@Reyairia:
Racism can come with humor.
And of course Oda knows about racism. Ever heard of the Ainu? Even today they feel pressured to keep their background hidden. It's not as if Japan has never had it's share of racial conflict.
I have to actually think of Korea first and foremost, both of them though obviously I'm thinking more of the not crazy one.
Korea and Japan have some really bad blood due to what Japan got up to in the first half of the past century, it's not even really in the past. Since Korea became a matter of Cold War division precisely because it had to be liberated from Japan by both parties among the Allies (Western and Communist). So the present day division of Korea is in it's way a fault of Japan.
I remember one of the most striking things I've ever seen being a picture of a bunch of pinned up pictures made by Korean elementary school students. They were these little crayon drawings showing Japan in bad ways, being beaten up by Korea, or just looking dumb. It was all the more tragic because they were made by little kids.
But what made it striking was that some of the pictures used popular cartoon characters the kid's obviously liked. I think most of them were Korean characters but…...a few of them were using One Piece characters. One even showed Luffy....beating up Japan.
It was incredibly strange, sort of tragic....but also sort of.... almost hopeful. Whether that kid knew it or not he was a big fan of a Japanese character. Even if he was using it attack Japan, how long could it be before that kid realizes Luffy is Japanese.
In this way, and the Japanese government itself has recognized this as a form of cultural diplomacy, Japanese pop culture probably has the greatest potential for healing these deep rifts that are ignored by many Japanese politicians, or worse, denied or celebrated by bastards like the mayor of Tokyo.
Oda is in an incredibly powerful position to reach out to the next generation of Koreans as a Japanese man. To heal huge rifts. These kids cannot seriously grow up to typecast Japan for it's past crimes when they must read the thoughts and works and the passion of this one Japanese man who entertains them week after week. Oda knows this.
So FUCK you Azazel, fuck you for even thinking Oda doesn't comprehend the topic he's writing about from first hand experience.
He has more power to change inter-ethnic relations than you'll ever have.