Japan's minister for economic security, Kimi Onoda, used a press conference this week to state a point of copyright law: as a general rule, permission from the rights holder is required to use a copyrighted work, including by government institutions. [1] The work she was describing was Naruto. The government institution was the White House.
The trigger was an image of Donald Trump drawn as Naruto Uzumaki, the orange-jumpsuited ninja at the center of one of Japan's most recognized manga franchises, which the US president shared on Truth Social on Tuesday. [2] By then more than 23,000 people had signed a petition called "Protect Japanese Manga," and Japan's foreign ministry had already taken the White House's anime use to the US embassy in Tokyo. [2]
The petition and the numbers
The petition runs on Change.org under the title "Protect Japanese Manga." Signature counts vary by the day: the Guardian reported about 20,000, while Yahoo News, writing a day later, recorded 23,524. [2] The difference is timing, not dispute; the campaign was relaunched this month and signatures were still climbing. [2]
It was first created in March and submitted to the Japanese government. "We are fans who deeply cherish Japanese manga and anime works," it reads, adding that fans feel concern "when images from these works appear to be used in political or military contexts that may differ from the intentions of the original creators or rights holders." [2]
Two different posts
The viral framing collapses two separate events, and they are worth pulling apart. The recent Naruto image came from an AI-generated music video for a song called "Thank You, President Trump," performed by Anthony Constantino, a Republican congressional candidate from New York. [2] The same video shows Trump riding a camel and a lion, posing at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and planting an American flag on the moon. [2] Trump shared it; by these accounts he did not commission it.
The earlier event was different. In March, the official White House account on X posted a montage that spliced footage of US strikes on Iran together with anime scenes. [3] A separate post paired the word "MAGA" with graphics from Nintendo's Pokémon Pokopia game. [3] Across the episodes, fans counted imagery from Naruto, Dragon Ball and Yu-Gi-Oh!, plus the Nintendo material. [3]
Why permission is the whole problem
Onoda made a careful point: even where copyright infringement is not clearly established, using a work in a way that differs from the rights holder's intentions can damage the image of the work and harm the owner. [1] That is the crux. The objection is less about a clean legal violation and more about anime built around courage, friendship and perseverance being attached to military footage. [2]
There is also a procedural wall. Organizers say Japanese authorities told them "official action is possible if the rights holders wish to do so" after they approached several members of parliament in March. [2] In other words, the government can press the point diplomatically, but the parties with standing to escalate are the companies that own the characters. The petition went to Japan's cabinet office, then to the foreign ministry and the agency for cultural affairs. [2] The foreign ministry raised the use of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Nintendo imagery with the US embassy, a step reported across multiple outlets. [2] By the Sunday Guardian's account, that complaint drew no response. [3]
What the rights holders said
The official Yu-Gi-Oh! account on X was blunt: "The original creators and anime staff were not involved in any way, and no permission was given for the use of the intellectual property in question." [3] The Pokémon Company said it had no part in the video's creation or distribution and granted no permission. [3] Shueisha, which publishes the Naruto manga, said copyright responsibility sat with the film production committee, and Masashi Kishimoto, who created Naruto, declined to comment. [3]
What none of them has announced is a lawsuit. The rights holders have distanced themselves from the posts without going to court, which is exactly the gap the petition is trying to close. The White House has not publicly responded to the latest round of criticism. [4]
What the fans are saying
For the campaign's organizer, the Yu-Gi-Oh! example is personal. Nana Suzuki, a 34-year-old fan from Kanagawa prefecture, told the BBC that the franchise's creator, Kazuki Takahashi, "passed away after attempting to rescue someone in the ocean." [2] "It deeply saddened me that his noble spirit ... was used in a military context, and that he is no longer alive to speak up himself," she said. [2]
Others drew a simpler line. "If you respect the creators and those involved and have obtained their permission, I think that's fine," a fan posting as Matsui Qunishige wrote on Tuesday. "Otherwise, you're ju..." the quote trails off in the original report.
Where this goes from here
Onoda said Japan had repeatedly communicated its position to the United States through diplomatic channels and would keep engaging Washington, and she expressed hope the video would not gain wider traction online. [1] The thing to watch is whether any rights holder converts disapproval into a formal demand, because that is the step Japanese officials have flagged as the one that unlocks "official action." [2] Until then, the campaign stays where it is: a petition and a diplomatic complaint aimed at a president who keeps posting.
Sources
Primary source: Japanese manga fans urge Trump to stop using characters in his online posts
- Japan urges respect for anime copyright after Trump’s Naruto video - Caliber.Az — reporting
- Tens of thousands of Japanese fans protest Trump’s use of manga and anime - Yahoo News Singapore — reporting
- Trump Naruto Row: Japanese Anime & Manga Fans Urge White House to Stop Unauthorised Use of Popular Characters on Social Media - The Sunday Guardian — reporting
- Japanese Manga Fans Urge Trump to Stop Using Anime Characters in Social Media Posts - Kursiv Media — reporting