Rising Sun

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Only a Flag or a symbol of Imperial terror?

Fans cheer in the stadium, and waving a Flag is a staple to an international sports event.

But what if a Flag is so offensive to some countries, sends it to a whole movement it is forbidden?

this is what is wrong with the Japanese Rising Sun Flag and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. And The Strongest criticism is from South Korea , where some politicians even compare it with the Nazi swastika.

critics say The Flag is flown by fans who want to romanticise and write the violations of Human Rights by the Japanese armed forces.

South Korea wants to get banned on The Games , But that is widespread "in Japan" and is "not a Political Statement ".

What is The Flag of The Rising sun?

Japan ' s national Flag is a red disc on a white Background , and no One has a problem with that.

Japanese soldiers during the second World War and the country's modern navy

The Rising sun Flag has similar red disc, But with 16 red rays from their ends. Both flags have, which are in fact used for a long time, from the centuries.

During the 19Th Century , The Rising sun, the symbol of The Flag of the military. As such, it was flying during the Japanese imperialist expansion, when it occupied Korea and part of China.

During the second World War , The Flag was the navy - and that is largely where it has its controversial reputation. Japanese troops occupied much of Asia during The War , carrying out atrocities against the local population.

Today, it is still The Flag of the country, the Navy, and a slightly different version, which is used for the regular armed forces.

Why is South Korea dissatisfied with him?

In 1905, was Japanese-occupied Korea a protectorate, and five years later, as a full-fledged colony.

The Japanese rule was squeezing One of economic exploitation and hundreds of thousands of Koreans into forced labor to support the Japanese expansion in other parts of Asia.

The brutal regime also saw thousands of girls and Young Women and forced to work in military brothels Set Up for Japanese soldiers during the second World War .

Known euphemistically as "comfort women" were forced into Sexual Slavery . Apart from the Korean victims of the Japanese army girls forced out of Taiwan, China, and the Philippines in the brothels.

Many South Koreans arrange The Rising sun Flag with a long list of war crimes and repression - and see Japan continue using the symbol as a symbol of Tokyo's failure to face its past.

were found, These Korean women by U.S. Marines in a "comfort station" in China in April 1945

The Flag -to-Flag "a thread in a gallery, the other South Korean complaints in relation to Japan, explains the apparent inability - or unwillingness - of the responsibility for colonial crimes", Korea -analyst Ellen Swicord.

the South Korean foreign Ministry described The Flag as a symbol of Japanese imperialism and militarism".

said, in the meantime, a parliamentary Committee on sports that it was "a symbol of The Devil , the Asians and the Koreans, as well as the swastika has been a symbol of The Nazis is remembered that the European invasion of horror".

Why is there no protest from China?

Based on the historical experience of the Japanese invasion of China in response to The Rising sun Flag at The Olympics , similar to the One in South Korea .

According to the Japanese military in the Chinese city of Nanjing in 1937, Japanese troops took over in a months-long campaign of murder, rape and looting in what was One of the worst massacres of The War .

According to Chinese estimates, about 300,000 people were killed, many of them raped, women and children, and approximately 20,000 women. Yet there is little protest from China over The Flag .

The reason is simple policy, explains Prof David Arase of Nanjing, on the campus of the Johns Hopkins University.

the Chinese media controlled by the government, and Beijing is currently working on the improvement of relations with Tokyo. In fact, Chinese President Xi Jinping 's visit to Japan in the spring, the planning of the new Japanese Emperor is.

"that does not mean That China is a big Problem, and therefore, people would not be primed for every outrage on The Flag :" Mr Arase says.

it Is comparable to the swastika?

There are arguments for and against.

The Rising sun Flag was used as a traditional national symbol of Japan for centuries and appears in their advertising and commercial products.

In Germany, the swastika was only used when The Nazis were in power. Now it is banned in Germany, and the Nazi symbol is only from extremist groups.

But even if The Rising sun Flag has a longer history, "no-One in Japan, The Rising use of solar schematically Flag for purposes other than the novel and the horrible people described the Human Rights violations under the Japanese Empire", Koichi Nakano , professor of Political Science at Sophia University in Tokyo.

He suggests a better comparison than the swastika, the Confederate Flag in the United States. The Flag war of the southern States that slavery was wanted in The American citizen.

The Flag is not prohibited, and all flew the same, across the southern States, But critics say it is a symbol of racial separation and perceived superiority.

Why doesn't Japan ban The Flag ?

Despite pressure from South Korea , there is no concession of Japan has been so far.

It is also a look at the entire history of The Flag , without any indication of his role during the second World War .

"the design of The Rising sun Flag is widely available in Japan, such as 'good catch' flags of the fishermen used festive flags for the birth and festive, and flags of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships.

"Claims that The Flag is an expression of a Political Statement or a symbol of militarism are absolutely wrong. "

In fact, even in Japan, the liberal newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, a version of The Flag as a logo.

this Is a political move?

Japan's reluctance comes at a time when relations between South Korea and Japan to a new low.

Over the summer, a diplomatic feud over The War -work replacement jumped into a full-blown trade row between the Two Sides .

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to act, the refusal is seen by some as an attempt to please an ultra-conservative group.

"is The current Japanese government, that this extreme nationalism, and is still supported in silence, in the expression," says Harrison Kim, assistant professor of history at the University of Hawaii.

But Japan's alleged inability to properly deal with its brutal Imperial past "is not the fault of the Japan alone," he says.

Rather, it is, in part, to secure because the United States Tokyo, sought as an ally during the Cold War . to participate

"The Japanese government, Mr. Kim says the reparations and redress would be for dealing with the past".

The result, he argues, is that Japan is still not a permanent way of the "memoriali sing, implemented and apologized for his Imperial crimes is not in the law, not in education and not in the Culture ".

japan, china, south korea, world war two

Source of news: bbc.com