Japan's government has renewed its objections to the U.S. administration's habit of inserting Nintendo, Pokémon and Naruto characters into official social media posts, with Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi telling parliament in April that “it's inappropriate even for public institutions to reproduce copyrighted materials without the rightsholders' consent.”
The complaints, first raised through diplomatic channels in March, have been repeated at least twice more since, according to Cabinet Minister Kimi Onoda, who confirmed in June that Tokyo had conveyed its concerns to Washington multiple times without a change in behavior.
A Pattern Stretching Back to Last Fall
The dispute traces back to September 2025, when the Department of Homeland Security posted a video pairing Pokémon character Ash Ketchum with footage of an ICE raid, set to the franchise's theme music. The Pokémon Company said afterward that it had never granted permission for the use.
The pattern continued into 2026. In March, the White House shared Wii Sports footage edited alongside coverage of a strike on Iran, then followed with a second video weaving together clips from Halo, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball, Top Gun and Iron Man. Halo voice actor Steve Downes and the official Yu-Gi-Oh! account both objected publicly. In June, President Trump posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social depicting himself as the Naruto character, prompting Japan's latest round of diplomatic pushback.
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Why Tokyo Is Pushing Back So Hard
For Japan, the concern isn't flattery, it's brand damage. Officials argue that pairing globally recognized franchises with divisive political content, including immigration enforcement and military action, risks tarnishing intellectual property that Japan has spent decades building into some of its most valuable cultural exports. The episode is a reminder that the reputational stakes of unauthorized IP use scale with how polarizing the surrounding content is, a dynamic regulators and rights holders elsewhere have flagged in other contexts, including recent scrutiny over how far government agencies can stretch their authority without clear public accountability.
A grassroots response has also emerged domestically: Japanese fan Nana Suzuki launched a “Protect Japanese Manga” petition on Change.org after the string of incidents, reflecting public frustration that has so far outpaced any formal resolution between the two governments.
Neither the White House nor DHS has publicly responded to Japan's latest round of complaints, and there is no indication yet that the practice will stop.
