As I wrote in post #1, the Rising Sun Symbol is taboo in countries such as Korea and China. It has once again become a source of fresh friction between Japan and Korea in recent months, because of joint naval drills between the two navies, where Japan's Maritime Self Defense Force vessels naturally expected to fly the Rising Sun naval flags, which caused the Koreans to protest.
Here is a video on how average Koreans feel about the Rising Sun flags.
Here's the first ever appearance of a rising sun flag in Japanese history.
I just came across a color photo of the 1870 document from post #3 that launched the "Army National Flag 陸軍御国旗", a short-lived national flag that replaced the nearly 300 Samurai domain banners to represent a nation unified under Emperor Meiji.
This flag had nothing to do anymore with the army since January 1874, but to this day, collectors always mistake the rising sun flag with centered meatball as representing the army. As the name suggests, this flag was used as a "semi-official national flag" by the army, instead of the simple meatball flag that had become the "official national flag" a couple of months earlier.
Thus Japan had two styles of national flags between 1870 and 1873, and though the rising sun version had actually lost its national flag status thereafter, it continued to be displayed crossed with the meatball flag in a "semi" national flag status until the end of WW2.
And the Navy even had official lanterns for the "On Limits" bars.
Just joking.
勅任
Chokunin [Imperial Appointment]
判任
han'nin [Junior Official]
--Guy
I am afraid that this NHK World Article will not stay on the net for long, so I will save the text here. Some highlights added on points of interest to militaria collectors. Lips and meatballs in Shiseido Red, wow.
Another banner year for Japan's flag master
When the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games open this summer, the flags of 206 nations and regions will be flying above Tokyo. For athletes, those flags represent a chance to make their people proud. For 78-year-old Tadamasa Fukiura they are much more than that.
Fukiura is such a fan of flags that he wrote two books on the subject in his university days. So when the organizers of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics needed someone to oversee the banners at the big event, he was the natural choice.
"I was more nervous than happy to get the job. But I thought if I don't do it, who else could?" he says.
Fukiura played the same role at the 1972 and 1998 Winter Olympics, and he will be doing it again this summer.
A checkered history
In 1964, Fukiura was still a university student and was the youngest member of the organizing committee.
"At the time, committee members were feeling a lot of anxiety rather than excitement. They hadn't quite gotten over a traumatic mistake at a big, international multi-sport event in Tokyo a few years earlier," he says. "At one of the award ceremonies, Taiwan's flag was raised upside down."
Fukiura said he was told at his job interview that his one and only task was to raise the correct flags in the correct way.
Picking the palette
Fukiura began preparing two and a half years before the Games. He made a list of countries that were likely to be taking part, then noted the colors in their flags, and tried to figure out the exact tones for each one.
"Nowadays the colors on flags are defined by a code, but half a century ago they weren't. For example, we struggled with blue. There are so many different shades," he says. It took him a year to settle on four shades he would use across all the flags.
And blue wasn't the most difficult color. "The hardest was actually the one used in our own flag -- red," he says.
Japan's flag is white with a red circle in the middle. But until 1999 there was no official policy on what shade of red it should be.
"No one had a clear answer," recalls Fukiura. "So I worked with researchers from a lipstick company's research lab, who were experts on the color red. We collected 500 flags from random homes across Japan, and we determined the average red and used it for the official flag."
Weather resistance is a must!
When he was finally happy with the colors, Fukiura moved onto materials. He tested three -- nylon, wool and acrylic -- hanging each of them in the national stadium for 15 days. On day nine, the flag made from wool was torn apart. On day 11, the nylon flag began to lose its color.
"Most flags were made from wool at the time, and some people were offended by using a synthetic material for national flags," says Fukiura. "But I insisted we had to use acrylic, based on the results of our experiment."
Flag makers enjoy new role
The job of actually printing the flags went to three companies in Tokyo and Osaka. There were no inkjet printers in the 1960s, so each of the roughly 3,000 flags had to be dyed and sewn by hand.
"There was joy as well as hardship for the flag makers," says Fukiura, who recalls the head of one of the companies thanking him with tears in his eyes.
"During World War Two, the company was making national flags for the war. The company boss told me he was so happy to make them for peace this time. It was truly significant for all Japanese to host the Olympics."
Fukiura sees his work in the Olympic stadium.
On October 7th, 1964, three days before the opening ceremony, Fukiura stood in the national stadium for a final check.
"There was a feeling of 'I've done it'. I was confident I hadn't made any mistakes. But it felt more like a start than an end for me," he says.
Gearing up for Tokyo 2020
And 56 years on he's still in that role. Four factories are turning out more than 10,000 official flags for the second Tokyo Olympics.
Fukiura checks flags printed for Tokyo 2020.
There have been technological leaps in the intervening years, but Fukiura says it still needs a human touch. The printing companies can turn out banners faster and more easily than ever before, but there is only one person who has been through the whole process from blueprints to hoisting.
Saori Yamamoto
NHK World
Correspondent
NHK, I'm only glad that Kirin has returned in 2020 after delays. The 2019 Olympic Taiga drama was brutal.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Last edited by Sporter90; 01-26-2020 at 02:59 PM.
Idaten with the lowest viewer rating ever was an absolute fiasco with one arrest for drug abuse. I gave up watching midway and have no appetite anymore even for Kirin of the foam-topped kind.
Erika Sawajiri?by nick komiya
No, Erika is only the latest drug arrest casualty from Kirin. Last year when she got arrested, NHK had already finished shooting 10 episodes of Kirin with Erika in a leading role, so she caused them US$4.6 million damages for having to reshoot all her scenes, which will be invoiced to her.
With last year's flop, it was Pierre Taki, who was playing the tabi maker cum marathon shoes maker for the first half before he disappeared behind bars to be replaced. In Japan, drug abuse is a serious crime and all TV commercials featuring such actors are immediately taken off the air and the sponsors sue them for full damages. If they had guest appearances in any shows, episodes featuring them would be excluded from any reruns as well. So Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan are lucky to be Americans.
The thing with Kirin is that it portrays Mitsuhide Akechi, traditionally treated for the last few hundred years as a villainous character, as an honorable samurai, who had every reason to betray his master Nobunaga Oda, which is supposedly backed up with some new historical discoveries. In a way, it's like a drama series that treat John Wilkes Booth, as a hero, who sacrificed himself.
Here are the various flag sizes actually carried on Gunboat Atami.
Some other items from the inventory list include:
3 Bugles
45 Steel Helmets
5 Nambu 14
10 Type 99 rifles
etc, etc
This is a most interesting thread. Question though. How did those Japanese Army Regiments which were totally decimated out on Pacific Islands, destroy and meticulously record in a log book the Regimental Standard? And how was that logbook returned to the Emperor? Or were the Standards for those regiments located elsewhere?
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