Quote Originally Posted by Ikyoto
It's really up to the Japanese as to what is banned and what isn't in their own culture.
I diagree. If it had been up to the Germans to decide, they may not have banned Nazi symbols. They were forced to by the victors. If it's up to Japan, like the content of history textbooks and the official visits of politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine, they will not change anything, because it cannot be offensive for them (but it is for the countries that experienced Japanese occupation).

By the same token, why not ask why the Chinese don't remove pictures of Mao becasue of all the people his orders sent to their deaths? Why not demand that the US ban the confederate flag?
These issues are completely different because they are domestic problems. If some Chinese decide that Mao was bad enough for his picture to be banned, that is their decision as they were the victims. Other countries don't care as Mao did not kill their citizens (as long as Tibet is part of China). Same for teh Confederate flag. That was an internal problem, and can only be solved internally. But let us not forget that Japan invaded ALL East Asia, as far as India, and also waged war against the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Australia, etc. The Rising Sun flag represents Japanese Imperialism, their conquest of East Asia and associated atrocities. Most Japanese were not the victims but the perpetrators of this. So it is ludicrous to say it is up to them to decide, as they will of course not find it necessary. It would only be seen as a sign that Japan finally realises that its Rising Sun flag is wrong, 60 years after the end of the war. How could they do this by themselves without foreign pressure ?

But again, as I said I don't care. I even entertained the thought of using this flag as a logo for JREF (but Thomas and I decided it might look too nationalist). I am only playing the devil's advocate (one of my favourite hobbies).

If you are curious to know what my Rising Sun flag JREF logo looked like, here it is.