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I don't think this putative screen capture from the World Baseball Classic championship game is a photoshopped picture, so take a look at the Japanese paraphernalia behind the umpire. That red circle is not representing the strike zone for the picture; that is a rendering of Imperial Japan's flag, the banner of the same Imperial Japan that wreaked havoc on mainland East Asia prior to 1945, resulting in the deaths of perhaps tens of millions. Now it could perhaps be the flag of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) but their flag has fewer rays and an irregular gold border. The maritime SDF looks like that but it's more clearly off-center than what's seen in the picture.
Seriously, what it up with that? If that really is the Imperial-era kyokujitsu-ki flag (旭日旗) someone's holding up, dude, what is wrong with you?
UPDATE:
Thanks to Brian in Chŏllanam-do, I discovered that the Chicago Cubs were using the Imperial Japan ensign in their advertising. The discussion here shows that some people see this as essentially the same as using a Nazi swastika in their promotions, while others seem to think it's no big deal, perhaps because they seem to think the Japanese flag with the rays emanating from it is the modern Japanese flag).
[above: 2008 advertisement focusing on Fukudome Kosuke, the Chicago Cubs' first player from Japan.]
I saw that a few times during the game. Yeah, it's used today for the self-defense force or whatever, but you'd think of all the teams NOT to wave that flag at, Korea'd be up at the top.
ReplyDeleteThe Chicago Cubs used that same flag when they brought in a Japanese player:
Something else I wondered about, and maybe you know, is why there were so many Japanese advertisments at the parks. Did they also have Korean ads up but I just missed them? Or did Japanese companies simply pay more for them?
ReplyDeleteBrian wrote:
ReplyDeleteI saw that a few times during the game. Yeah, it's used today for the self-defense force or whatever,
I'm not so sure it is. If you look at the flag link I provided above, the ground-based SDF has a rendition that looks quite different from what's in the stadium.
The maritime SDF has a design much closer to the Imperial Japanese original, except that it is off-center (the sun is moved to the left). It's not clear from the picture I linked if this flag is the off-center maritime SDF version or if it's an Imperial era versio being held in such a way that it looks slightly asymmetrical.
If it is the maritime SDF then ...
but you'd think of all the teams NOT to wave that flag at, Korea'd be up at the top.
... yeah, you would think that holding up the Japanese military flag — even the modern one — would raise a few eyebrows. Really, what is up with someone doing that?
Some might say, well, Koreans are bringing up the Tokto thing, but really they may be corresponding issues, but they are not essential equivalents.
You see, kiddies, Korea did not invade and brutally occupy Japan, not with a Tokto flag, not with a T'aegŭkki, not with any flag. At least not for the last 1500 years.
Japan, on the other hand, did so, with the Imperial Japanese flag, and they did so within the memory of many people still alive today. And with the worst problem facing Korea (national division and the ensuing lack of security) a direct result of said occupation, it's easy to see why the flag of Imperial Japan is a no-no topic for folks in Japan to glibly bring up.
The Chicago Cubs used that same flag when they brought in a Japanese player:
Thanks for that. I made it the focus of an update.
Brian wrote:
ReplyDeleteSomething else I wondered about, and maybe you know, is why there were so many Japanese advertisments at the parks. Did they also have Korean ads up but I just missed them? Or did Japanese companies simply pay more for them?
I honestly do not know. I purposefully did NOT watch the games, so I don't know.
Where were the ads ad what kind were they? I know that broadcasters have the technology to superimpose ads in spaces where there are no ads, and they can tailor those ads to the local market. If some Korean broadcasters were getting their feed from Japan (which some do), even for a game like this, it might show a lot of Japanese-language ads.
But I don't know if that's the kind of situation you're talking about.
I mean, Japanse-language ads on the scoreboards and in ad-spaces. Just take a look at the screen capture. Whenever I watched the game I frequently saw Japanese ads behind home plate and in the outfield.
ReplyDeleteThe flag on display in the screen capture is the Naval Ensign. The off-center sun gives it away (same design with centered sun was the war flag of the Army until the end of WWII). This naval ensign was flown from 1889 to 1947, and again from 1954 to present.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if that changes the discussion at all, but it is flag currently flown by ships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Several points, Tony...
ReplyDeleteFirst, I really would like to see another picture of this. I am inclined to think it's the naval SDF ensign, but it could be that the left side of the flag is not fully unfurled.
Second, if that is the naval SDF flag, I see no point in displaying it unless the person there is part of the naval SDF, and even then I'm not so sure. It borders on being "fightin' words."
The naval ensign was banned when the Allies occupied Japan, and it was brought back with considerable controversy, if I recall correctly. Naval SDF ensign or not, this sun ray motif directly hearkens to the aggressive and brutal Imperial Japan era.
"The naval ensign was banned when the Allies occupied Japan, and it was brought back with considerable controversy, if I recall correctly. Naval SDF ensign or not, this sun ray motif directly hearkens to the aggressive and brutal Imperial Japan era."
ReplyDeleteJapan's national flag (the rising sun) was also banned when Japan was occupied in 1945 and allowed in 1949.
After the liberation, however, the Japan's teachers union has been opposing to raising national flag and singing the national anthem on school events by the reason they would revive the aggressive and brutal Imperial Japan era. This mentality. the masochistic view of history prevailed in the majority of Japanese mind.
The naval ensign and the rising sun would make no difference in meaning since the rising sun would equally remind some people the aggressive and brutal Imperial Japan era anyway.
But for some Asian nations the rising sun and sun ray may remind the liberation from the colonial state of the Netherlands (Indonesia), France (Vietnam), and Britain (India and Burma).
The ensign of sun ray motif is used as its company flag by Asahi Shimbun (newspaper) because the meaning of Asahi is morning sun. This flag may also be used on new year days in Japan.
Umeboshi wrote:
ReplyDeleteBut for some Asian nations the rising sun and sun ray may remind the liberation from the colonial state of the Netherlands (Indonesia), France (Vietnam), and Britain (India and Burma).
Fair enough, but that's an entirely different context from a Korea-Japan baseball game.
I'm also not so sure if Indonesians, Vietnamese, Indians, and Burmese perceive the Japanese as liberators in the same way that apologists for Imperial Japan proclaim that they do (not that you are being an apologist, just that the Japanese-as-liberators idea stems from that).
The ensign of sun ray motif is used as its company flag by Asahi Shimbun (newspaper) because the meaning of Asahi is morning sun. This flag may also be used on new year days in Japan.
Again, entirely different context. This was neither New Years Day nor was it an advert for Asahi anything (which some time, on one of my first visits to Japan, I thought was some sort of North Korean-Japanese association... 朝日... 朝鮮+日本... doesn't that make sense? In my defense, I was like 18 or something).
Thanks for your comment, Umeboshi.