Japanese officials have repeatedly asked the U.S. government to stop using material from Mario, Pokémon, Naruto and other Japanese franchises in official social media posts. According to local reports, Japan’s foreign ministry has been raising objections since March over the Trump administration’s unauthorized use of anime and game intellectual property.
Tokyo says it has raised the issue several times
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a parliamentary session in April that “it’s inappropriate even for public institutions to reproduce copyrighted materials without the rightsholders’ consent.” He was referring to a pro-war video that used footage from Nintendo’s Wii Sports.
In June, Cabinet Minister Kimi Onoda said the same principle had been conveyed to the U.S. through diplomatic channels “multiple times.” According to Mainichi, Tokyo asked the administration to consider the potential damage to these IPs when they are used without permission in policy messaging and pro-war content.
Posts drew from Japanese and Western franchises
Accounts tied to the administration have been using Japanese franchise material for more than a year. In September 2025, the Department of Homeland Security posted a mash-up that paired Pokémon character Ash Ketchum with footage of an ICE raid and set it to the franchise’s theme song. The Pokémon Company later said permission had never been requested.
In March, the White House’s X account posted footage from Wii Sports cut together with Iran strike footage. It then published a second pro-war video that also included Halo, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball, Top Gun, Iron Man and Braveheart. Halo voice actor Steve Downes and Yu-Gi-Oh!’s official account both objected.
The Yu-Gi-Oh! anime account said it had confirmed that footage from the series had been used in a White House X post without authorization from the rights holders. It added that neither the original creators nor the anime staff had any involvement in the matter, and that no permission had been granted for the use of the intellectual property.
Naruto AI clip reignited the dispute in June
The pushback has not come only from officials. A fan, Nana Suzuki, launched a Change.org petition titled “Protect Japanese Manga,” calling for measures to stop the practice. Anger flared again in June after President Trump shared an AI-generated video of himself as Naruto on Truth Social.
Suzuki then reopened the petition, calling it “an urgent effort to convey our protest.” The clip also triggered renewed questioning of Onoda on June 12.
Japan sees unauthorized state use as image risk
Decrypt said Japan polices intellectual property more tightly than most countries, and its creative industries guard character IP closely. From Tokyo’s perspective, unauthorized use by a foreign government is not a form of flattery. It is treated as brand risk.
When a decades-old franchise appears next to a polarizing policy message, the “damage to a work’s image” cited by Japanese officials points to the dilution that rights holders watch closely.
Diplomatically, the complaint remains limited in scale. It amounts to messages delivered to an embassy rather than a lawsuit. Even so, the issue now sits directly in the middle of how the White House communicates online.