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Why the Use of the Rising Sun Flag is Frowned Upon

5/7/2018

1 Comment

 
rising sun flag
The Japanese Rising Sun flag has a dark history associated with it but despite this fact, it still keeps being used in pop culture. Muse, which is a British rock music group shot a music video that was meant to be fun and light-hearted but ended up causing a public outcry.
(continued) The reason being that Japan’s Rising Sun flag was featured in the video for a brief moment and this made people very angry about the war past. Muse did not want to cause any more trouble and thus took to Twitter with an apology almost immediately, after which the band released another version of this video that had the Rising Sun imagery removed. The flag is a symbol of the imperialistic history of Japan along with everything terrible that occurred in the country’s past. It has also been noted that Westerners may feel that the design of the Rising Sun flag is much better than that of the current flag, which is why they use the imagery more frequently. This controversy concerning the Rising Flag also came about after one of the most popular singers in Japan, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, posed with the flag earlier in 2013. The images were apparently supposed to be used as New Year’s greetings but ended up angering the singer’s Korean fans so much that she had to cancel her scheduled tour in South Korea.

What is The History of the Japanese Rising Sun Flag?
Most people still consider the Rising Sun flag, which is a red circle surrounded by 16 sun rays, and the current Japanese national flag, which is simply a red circle in the middle (Hinomaru), very offensive. They are both a reminder of atrocities committed during the war as well as Japan’s colonialism. The rising sun flag was a symbol of the Japanese empire during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Unfortunately, you can easily find pictures of the rising sun in TV shows, films, restaurants, and even clothing to name a few. Hinomaru and the Rising Sun flag were both taken up in 1870 by the Mejji government, which had overthrown the federal government and introduced Japan to modernity in 1868. The rising sun flag then became the Japanese army’s official flag and Hinomaru became the national flag.

The rising sun flag accompanied the military troops as they were on their path of destruction while Hinomaru was also carried by the soldiers and raised whenever enemy territories were conquered by the Japanese forces. In December 1937, the Chinese city of Nanjing was captured by the Japanese forces and both flags were raised everywhere above the city on street corners, buildings, and walls. These flags were present as Japanese soldiers committed heinous acts such as rape and murder to an extent that the flags are a reminder of these atrocities and as such, they have become a controversial topic ever since. China and Korea still have many war victim survivors, particularly old women who were raped by these Japanese troops during the 2nd World War.

Since Japan was industrialized prior to the rest of Asia and generated a fierce military force capable and aiming to form a grand empire. This goal was fuelled by the belief that the Japanese were a superior race compared to the other ethnic Asian groups because they had progressed beyond Asia before everyone else. The Japanese administration, therefore, did not hesitate to treat Asians from the other countries i.e. Philippines, China, and Korea, as an inferior race to theirs.

An example of this would be the luring of young Korean and Chinese women by the Japanese colonial administration by promising them good jobs and an education. These women were instead made into ‘comfort women’ or sex slaves for the officers in the Japanese army. The China-based unit 731 was also responsible for performing all manner of experiments on people such as organ and limb reattachment or vivisection with anaesthesia. The aim of these experiments was to develop biochemical weapons for use by the Japanese army. The Rape of Nanking saw up to 300,000 innocent civilians, mostly women and children, being raped and massacred.

Back home, Japanese citizens would celebrate their victories in the war using both Hinomaru and the Rising Sun flag. Even though Japanese atrocities committed in Nanking were not reported widely, news reports often discussed military campaigns, which suggested a wide scale of killings. At the time, the war culture ultimately thrived in Japanese society, as the Japanese did not seem concerned with what was happening to the citizens in their enemy countries. Hinomaru and the rising sun flag were even viewed as a symbol of resistance against any Korean or Chinese insurgencies and Western colonialism.

Recent Uses of the Rising Sun Flag
Until recently, the public mostly associated the rising sun flag with right-wing extremists who claim shamelessly that the Greater East Asian War, World War II before Japan’s defeat, was sacred. Actually, very few ordinary people have shown interest in waving the flag because the anti-military and anti-war sentiment remains strong.

In addition, the Japanese government still refuses to claim responsibility for what happened. The Japanese ministry of education has omitted or distorted the historical facts in textbooks used nationwide. The Japanese government also claims that the surviving comfort women lied and that they were prostitutes who offered to do what they did for the cause of the Empire.

Aside from that, Japanese retailers have also decided not to remove the image of the Rising sun flag from their merchandise i.e. key-chains or t-shirts. Considering the fact that the perpetrators who committed these atrocities refuse to admit to their wrongs, using the image of the rising sun flag symbolizes the imperialist and racist attitudes of that time, which is both enraging and concerning. It is unlikely that banning or limiting the use of the flag will solve the problem of reinforcing attitudes encouraging the crimes that happened during the war completely. However, the recurrent controversy surrounding the rising sun flag as well as other symbols linked to Imperial Japan are simply a reminder that the horrors of the 20th century are still fresh among the people.

References
  1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/06/27/japan-has-a-flag-problem-too/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a918a9992de8
  2. http://theconversation.com/why-do-flags-matter-the-case-of-japan-44500
  3. https://kotaku.com/muse-uses-japans-rising-sun-imagery-forget-it-pisses-477840958
  4. http://thewandereronline.com/why-one-should-never-use-the-japanese-rising-sun-flag-by-dongwoo-kim/

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1 Comment
david paul
3/9/2020 04:24:53 am

the Japanese were evil on a one to one basis far more than the germans who were under the influence of drugs. the Japanese took sadistic pleasure in torturing everyone first chopping heads off in competitions burying them alive bayoneting prisoners live & the only country to use bacterialogical & chemical warfare on any scale.the emperor as with so many other Japanese escaped scot free & many still deny the atrocities censoring books & paying little if any reparations unlike the germans.

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  • Home
    • About >
      • FAQ's - Frequently Asked Questions
    • Support Us >
      • Projects you can support! >
        • Distributing Books
        • Presenting at 112th Annual Meeting of Pacific Coast Branch
        • Summer Research Relocation Fund
    • Contact
  • Stories
    • Videos >
      • Black Hearts (2021)
    • Blog
    • Podcast: Forgotten History
  • Internship
    • Summer 2023 Internship
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    • Summer 2022 Internship
    • Summer 2021 Internship
    • Fall 2020- Spring 2021 Internship
    • Summer 2020 Internship
    • Fall 2019 Internship
    • Summer 2019 Internship >
      • Public History Night
    • School Year 2018-2019 Internship
    • Summer 2018 Internship >
      • 2018 Summer Showcase + Fundraiser
    • Fall 2017 Internship
    • Summer 2017 Internship >
      • 2017 Summer Showcase & Fundraiser
  • Books
  • Archives
  • Resource Page
    • Supplementary Research Guides >
      • Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Background of Biochemical Warfare Development
        • Imperial Japan's Chemical Warfare Development Program
        • Map of Unit 731
        • Personnel of Unit 731
        • Duties of Unit 731
        • Human Experimentation
        • [GRAPHIC] Germ Warfare Attacks
        • Cover Ups After the War
        • [OLD] Cover Ups After the War
      • Philippines' Resistance - Guide >
        • Philippines World War II Timeline
        • The Japanese Invasion & Conquest of the Philippines
        • Bataan Death March
        • Formation of Underground Philippines Resistance
        • Supplies of the Guerrilla Fighters
        • The Hukbalahap
        • Hunter's ROTC
        • Marking's Guerrillas
        • United States Army Forces in the Philippines of Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
        • The Aetas
        • Chinese and Filipino-Chinese Nationalist Guerrilla Units
        • The Female Faces of the Philippine Guerrillas
      • Rising Sun Flag - Guide >
        • History of the Rising Sun Flag
        • Atrocities Committed Under the Flag
        • Rising Sun Flag in Pop Culture
      • Pinay Guerrilleras - Guide >
        • Japanese Occupation of the Philippine Islands: Pinays Answering the Call to Arms
        • The Fierce Heneralas and Kumanders of the Hukbalahap Guerrillas
        • Amazons of the Pacific Theater
        • Filipina American Veterans: Recovering the Extraordinary Feats of the Ordinary Pinays
        • The Legacy of the Asian Women Soldier
      • Fall of Singapore - Guide >
        • Singapore World War II Timeline
        • History of World War II in the Pacific
        • History of Singapore
        • Japan's Conquest in Asia
        • Japan's Invasion of the Malay Peninsula
        • Sook Ching Massacre
        • Double Tenth Incident
        • Social Changes and Challenges in Singapore
        • Voices from Syonan
        • Return to British Rule
      • Three Years and Eight Months - Guide >
        • Hong Kong before WW2
        • Buildup to World War 2
        • The Battle of Hong Kong
        • Life during 3 Years and 8 Months
        • East River Column Guerrilla Fighters
        • Prisoners of War Camps
        • End of Japanese Occupation
        • War Crimes Trials
      • Siamese Sovereignty - Guide >
        • The Land of Smiles
        • The Thai-Japanese Relationship
        • Phibun’s Domestic and International Policies
        • The Free Thai Resistance Movement
        • Post WW2 Aftermath of Thailand
      • The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Guide >
        • Defendants of Khabarovsk War Crime
        • The Japanese Empire and USSR in WW2
        • The Employment of the Bacteriological Weapon in the War
        • Planning of Japan invasion to USSR
      • Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East - Guide >
        • Establishing Manchukuo
        • The Development of Unit 731
        • Plan Kantokuen and Bacteriological Warfare
        • The Downfall of the Japanese WW2 Era
        • Three Stages of Interrogations
        • Lasting Impacts
      • Marutas of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • How did Ishii Shiro start unit 731?
        • A Beta Testing Site
        • Establishing Pingfan
        • Experiences at the Human Experimentation Complex
        • Vivisection at the Unit 731
        • Anta Testing Grounds
        • Overall Advance from the Laboratory Creations
        • The End of the War
      • Prince Konoe Memoir - Guide >
        • Who is Prince Konoe?
        • Preparation to Tripartite Pact
        • Emperor Hirohito and Prince Konoe
        • The End of Prince Konoe
      • Competing Empires in Burma - Guide >
        • What was the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • When did the China-Burma-India Theater Happen?
        • Who Fought in the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • The Second Sino Japanese War
        • Japan in the South
        • Operation U-Go
      • Battle of Shanghai - Guide >
        • The Battle of Shanghai. Background
        • Shanghai Before War
        • The First Battle of Shanghai 1932
        • Battle of Shanghai 1937
        • Aftermath of Battle for Shanghai
      • Ishi Shiro - Guide >
        • History of Biological Weapons and The Young Ishii Shiro
        • Establishment in Manchuria
        • Pingfang District - Harbin
        • Failures and Corruption
        • Post War
      • Taiwan The Israel of the East - Guide >
        • Background of Formosa
        • Industrialization of Japan
        • China During WWII
        • Taiwan under Kuomintang
        • New Taiwanese National Identity
      • Seeking Justice for Biological Warfare Victims of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Introduction of Wang Xuan
        • Colonel Memorandum
        • The Beginning of Biological Warfare
        • The Bacteriological Warfare on China
        • Victims in Zhejiang’s Testimonies
        • After the War
      • Rice and Revolution - Guide >
        • The French Colonial Period
        • Anti-Colonial Resistance
        • The Rise of the Communist Movement
        • Imperial Japan’s Entry into Indochina
        • The Portents of Famine
        • The Famine (1944-45)
        • Legacy of the 1944-45 Vietnam Famine
      • Clash of Empires - Guide >
        • Japan’s Imperialist Origins
        • Japan’s Competition against the West: Nanshin-ron and Hokushin-ron
        • Japanese Imperialism Through the Lens of French Indochina
        • The U.S.-Japan Relations and the Pearl Harbor Attack
      • Hunger for Power and Self-SufficiencyI - Guide >
        • The Influence of War Rations on Post-War Culinary Transformations
        • How World War II Complicated Food Scarcity and Invention
        • American Military Innovations
        • Government-Sponsored Food Inventions in Europe during World War II
        • Feeding the Army: The Adaptation of Japanese Military Cuisine and Its Impact on the Philippines
        • Mixed Dishes: Culinary Innovations Driven by Necessity and Food Scarcity
    • Lesson Plans >
      • Reparations
      • Ethics in Science
      • Writing the Narrative of a Pinay Fighter
      • Privilege Journal
      • Environmental Injustices
      • Female Guerrillas
      • Hunter's ROTC
      • Scientific Advancements
      • Seeking Justice: A Humanities Lesson Plan
      • The Hukbalahap
      • Trading Immunity
      • Bataan Death March
      • Biochemical Warfare Development
Contribute