Assassin's Creed: Shadows Could Lead To Diplomatic Fallout With Japan Because Of Their Historically Inaccurate Black Gay Samurai

Ubisoft has come under massive fire for AC Shadows and their depiction of historical figures like Yasuke in a less than honorable light.

The controversy surrounding the blackwashing of Japanese culture in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed is threatening to spill over from the online sphere and onto the international stage. The Japanese are not happy and now Yuhei Jukuroki, secretary to Satoshi Hamada, a Japanese politician and member of the House of Councillors, asked the Japanese government for their opinion on the controversy surrounding the portrayal of the black slave Yasuke as a samurai in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

This has been compounded by Ubisoft’s recent announcement that there will be LGBTQ playable relationships in the game for historical characters, as well as Ubisoft’s wanton theft of a Japanese historical society’s flag and poor representations of different aspects of Japanese cultures in the background.

The controversy surrounding Assasssin’s Creed: Shadows portrayal of Yasuke has been widely discussed on social media platforms like Twitter and YouTube. AC Shadows is set to be released in November by the French game company Ubisoft. The fact that the protagonist in a game set in Japan is a black man named Yasuke is only part of the controversy. The bigger scandal is the historical revisionism and total disrespect for Japanese history by Thomas Lockley, which was written previously.

Secretary Yuhei Jukuroki contacted three ministries: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), asking them three questions:

1. There is a concern that Thomas Lockley’s book, which tells Yasuke’s story based on his imagination, might spread false history worldwide. What is the government’s stance and future policy on this? (Addressed to MEXT and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

2. The new Assassin's Creed Shadows game, set in Japan’s Sengoku period, features Yasuke as a protagonist. There are concerns that the game company might portray exaggerated violence and inaccurate historical events. What is the government’s stance and future policy on this? (Addressed to MEXT, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and METI)

3. Since the game is based on Japanese history, there is concern that people might believe this false history worldwide. The Brazilian Embassy in China even stated that Yasuke, Japan’s first black samurai, became a hero in 1579. What is the government’s stance and future policy on this? (Addressed to MEXT and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

The ministries responded as follows:

MEXT: As a general principle, we believe careful consideration is required if a game is suspected of having a negative impact on children.

METI: The ministry does not comment on individual games as they are still under ethical review. The 2024 Action Plan for New Capitalism emphasizes the creation of a healthy public-private partnership without intervening in private content policies.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The issue is related to a game and not diplomacy, so we are unable to provide a response.

Although the responses were as expected and not very detailed, it is clear that the ministries are aware of the issue and may consider the matter in more detail once the game is officially released.

Japanese gamers have been upset with the portrayal of ancient Japan and Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows as a whole as well. A petition has been circulating for Ubisfot to cancel the game which as of this writing has more than 92,000 signatures.

Leave a comment what you think of the Assassin’s Creed: Shadows controversy regarding Yasuke and Japanese history and restack this post so more see it!

Article by Jack Dunn