The Mikado of the title character as a disrespectful representation of the revered Meiji Emperor; Japanese theatre was prohibited from depicting the emperor on stage. Japanese Prince Komatsu Akihito, who saw an 1886 production in London, took no offence. When Prince Fushimi Sadanaru made a state visit in 1907, the British government banned performances of "The Mikado" from London for six weeks, fearing that the play might offend him – a manoeuvre that backfired when the prince complained that he had hoped to see "The Mikado" during his stay. A Japanese journalist covering the prince's stay attended a proscribed performance and confessed
The Mikado later incorporated the same song into "Madama Butterfly" as the introduction to "Yamadori, ancor le pene". The characters' names in the play are not Japanese names, but rather (in many cases) English baby-talk or simply dismissive exclamations. For instance, a pretty young thing is named "Pitti-Sing"; the beautiful heroine is named "Yum-Yum"; the pompous officials are "Pooh-Bah" and "Pish-Tush"; the hero is called "Nanki-Poo", baby-talk for "handkerchief". The headsman's name, "Ko-Ko", is similar to that of the scheming Ko-Ko-Ri-Ko in "Ba-ta-clan" by Jacques Offenbach. The Japanese were ambivalent toward "The Mikado" for many years. Some Japanese critics saw the depiction