Symbols

The other day I was having a chat with a friend of mine of Jewish heritage.
We were discussing parallels of atrocities committed both by Nazi Germany under Hitler and the Imperial Japan under Hirohito.

I'll get into the depth of that conversation another time but it was interesting to discuss expectations of post-war Germany and post-war Japan.

Now I could just type more but today I was shopping and saw something very apparent and relevant to our discussion. The discussion was centered around amazing efforts done by the post-war jewish community as well as Germany themselves to attempt to relieve some of the atrocities committed during the way, Post-War Japan is not and has never been held to the same accountability.

Article 1: Boy London

This shirt received a lot of media attention and Western Media is very quick to jump on any fashion designers trying to cash in with Nazi related symbols.
Boy London's design language is obviously inspired by Nazi imagery and received a lot of media attention

Some examples of mainstream media attention

• www.nypost.com/2017/08/07/company-tries-to-re-brand-swastika-as-symbol-of-peace-fails-miserably/
• www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/daniel-marriott/extremist-symbolism-in-fashion_b_1930025.html
• www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/fenwicks-department-store-withdraws-boy-london-clothing-over-nazi-eagle-logo-complaints-9176927.html

TLDR: Basically what you would expect to happen to a company that uses Nazi imagery to sell their products.

Article 2: Peace with Swastika - KA Design

English speakers are extremely quick and rightfully so to call out these issues

The Swastika itself is another interesting example, many of my contemporaries don't know this but it was originally a symbol of prosperity in many cultures, Hitler hijacked it. And what was super interesting to me when I was researching for this post, I came across a conscious effort to return the Swastika to it's original meaning was met with overwhelming opposition

The swastika obviously has been hijacked and injected with context that simply can't be removed no matter how much we tell people and no matter how many rainbow colors you add to it. People have the right to be upset but I also think KA Design was extremely brave for exploring this.

• www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/36981/1/a-weird-new-clothing-brand-want-to-reclaim-the-swastika
• www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/social-media-users-slam-ka-design-swastika-line-170807221839647.html

Article 3: Flying Tigers 

This one can still be bought

At first glance, this seems like a pretty innocent military inspired jacket. I first came into contact with Alpha Industries when a friend of mine had a NASA jacket and boy did I want it.

The reason why the above jacket should be an issue is because the "Flying Tigers" were a group of American pilots (notice the US shield patch on the right arm), fighting in the Republic of China's Airforce to defend against the invading Imperial Japanese Army.

Key phrase: Defend against the invading Imperial Japanese Army

So first question is, why the bloody hell is there an Imperial Japanese flag on an American World War 2 tribute jacket to a squad in the Chinese airforce?

I also thought perhaps that the "Flying Tigers" logo on the front might have been a throw-away aesthetic choice but the jacket is indeed dedicated to that squadron, even with their logo proudly displayed on the back.

2nd question is, why not a Republic of China flag?

I actually don't put blame on the designers themselves as I see this as a product of miseducation and lack of emphasis on Japanese war atrocities during World War II in english speaking countries. Whilst I would hope designers and companies dig deeper into the symbols that they decide to feature on their fashion, I don't expect that many of them do.

One can only imagine what the outrage would be if there was a bomber jacket dedicated to the 101st Airborne that has a Nazi Swastika attached to the front...