I can understand if folks that lived true the wars and other travesties that the Japanese have committed might find the flag offensive, since a flag is the symbol that the troops carry into battle etc, and hence the Japanese people might empathies with the people they have oppressed and killed, or feel a shame because the rising sun flag represents the Japanese empire, after WWII japan was taken over by the US and even tho they are now independent they still bound to the Constitution that the US set up before leaving, the Japanese empire was crushed and is now sort of a lap dog for the us(not really but you get my point i hope)
so many Japanese people might have some negative feelings to the flag, and so forth using the flag in a ad might not be the smartest move in the world,

But comparing the flag to the swastika is way over kill.
to compare it with the swastika might seem good, since both where used during the same time, tragic things where done under both flags shadow, but the swastika was taken up as a symbol for Nazism and had never been used before in Germany, the rising sun flag had for a long time been a symbol in japan before and after WWII, both good and bad things have been done under its shadow but people mainly remember the bad.

a flag is still only a symbol, a symbol for a country, for a state, for a branch of the military etc, its never a flag that kills or tortures people, but because people do bad things wile “holding” the flag people project bad emotions to the memory of the flag. For example in my home country(Sweden) the Nazis use the Swedish flag as a symbol, and hence to have a Swedish flag or use a t-shirt with the flag on it is often socially not accepted, because the Swedish nazis use it as a symbol. its happened a few times that school kids have been sent home because they had a t-shirt with the Swedish flag on them, and the reason most often stated is that it might be offensive to other kids. in some parts of the country its more then others of course.

Dam this became a rant, and it probably do not make much sense, if anyone read it all GJ, what i basically wanted to say is, a ad is a ad and a flag is a flag, if you find it offensive don’t look at it.
and if the Cubs want to use it, its there problems. its there right
if you have a reason for using a symbol or flag use it, don’t let other peoples ideas about what the symbol stands for be in your way, for example is not the swastika very much like the Sun cross or what is called in japan that is a symbol for luck(x-files is the source of this so im not 100% sure ) just that its mirrored. [/rant]

And Wiki? Yes, it is relatively accurate, but given that over 75% of the input comes from North America it does have a certain bias.

You don’t speak for the nation of Japan or for regular Japanese, so stop using the word “most” in your posts just because you’ve talked to a few of your friends. I was there last year visiting family, and I actually bought two of the naval flags–you can buy them everywhere. My extended family sure didn’t have a problem with it, and many of them lived through WWII. My mother, a native Japanese, sure didn’t have a problem with it, either. We’re talking four generations of Japanese. If I lived on a Native American reservation, would it be cool for me to state “Most Americans are ashamed of and offended by the American flag because it’s a symbol of tyranny and oppression”? That’s what my reference group might say, right? Find me a poll conducted in Japan about this flag or that Cubs ad, then post that instead.

The Nazi comparison, **flag-wise**, is silly. The swastika was adopted by the Nazis–it wasn’t an official German flag prior to or since that time. Of course it’s a symbol of all that they did during their time in power! The rising sun was the symbol of Japan well before the atrocities of WWII. The Italian flag example used elsewhere is right on; you don’t see people getting cranked up when they see that tricolor now, do you? Do you see their flag and think of Mussolini?

And anyone who invokes the “wikipedia?!” bit when someone quotes from it is just lame. Believe it or not, it *is* a legitimate source of information. Bad info sometimes? Sure. But you’ll find plenty of errors and misinformation in your high school history book, too.

It kills me how, in our blog-saturated world, the tiniest details become issues because we have time to pick those details to death. It’s a product of too much space on a webpage or too much time on a tv broadcast with not enough meaningful material. What was once a trivial detail or a minor story is now hyped, blown up, and dissected to the point of ridiculousness.

Of course, I have to admit that I like reading your blog, so keep it up!

Dan

Aaron, yes, the Navy does use the flag - but even that’s a cause for consternation for most Japanese (add to that, most don’t even realise it’s still in use!)…
I agree Brian, I don’t think it was intentional, but it was a pretty big slip up on their part.

The picture of a ‘noose’ in golfweek was inflammatory, in the US. I can guarantee you that in most parts of the world it’s not viewed any where near as badly (tho’ most would recognise and understand why it’s viewed so in the US). But if you’re going to use an image, you’d better be aware of the ramifications.
The Cubs weren’t, and will probably pay the price in lack-of-support, should the use of this image become widely known in Japan.

In Korea we have Nazi bars . . . bar/restaurants done up completely in a Nazi theme. Koreans have been heavily influenced by German ideas on race, and aren’t as repulsed by the symbols of National Socialism that most westerners are. When presented with complaints, you’ll find the owners reply with “I didn’t know” and “they dressed well.” Like using the Rising Sun flag for a baseball player, using the Blood Flag for a bar is a case of people just not getting it. Sad that few don’t study history anymore, and I was pretty surprised to see a few sports blogs pick up the story.

About the Nazi bars:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0605/southkorea.trouble.html

http://rokdrop.com/2007/10/11/israel-upset-about-nazi-bar-in-seoul/

http://www.nancarrow-webdesk.com/warehouse/storage2/2007-w41/img.21861.html

Don, in Japan, have they sold Charles Barkley’s book “Who’s afraid of a Large Black Man?” My wife gave it to me as a gift for Christmas and I have to say, it is an excellent read. If you, or any other of your blog visitors want to read it, I would highly recommend it.