The Mikado, as one observes in many other G and S works, pokes fun more at Victorian era issues than it does with the oriental “paper screen” veneer applique of Japanese life depicted in this work. The songs “I’ve got a little list” and “The object all sublime” are very sharp satires of various aspects of British life and culture. To take the “orientalism” out of the Mikado is a fatal mistake....the joke was not on the Japanese, the joke was on the British and if “one has eyes to see”...much of western culture!
You’re supposed to take knee-jerk offense, you bigot!
You’re not supposed to actually understand anything.
What’s the fun of that?