully you take some one Japanese with you when you go shopping, outside of the airport. And not just for language reasons. At the Airport your okay.

[donthate]

I will be following this closely, and if I feel it is true I will be avoiding anything from Namco Bandai in the future.

[Magicite]

americans deserve all the crap they get, remember hiroshima and nagasaki?

[Snookies12]

I'm American, you're saying I deserve to be hated on because of something I never participated in?

[Erik7357]

Let's not forget the massacres done by the Japanese on the Koreans, Philippians,Chinese,and more during WW2.

Many people where killed and raped.
If you asked me dieing from a bomb is a lot less worse than getting raped to death.

Also the bombing caused less casualties than an invasion which would of been a lot worse.

[LightningMokey]

Remember Pearl Harbour?

[Stringerbell]

Pepperidge Farm Remembers...

[starchild]

@Magicite

The underlying logic of your comment is that people can be guilty by association. All Americans, in your view, are guilty and deserve to be hated simply because they are from the same country as some people that did some bad things in the past.

Ironically, that is exactly the sort of thinking that might lead to dropping bombs on random citizens of a country. They're seen as guilty because they are part of a nation that committed wrongdoings.

But if we follow this "guilt by association" logic out to its conclusion every person on the planet would be guilty, because every race and nation has "members", either past or present, that have done terrible things.

[kreate]

They don't teach Japanese students the whole story about ww2.

They just know they got bombed. And that there was a war.

[SilentNegotiator]

I remember it like it was yesterday....

Oh wait, 98% of people involved in WW2 are long dead.

[MRMagoo123]

Yeh "holy crap wow" people don't seem to understand what racism actually is even "journalists" it seems. What kind of educations are these people getting.

[rainslacker]

Are you saying that the journalist and the guy filing the suit don't have any reason to call it racism?

While the pure definition of the word is for race, both legally, and in context, racism can also be used to discriminate against people of different social or cultural denominations.

If the guy can prove that the events really did take place, then he will most likely win his case.

The courts take a general definition of discrimination, and discrimination for any reason based on gender, race, sexual orientation, or even country of origin is against the law. There is actually no, "I'm suing for racism", it's always "I've been discriminated against because of -insert reason here-".

Granted, I'm not sure how the Japanese legal system handles such things, so it may be different if he's filing the suit there. I speak from the point of view of the US legal system.

[Tetsujin]

After reading the story there's two sides to this story, and then there's what really happened between this employee and Namco. My question to Tony Le is if the situation was that bad why not do something then? I understand HR asked him to be quiet (as he says) however he had plenty of time to act as it was happening to get Namco investigated.

When I was at EVO last year I ran into some Namco employees and they were nice to everyone equally, especially Harada when his Tekken 7 trailer was shown before it's time. He questioned Ono for it (although Ono denied showing it early, and could have been part of the act) however not someone else.

[DarkBlood]

Well I wont dislike all Japanese from this news afterall theres assholes eveywhere if you look at history deep enough. But just man wow really?

[DarkOcelet]

“In 2013, Bandai’s former CEO, Matsuo Masayaka, told Le, “All you Americans are so stupid and don’t know how to run a business”; “If I could I would fire all the Americans”; and “Japan should have bombed Pearl Harbor again,”

Am I the only one who find this hilarious? Its really offensive but i feel like its a line that could be taken from a Seth Rogen movie or something. lol.

Still though, the guy should apologize for making a stupid message like this.

[DragoonsScaleLegends]

Yeah it is funny but I'm more interested in what caused this guy to get so mad lol.

[NarooN]

What's even more hilarious is how he said Americans don't know how to run a business, yet he's now the *former* Bandai CEO. GG no re.

[Swiggins]

I literally read that in the racist Japanese South Park voice and it fit perfectly.

That's never a good sign.

[Nosred]

wow

so the Bandai does not bring their games to the Xbox...

[DragonDDark]

dark souls...

[phantomexe]

Anyone play ff11 most are very racist but not all.

[Eonjay]

America isn't a race....

[Kal-V3]

*ding ding ding* WE HAVE A WINNAAAAA!!

PS: A friend of mine once got accused of being racist towards Brazilians....I'll let that sink in..

[Sora_1994]

You kno im glad somebody caught that had me questioning my education when i saw that

[Timesplitter14]

America is a race to FREEDOM *eagle screech*

[Umbasa]

You mean the illusion of freedom?

[Imalwaysright]

NSA would like to have a word with you.

[Timesplitter14]

I came here to make a joke, not to talk about the illuminati

I wish N4G understood the concept of humor

[Makis_Husbando]

Discrimination of the basis of ethnicity is a form of racism (see: attitudes towards Polish immigrants through out the EU). Discrimination based on skin colour being the necessary component of racism is a conception unique to America, born of her slave-owning past.

"Prejudice + Power" as a definition is, of course, completely useless when not describing institutional forms of discrimination.

[Spotie]

Considering the fact that the inferiority of those with darker skin- like myself- predates the creation of the country generally known as America, you are incorrect.

[ShaunCameron]

Slavery has been around for far longer than America has existed. Rome and Egypt owned slaves. Muhammad, the person responsible for the founding of Islam, owned slaves. Various African tribes pre-colonialism owned slaves. America's predecessors, England, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc. owned slaves.

[MegaRay]

Yeah, they're fodra's engineers.

[Dirtnapstor]

I'm not going to read the article. Stuff like this is so stupid.
But my question is, should "racism" be replaced with the word "bigotry"?
The term "racism" is so abused, so much so, nobody really understands its definition.

[rainslacker]

From Wikipedia since it's the best way to say it

"Some definitions of racism also include discriminatory behaviors and beliefs based on cultural, national, ethnic, caste, or religious stereotypes"

Most of these are more on the philosophical or academic level, but racism is kind of an all encompassing term.

To a court of law it'll be called discrimination. Even racism cases are approached from this viewpoint. It's not illegal to be racist, but it is illegal to discriminate based on that belief, which is why the distinction is made in a court of law.

Technically, the guy was discriminated against due to xenophobia.

Xenophobia: intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries(one definition).

I think the guy, and the article stretched the term, as saying "discrimination against Americans" would have been more appropriate.

Anyhow, any discrimination for any reason is pretty much frowned upon.

[Sonyslave3]

Damn that sound f up, Tony le I wonder if he is Chinese or Korean I know Japan don't really like us at all.

[DevilVergilX]

He is vietmanese.

[Swonic]

The majority of the world does not like Americans. Americans not care about the hate and not care about the rest of the world. America is like the Truman Show

[NatFanBoyRestricted]

Swonic, when the tsunami hit Asia back in 2004, our own high school raised a substantial amount of money to donate here in the middle of America. Allot says you obviously don't know what your talking about. What can rest of the world do for itself before America helps. Look at Ebola. Hell look at the Fifa scandal. When ISIS took those two Japanese journalist at hostages, wtf did the Japanese do to help them? Their own people.

[cyphertech]

American isn't a race.

[Swonic]

Maybe he is a Native American

[oasdada]

:S Americans? Doesnt that mean they showed racism towards many different races?

[Sonyslave3]

Yes Japanese people in general look down on non Japanese hell you should see how they treat Koreans in japan.

So I can't imagine what Blacks and other races go through in Japan.

[PurpHerbison]

Those girls sure want to learn english though. I have a black friend from ATL that moved to Japan... No complaints on his end, only praise. He is also pretty damn big and scary looking so maybe that plays a role.

[sonic989]

haaahaaa thats stupid they are doing it just because they can .
anyway many nations hate america already so no big deal here .
who's the idiot who got offended by this, still most american people are nice and friendly they are vastly misrepresented to the world in the wrong way.
i met some very good honest american people even though i feel they are many but for some reason they arent represented .

[Tankbusta40]

Japan should bomb pearl harbor again? With what military? Kinda been under absolute protection from the country they hate since ww2

[gerbwmu]

Find me a country that doesn't think they are better then every other country. I actually expect some teasing when I'm in foreign lands. If anything the guys are just jerks though and hopefully it catches up to them

[ZaWarudo]

As an American i could care less. Please bring Digimon Cyber Sleuth and God Eater 2: Rage Burst to the west, i'll give you my American dollars.

[Snookies12]

Man I want Digimon to come over this way... I wasn't even really that big into Digimon back in the day, but that game looks pretty awesome.

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

This is sickening to hear. The part about Pearl Harbor really gets me upset and I take it personal. My grandfather was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked and was nearly killed. What a shitty fuc***g thing to say. I know that Japans society can be pretty insular and not want much to do with non Japanese but those comments were disgusting.

[Halo2ODST2]

It was 70 yearsa go, leave it in the past!

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

Fu** off.

[Swonic]

Where was your father when the United States Army Air Forces dropped atomic bombs on the citys Hiroshima/Nagasaki and killd 129,000 civilians ?!

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

You missed the whole entire point of my comment. That a**hole from Namco Bandai said Japan should bomb Pearl Harbor again which is fu**ing unforgivable and is saying he would like to see Americans die in another surprise attack by there armed forces and my grandfather was there and almost killed so it is hit me in a personal way but even if he wasn't there it is still a shitty thing to say and he should show some shame and apologize for it. I also never said anything like "screw Japan for doing that to us during the war" It was a war and both sides are to blame for numerous things so don't twist what I'm saying dude because my comment wasn't about that stuff at all..

[Swiggins]

My dad? He was swimming in my grandfather's balls....

My Grandfather on the other hand was getting tortured half to death in the POW camp near Otaru...

If he was still around he'd have quite the tale to tell you :/

[vikingland1]

@swonic

You do know that Japan killed and tortured and raped millions of people before and during ww2 right?
Several regions in mainland china.
French indochina,vietnam,cambodia,lao s.
Hong Kong
Thailand
British New Guinea
Phillippines
Guam
Dutch East Indies
Portugese Timor
Malaya
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Straits Settlements
Kingdom of Sarawak
Bruni
North Borneo
Naru
Imphal
Wake Island
Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Christmas island
Attu and Kiska Island

All these places were conquered by the japanese. And at least 14 other places including Australia, Canada and the U.S. were attacked. So get off your high horse because war sucks for everyone.

[NatFanBoyRestricted]

Swonic,and how would you like if someone said America should drop some more bombs again?

Mrmagoo below shows a lack of sense too.no one's acting offended because they just can. It's because people hold it against you for something you weren't alive for. Fuck,the idiots on N4G. Now you see the filth behind a dumbass console war. Some you guys shouldn't have the ability to even play video games.

[MRMagoo123]

You don't have to act offended just because you can, especially something you weren't even alive for.

[jjj0309]

Well, then I guess I can make fun of every dead ancestors in front of their families and descendants!
Hah.. kids these days...

[MRMagoo123]

Yes kids these days har har har, who was making fun of dead people though because your point is about as dumb as guessing someone is a kid derp.

If you can't get over something that didn't even happen to you in the first place ,70 years after it happened then you would need to be the one that needs to grow up imo.

Should I get upset about vikings or Romans invading England because my family are British ? If someone made a joke about world war 2 should I get upset because my grandpa was in that war ? Simple answer is no.

[00]

the title should be changed to discrimination instead of racism, Seems like upper management was just a bunch of A holes.

[Parasyte]

America isn't a race it is a nationality.
If he is hating an entire nationality of people he isn't being racist. He's being xenophobic.

[Lukejrl]

Too much nonsense in this world. Can't we all just get along?

[jjj0309]

Looking at the comments..
Hah, bunch of young Americans defending obvious racism acts. Well, it's just another ordinary day in America.

>"Bu.. But America isn't race! Racism against white doesn't exsist!"
Well, UN doesn't think so.

"The term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life."
-According to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

>"Bu.. Bu... But Americans killed alot of Japanese too! We nuked them, twice!"
You currently doesn't undrstand meaning of self defense.
If the US let them shit on far east Asia and killing innocent US troops, they would have invade your inland someday and gladly enslaved you just like they did to Koreans and Philippine.
America had no choice but end the war by subdue their imperialism insanity by force. And the nukes were the most humane option they were have.
You know how many overall casualties US estimated on Operation Downfall? AKA troops invading Japanese inland? AT LEAST a million. And most of them were expected to Japanese people. With many civilians.

Kids, just learn history. At least grow some insight over issues like this sensitive and important, before you blindly defend something very despicable and wicked.
I know about Japanese and what they did because I'm a Korean and I know exactly what they did to my grandparents. Trust me. You won't believe me when I tell you about the old stories from my grandparents.
I can't even want to think if the US let Japan expand their evil empire freely on far east.

Just look at these Japanese from Bandai Namco today. They make fun of innocent people who they bombed to death for.. Just because they thought they were strong enough to rule the world.
They didn't learn a lesson after all these hellish war times and the cost they paid for their little imperialism.

[Lukejrl]

it goes both ways there big guy. Atrocities are done by people in the name of a religion or country. Just because the winners seem to justify their actions does not mean that they were not atrocities. American, Japanese, British, Russian, doesn't matter. If we are going to judge the past with hindsight, everyone's ancestors are part of blights in history.

[Imalwaysright]

How is killing thousands of civilians an "act of self defense" and "humane" way to end a war? Hiroshima and Nagasaki are by far the largest terrorist attacks in human history.

[jjj0309]

There is no peaceful, merciful way to end the war, especially against the Imperial Japanese at that time.
Like I said, It was nevertheless the most humane way to bring surrender to Japanese Empire. Since the other cards that US were has are like "Bombing naplam to random civllians until they surrender" and "Blockade until they starve to death".
Do you have any alternative way to stop millions of fanatic combatantss who literally chant "Praise Almighty God Emperor!" and goes into suicide charge? Then please elaborate.
I'm not gonna politically go deeper on this topic because it's gaming website and it's same old topic debated over and over again across all these ages by countless historians.

I don't know why this topic has so much racism sympathizers and people defending their disgusting, despicable acts.

“Japan should have bombed Pearl Harbor again.”

Can't you just feel anything from their quote?
Are you a imperialist just like them?
It is basically indisputably indefensible, for those have common sense.

[Imalwaysright]

Yes there might have been an infinitely better way to end the war against Japan. Read and educate yourself:

https://revolutionaryfrontl...

https://www.google.pt/?gfe_...

Also, I don't see how condemning terrorist attacks makes me a racist and I'm certainly not the one defending despicable acts here. By defending terrorist attacks against innocent and unarmed civilians you sound just as fanatical as the people you're speaking of. One thing is for sure though, thank the high heavens that your common sense doesn't make sense to me.

[vikingland1]

How do you feel about the millions of civilians that were murdered and raped to death by the empire of Japan?

In 1937 the Japanese Imperial army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and murdered 300,000 out of 600,000 civillians and soldiers in the city. Source:www.historyplace.com/wo rldhistory/genocide/nanking.htm

My point is war sucks for civillians period. All evil is evil.

[rainslacker]

I think it's easy to look back in hindsight and say there was a better way, but at the time, Japan was not on the verge of surrendering. Even the links you provided, I saw that even after the first bomb, the Japanese government were deadlocked on if they should end the war or not.

The 2nd bomb finally made their decision for them to pass the decision onto the emperor, because it was made apparent that the US would not hesitate to take out Japanese military targets regardless of civilian casualties. Even after the first bomb, many people in the government were calling for "The honorable death of hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops" and called for an increase in aggression.

It wasn't until a day after the 2nd bomb was dropped that the emperor agreed to surrender if he were allowed to remain in power. Truman wanted unconditional surrender and disarmament of the Japanese military, which was a sentiment carried by many of the US population. Pearl Harbor was the first time that the US has ever been attacked first by a foreign power, and that left bitter feelings among many.

Dropping the bombs was a terrible act, and the simple threat of dropping a bomb may have been enough(particularly the 2nd one), but Japan held out in the war even when the Allied fronts were all ahead, even in Japan, which itself was already being reduced to rubble. Tokyo wasn't even considered a target due to how much destruction had been done to it from previous bombings.

The bombs decisively ended the war. There is no way to dispute that. That end probably would have come eventually, but the cost of lives could have been much greater. How much greater it's hard to say, because so much depends on how long the Japanese military could hold out.

That's what war is like. Things get done which may not be the best thing to do. But Japan was in a position to target US cities more than any other country, and that was not acceptable to Truman. The Japanese military had already shown that it was willing to do whatever it took to win a battle, and their veracity on both the battlefield, and their ability to mount long range air attacks were not things to be taken lightly at the time, particularly with the US air force being spread out across the European and Asian fronts.

The bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were not terrorist attacks. They were acts of war, performed during war time, where both countries had declared war on the opposing side, and attacks picked due to their military importance and psychological effect it would have to help end the war. The casualties to civilians was terrible, but that's what happens in war, and it would really be no different today should someone live too close to a military target.

You may want to argue with me, but everything I just wrote is from the links you provided, or things I learned while in school when I did my college history thesis on this very subject. Those links are academic lessons to allow socio-political students to consider how to make a difficult decision. They do nothing to support your argument.

[persona4chie]

Racism is wrong in any form. Although I don't know what position those people have, a lot off positions related to game development requires quite a bit of knowledge. I understand in Asia their school system and setup, restrictions and rules. But to put others down because they aren't "as good as you or your kind" in a certain area is wrong. It is being racist throwing at an insult BECAUSE of ones race. Although I still wrong, it would be different if you insulted someone individually. But based on race is wrong. And based on comments it was in the way of "superiority"

[kagon01]

Its nationalism not racism, they should change the title...

[DragonDDark]

racist?? what??

[The-Marb]

How did a claim for racism against a disgruntled ex-exployee, a situation where neither sides facts can be verified, end up in an argument about the democrats and world war 2?

Well done internet, you managed to overlook the actual facts, and jump straight to a fist fight...again.

😀

[mochachino]

If you go back far enough, I'm pretty sure every human alive today comes from some murdering rapist somewhere in the line.

People used to sack other communities and rape away, while murdering children.

[Master of Unlocking]

Totally unacceptable. What an a$$hole to say such a thing, I can't believe someone, in a company supposed to be in the entertainment business, could say something that irresponsible and cruel. That guy surely deserved to be fired.
That said, it looks like the plaintiff is of vietnamese decent, american of course, yes, but still, I wonder if that's not an interasian conflict that's now painted as a xenophobic problem from some japanese execs vs their american staff.
In any case, Mr Matsuo Masayaka, you are the weak link and deserve to not only leave the stage, but also get tarred and feathered, and american gamers, if I were you, I would simply stop buying anything Namco/Bandai until you get some official corporate apology, period.