I've seen a lot of people try to argue something that goes along the lines of
Nintendo is obviously anti-LGBT, because Nintendo is a Japanese company, and Japan is a conservative country.
This notion is completely ridiculous.
Nintendo has shown themselves to be very progressive with regard to gender and sexual minorities.
Here are some facts:
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Since 2022, Nintendo has recognized its employees' same-sex partnerships, even though same-sex marriage is still not yet legal in Japan. They also “clearly prohibit discriminatory comments based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as disclosing someone’s privately held sexual orientation against their will.”
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Nintendo no longer has gender options in their newest games, instead opting for "body type". This is consistent even in Japanese, so it's not a localization only thing.
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Nintendo updated the writing and localization surrounding Vivian in the remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door in both Japanese and in English.
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Nintendo of America sponsors the Seattle Pride Parade every year. If Nintendo were anti-LGBT they would not allow their subsidiary to do this.
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Nintendo of America apologized for omitting gay marriage from Tomodachi Life on 3DS, a statement they would need Nintendo in Japan's approval to make.
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Nintendo of America continues to support Diversity and Inclusion initiatives internally even though there is increasing backlash to this.
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Nintendo of Europe takes place in Frankfurt's pride parade.
There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Nintendo has an anti-LGBT corporate culture, and it's simply dishonest to assume that since Japan's government has put some anti-LGBT policies in place that everyone in Japan blindly supports them.
As an aside, many local governments in Japan go against the national policies with regards to LGBT rights. There's lots of information on that on this Wikipedia page.
There is a lot of misinformation online about Japan especially. I recommend that you do research before deciding that there is a uniform belief shared across all Japanese people.
by razorbeamz
40 Comments
https://preview.redd.it/7m13x0fw7ldf1.jpeg?width=710&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce5f2f6095b33ce977abe2506f50759af68429d2
plus genderless bathrooms in Pokemon Violet
Yeah, I agree. They might have some cultural differences with fat people for example and can sometimes do things that appear clueless (like Jinx), but I never saw anything anti LGBT from them.
I’d also like to add that recent Fire Emblem games allow the player to marry characters regardless of sex. In Three Houses, Male Byleth can marry a few male characters, and Female Byleth can do the same with a select group of female ones.
Fire Emblem Engage goes even further and removes the limitations entirely, allowing both Male Alear and Female Alear to give a ring to and declare their love to any character regardless of their/the other character’s sex.
I doubt Nintendo would allow this if they were anti-queer.
People not from Japan talking about the cultural values of people in Japan is one of the internet’s favorite pastimes.
Look, anyone actually spending time arguing online about these things is wasting their own time – At the end of the day, companies just want to do business and make money, and being more accepting leads to a wider casual audience
It’s that simple (not really but it’s still net positive)
Xenoblade 3 also has a nonbinary character.
Plus there’s literally a lesbian relationship with off the hook in the Japanese version in splatoon
Why does being japanese company has anything to do with them being anti lgbt ? Japan is pretty open to it unlike a country like china or the middle east
Nintendo is pro-money, thats all.
It’s so ridiculous, like say what you want about Nintendo’s practices when it actually comes to their video games, but when it comes to being pro-LGBT Nintendo is on top of it, SEGA is also insanely pro-LGBT also being a Japanese company, SEGA literally funds Japanese pride parades, the idea that Japan and Japanese people are just inherently anti-LGBT is just ridiculous.
Ok and why is this important?
Also there’s Link cross-dressing even when the plot doesn’t require it while proving that hips do, in fact, lie.
Nintendo as a company tries to stay away from all potentially politically comtroversial subjects but as a gay guy I have always found Nintendo games to be very welcoming, and most of my gay friends are massive Nintendo fans. I think there is a “style” that is gay friendly without the need to shout it, and gay people are good at spotting that style. I actually find companies that claim LGBT alliance without any real world sign to be a bit cringey. Its like corporate pride events…If you go to most pride marches here in the UK now, they are always sponsored by banks (and even weapons companies in one awful example). These companies then march at the head of the parade with their company logo emblazoned with rainbows as a good advertising opportunity. Actually has made me stop going to pride events as I find it really distasteful.
Nintendo games have become so much inclusive these days I’m very hopeful for Tomodachi life 2 and the possibility for gay marriage!!!
The notion that they are anti-lgbt based solely on their ethnicity is just racism. The bigots just out themselves.
I still find the body type thing hilarious.
Body type 1 can be topless
Body type 2 can’t be topless because it’s a female
The government here is run by geriatrics, and maybe I’m in a bubble, but I’ve never seen anybody from my own generation or their parents speak poorly of the LGBTQ community. Young people in Japan are pretty progressive, and I hope Nintendo remains in tune with their audience.
I live in Japan and I’m always a little annoyed at people who ho “Japan is homophobic because my anime said so,”
You mean the company that created Vivian and Off the Hook? People just want to stir up trouble.
People are so xenophobic against Japan online. There’s this idea that you’re allowed to shit on the country as much as you want just because some weebs are obsessed with it. Not to mention the orientalism.
Americans specifically try to paint it as some conservative bigoted hellhole, as if their country wasn’t homophobic, xenophobic, and racist as well (and much more than Japan IMO)
Look all you needed to do was say “Splatoon” and that’s all the debunk you’d need
Everybody should watch Tokyo godfathers
Nintendo of America sponsored pride parades in the past, and yeah it’s Nintendo of America and not Nintendo of Japan, but if NOJ did have a problem with it then they would never have allowed them to do it at all
Who cares!?!!! Why the hell does any of this matter?
I mean, like, SEGA is also a Japanese company, and haven’t they done things like extend benefits to same-sex partners of employees since like the 80s or 90s? They’ve vocally supported their queer fans, and I think most people who follow games know about that Sonic statue wearing the gay and trans pride flags like a pair of capes. (“Please do not climb on the Sonic.”)
Unseen is also a Japanese game company, and I know for a fact they actively seek out queer people in the industry, even folks from outside of Japan, while also listening and adjusting policy to make sure they feel safe and welcome.
So “oh they’re Japanese!” just doesn’t fly from first principles lmao
For me, the employee acceptance one is crucial.
A lot of the discussion about Nintendo’s “values” revolves around the content of fictional characters in games. And representation *is* important! But remember: Blizzard had a whole tool around representation, and still proved to have a toxic workplace culture that harasses women. It makes them come across as dishonest, trying to get brownie points on the outside while being bad on the inside.
The crucial thing is what goes on behind the scenes, and though no company is our friend, Nintendo seems better than a lot of the industry with how they treat their employees.
What the hell just happened here? Can someone tell me what’s been going on here.
How much hate has there actually been on these subreddits? I’ve only seen people getting up in arms about transphobia -have the mods just been doing a good job?
Some people have to much time,it’s a company who cares what they think wtf
You could never convince me that the same company that created Waluigi could possibly be anti-LGBT
It’s just comes off as people that have no idea what Nintendo does as a company and what Japanese culture is like in general. They need to stop imposing their backwards ass western interpretation of Japan and instead look at the history of Nintendo as a company in regards to the LGBT community and Japan which regularly has pride parades and champions their rights despite the policy of the national government.
The very idea that it is anti-LGBT is birth by those on social media sites who have fallen into the vicious cycle of conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Who is even starting this rumor lmao. Their games have bad cheeky gender bending jokes for years and years.
So is this what this sub is gonna be like for the foreseeable future? Thought we were past this a couple days ago.
Does every single thing on Reddit have to be constantly politicized? Jeez it’s exhausting 😔
in response to the tomodachi life criticism they made relationships in miitopia possible with anyone of any gender
Anyone who says this should be reported as a racist, fascist, and xenophobe
Nintendo gets a tremendous amount of my respect regarding the Paper Mario Vivian situation. That was a case where they could have kept the old localization the same and gotten away with not engaging on the topic whatsoever, but they went out of their way to “fix” it knowing full well they would receive attention for doing so and did the right thing anyway.
Also… Birdo!
It’s funny that this is the overwhelmingly dominant narrative when you look at the multitude of Nintendo games that feature queer characters that have been *scrubbed out and censored for release in the overseas markets.*
You wear a freaking dress in botw. Come on guys get with the times. Accepting and caring for people who are different then you is the meta. Bigotry is for lames.
This is almost the same as when people got mad at the new Mario voice actor for supporting the LGBT community yet ignored that Charles did the same.