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A dispute has arisen between South Korea and Japan over the possible use of a notorious flag by people attending events at the forthcoming Olympic Games, due to be held in Tokyo in July and August 2020.
The Rising Sun flag is not the official flag of Japan but it was used by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War Two, which ended in 1945. South Korean officials have compared the flag to the Nazi swastika and called its potential use “a direct violation of the Olympic spirit promoting world peace and love for humanity”.
On the other hand, the Tokyo Organising Committee have pointed out that the flag is widely used in Japan and is “not considered to be a political statement”.
So what do you think?
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Should the Rising Sun flag be banned from the Tokyo Olympics?
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Yes
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No
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Not sure how I feel about this issue.
I don’t know. A lot of people from the social justice activists take serious offense on anything and everything, and name their grievances anything with +ist or +ism at the end.
There should be some kind of peace treaty between discordant/factious countries.
There certainly is peace between modern-day Japan and South Korea – they jointly hosted the football World Cup not long ago, for instance. But that is not the point. The Rising Sun flag is used by elements within Japanese society to recreate old animosities, just as neo-Nazis in Germany seek to resurrect long-dead hatreds in that country by flying the swastika – although to do so is illegal.
No harm. It’s time everyone rises above these petty thoughts.
Would you say the same about the swastika?
I did not even know of this flag but Swastika is different. Everyone knows of its associaton and therefore using that would not be acceptable.
But the argument over the Rising Sun flag is exactly the same, namely that it is associated with unspeakable cruelties committed in wartime. South Korea – and other countries in southeast Asia – suffered enormously from the activities of Japanese soldiers under occupation, including forced slavery and the use of their women as “comfort women”. At least the Germans observed the rules of the Geneva Convention towards captured enemy soldiers – the Japanese did not, and many thousands died in prisoner-of-war camps.
No denying there but what is your thinking? Is this flag and its use well known to the world as compared to the Swastika?
I think that opinions will always differ. It very much depends on the thinking of the individuals. I don’t think the flag is to blame for the horrors that have happened.
It seems Rising Sun flag is widely used in Japan and for all others, it is associated with World War Two. I am not so radical to ban such a beautiful flag if the Japanese love it. Not a flag committed war crimes, but people. The same with swastica, its meaning is very nice but was used for as nazi symbol. Swastica itself did not make anything bad, all was done by people.
All flags are symbols – I suppose their significance depends on what people take them to be symbolising.
Yeah that’s true. The Koreans suffered terribly under Japanese occupation during WWII, and the Japanese have yet to “own” their wartime misdeeds in the way the Germans have. So, I think in this case, it is imperative that the Japanese take on board what this flag represents to those that suffered under them in the past.
Those are very good points, Norman.