Imperial Japan's Rising Sun flag is as infamous as the Nazi swastika, and yet there is no law to prevent its use. Worse: part of Japan's "Self-Defense Forces" - you know, the ones supposed to remain 'defensive' whatever happens - have been using a variant as their official flag for decades. Even worse: Imperial Japan's war crimes were never recognized by any Japanese institution and nowadays, praising Imperial Japan or denying its war crimes is not only tolerated, but the only way to succeed as a politician in Japan.
Of course, you cannot expect the fascist clique that controls this peaceful nation and tries very hard to reverse the constitution back to Imperial Japan's bellicose mode, the government that just unveiled a "destroyer" flying the dreaded colors, to ban this Rising Sun flag.
The parade followed a controversial South Korea - Japan soccer game where Japanese nationalists waved the Rising Sun and Korean nationalists the portrait of a resistant to Imperial Japan, and a banner stating in Korean "The nation that forgets history has no future", a direct reference to the incredible revisionist tsunami washing over the archipelago*. Infuriated, the Japanese extreme right confirmed its full support to the flag**.
So what the international community must do is to expose the abomination, and to ask the peaceful people of Japan to rise against the true enemies of their nation, to refuse Shinzo Abe's agenda (see "The main threat against Japan? Its own leader"), and to demand a ban of the Rising Sun flag.
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| The Rising Sun flag and the Nazi Swastika - These flags brought shame upon Japan and Germany, destruction across the World - Ban them |
What could be worse than Shinzo Abe taking care of Japan? Shinzo Abe taking care of Japan AND Fukushima, maybe.
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| twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/365371757760245760 |
The Prime Minister decided to step in and help TEPCO deal with the mess because he had no choice: the risks are too high for his government to lose support for his key constitutional reform, he must appear as a strong leader, with a strategic vision.
And you cannot at the same time push as hard as you can in favor of militarism against dubious threats from overseas, and do nothing against massive radioactive leaks at home.
How much time does Shinzo Abe have before the mud hits the fan at the economic or at the environmental level? Hard to tell. Both Abenomics and the handling of the nuclear incidents in Daiichi are more and more criticized as further disasters in the making.
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Boy, this man is truly radioactive. twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/365355493465669632 |
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Also on blogules: "The Rising Sun Flag Brought Shame Upon Japan - Ban It "
* see previous episodes, particularly those featuring Shinzo Abe
** "世界に嘘つきまくる韓国の“奇妙”、横断幕事件でも稚拙な嘘、嘘…身のほどわきまえない“欲深さ”が理由" (Sankei Shimbun 20130808)
That's quite an interesting read there, but I have to disagree somewhat.
ReplyDeleteThere's no doubt that National Socialism and Imperial Japan were unbearably awful, and that Abe and his ilk are complete dicks. But I'm not sure if banning the flags will achieve anything.
At the end of the day a flag is just a coloured piece of cloth, isn't it? It's the people that wave them, and their poisonous ideas that are utterly deplorable. Ban those flags and they'll rally around new symbols, like Greece's Golden Dawn.
Personally, I find patriotism and flag waving revolting, but where do you stop banning offensive flags? What about the Confederate flag? Or the British flag even? As a Brit myself, I wouldn't want to wave that thing around in Ireland, in Africa, Afghanistan or anywhere else the empire tried to wipe out the population. And what about t-shirts with chairman Mao, or Stalin? They killed thousands (millions?) of their own people, yet for some reason their images are quite popular.
Anyways, I feel the symbols themselves are not what is offensive. Its the ignorant racists who wave them.
Sorry for the long comment. Hope you post it.
The story of the Rising Sun is different from that of the swastika, but the debate about it in Japan (also about today's official flag - Nisshoki) has never been fully democratic.
ReplyDeleteThe ban is essential to mark a clear separation between today's democracy and Imperial Japan. That's the only way of exposing certain enemies of democracy: if you support the swastika, you are very clear about where you stand, and there's no reason why Japan's extreme right should be allowed to cowardly hide behind the artificial smokescreen of ambiguity they've been maintaining for decades.
PS: the Confederate flag is an interesting case indeed, and we could almost draw a - very very - cautious parallel with the North Korean flag. Not for the symbols they carry, but because of how both were created in reaction to the existing national flag.
You are funny, really funny.
ReplyDeleteWow, this author is racist. He's trying to get a national flag banned.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDelete1) reminder: this Rising Flag is not Japan's official national flag
2) reminder: I love Japan and the Japanese people. What I do is to denounce neofascist rulers and the glorification of Imperial Japan atrocities and war criminals.
3) reminder: racism is an issue in Japan like everywhere in the World - but unlike most developed nations, it does little to tackle the issue
well I am really astonished by some of these idiotic comments.
ReplyDeleteIf you do not feel this is not the real problem. you should not criticize asian people wearing Nazi's swastika t-shirts and posting symbol if they find simply the design is attracted.