Blur

Since I’m studying the Chinese language, I watch Chinese TV dramas, which are easily accessible in Japan. A few years ago, I came across something unusual in a Chinese program. Part of the screen was blurred out, even though nothing shocking was going on.

It was a Chinese show about high school students. In the morning, the heroine woke up in her bed, and large parts of the bed were blurred out. It was unlikely that she had anything indecent in her bed, so I guessed the blurred objects were stuffed toys; maybe Mickey Mouse or Doraemon. In China, showing such things might be OK. But in Japan, they couldn’t show copyrighted goods without permission.

I remember a particular episode about the relationship between the heroine and a boy. One day, they had a quarrel because of a misunderstanding. She bought a pair of T-shirts, which I guessed each had a character from Tom and Jerry. She kept the Jerry T-shirt and sent the Tom T-shirt to the boy. At first, the boy refused to wear the shirt, but finally, their misunderstanding was resolved. The boy put on the Tom T-shirt, and they healed their relationship with the pair of T-shirts.

It was a happy ending to a cute story. Of course, I’m not sure the T-shirts really were Tom and Jerry, because the pictures on them were blurred from the beginning to the end.

I think this clearly showed that most people in China love American animation. Isn’t there a better way to broadcast this episode in Japan, though?

I also wish all relationships ended up as happily.

 

Proofreading by Michael W, ProofreadingServices.com

Picture by Suibokuga Arai