- 14 Mar 2002
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Hungarian group in Japan regrets TV program mocking Japan
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030530/kyodo/d7rbj8f00.html
A group of Hungarians living in Japan condemned and issued an apology Friday for a TV show in their country that makes fun of Japanese people, saying they hope it will not harm bilateral ties. "On behalf of the vast majority of the Hungarian nation, we hereby would like to express our deepest apologies to our Japanese friends and the whole Japanese nation," members of the Tokyo branch of the Hungarian Civic Circle, a major civic movement, said in a statement. Broadcast by Hungarian television station TV2, the prime-time program "Micuko -- the world in slanted eyes" pokes fun at everyday Japanese life and Japanese customs. It features a Hungarian TV reporter who wears a black hairpiece and fake teeth and misrepresents herself as a goggled-eyed Japanese woman, using the stunt to surprise and interview Hungarian celebrities. The Japanese Embassy in Budapest earlier filed a protest with TV2, claiming the program gives an inaccurate and biased image of Japan. The station has said it will suspend the show for three months from June and that when it returns it will have a new name and other changes.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030530/kyodo/d7rbj8f00.html