After gaining the spotlight at home and abroad a few months ago over a controversial manga illustration denigrating a Syrian refugee girl, artist Toshiko Hasumi seemingly remains unrepentant.
On Monday, anti-racism campaigners criticized the release of Hasumi's latest book featuring a series of what they called "racist" cartoons, including the one that portrayed a girl from Syria pretending to be a refugee so she can "luxuriate at the expense of someone else."
The illustration, based on a photo of a real-life girl at a refugee settlement in Lebanon taken by Canadian photographer and filmmaker Jonathan Hyams, spurred an online outcry, forcing Hasumi to take it down from her Facebook site at the request of Hyams in early October. The version in the book was tweaked, with the girl looking a few years older.
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