To Shogakukan Inc. (Kabushiki Kaisha Shogakukan),

On behalf of the below listed Mongolian organizations and communities in the United States and Europe, we are writing to you to express our strong protest against your children’s comic cartoon magazine Coro Coro Comic’s March Issue for publishing insulting graffiti on the portrait of Chinggis Khan, the historical hero and the founder of the Mongolian nation.

Targeting Japan’s tens of millions of young children who are the magazine’s audience, the cartoon “Yarisugi!!! Itazura-kun” (meaning “Have gone too far!!! Prankster) vulgarly displays male genitalia on the forehead of Chinggis Khan’s portrait and made a pun by pranking on the phonetic similarity of “Chinggis” with the Japanese word of “chin chin” which means “penis”.

Needless to say, to the Mongolians and the Mongolian descendants across Eurasia and beyond, Chinggis Khan not only has been revered as the founder of their nation states but also represents their national pride and the very identity of who they are. Chinggis Khan is sacred in the hearts and minds of the millions of Mongolians throughout the world. This is not an unfamiliar fact to Japanese society and the Japanese general populace.

Shogakukan’s callous act not only represents the Japanese publishing giant’s intentional insult to the Mongolian nations and Mongolian peoples around the world, but also illustrates a certain aspect of Japanese society’s literary obscenity, intellectual vulgarity and insensitivity to others that will inevitably poison the minds of young Japanese and future generations and encourage acceptance of bullying, abuse and even aggression.

With deep sadness, we urge the Shogakukan Inc. to recall all outstanding copies of the  magazine and issue a public apology not just to the independent country of Mongolia,  but to all Mongolian peoples around the world.

 

Chinggis Khan Memorial Foundation (New Jersey, U.S.A.)

Mongol-American Cultural Association (New Jersey, U.S.A.)

Mongolian Cultural Center (Washington DC, U.S.A.)

Mongol Heritage Foundation (New York, U.S.A.)

The Kalmyk Brotherhood Society (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)

Buriat Association Inc. (New York, U.S.A.)

Altan Seseg Band (New York, U.S.A.)

Yokhor Times (New York, U.S.A.)

Inner Mongolian People’s Party (Sweden, Norway, U.S.A., Mongolia, Japan)

Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (New York, U.S.A.)