It’s about ethics in music journalism? 
(sorry inside joke around these parts, speaking of which, welcome!)
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But if you look closely, they are not really Nazi hats. The eagle is very deco, but not very close to the German eagle. And there is no swastika. Except for the comically oversized chinstrap, it could be a commercial pilot hat. Also the sleeve insignia. I get that the inspiration is likely German styling, but they could easily have made something way closer to Nazi uniforms.
I think that I can be reasonably confidant that this was less a political statement than a style statement. But I will ask my daughter about the band, when she gets home from school. I am confident that she knows all about them.
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Something it took me years of living here to understand, something which used to disturb me: symbols here are often entirely disconnected from context. Semiotics just dont apply. This isnt just foreign symbols but often domestic ones as well. I still cant explain it, I’ve just come to that understanding somehow.
Allies of convenience on both sides really. Germany got someone else to interfere with the Allies (including military forces, colonial resources, etc) in the APAC theater, Japan got some technology exchange.
More Jewish were saved by Japan than most any Allied power. During the war, more Jews lived in Kobe than in all of Japan today. The entire Mir Yeshiva was temporarily located in Kobe. Thousands of Jews were admitted from the Soviet controlled border to the Japanese colony of Manchuko by Lt. General Kiichiro Higuchi. Not to mention the efforts of Chiune Sugihara, the Japan Tourist Bureau, etc.
Go further back and it was Jacob Shiff, a Jew, who financed Japan’s victory over Russia in 1905, the first time a “backward” Asian nation was to defeat one of the Great Powers.
No one here confuses the logo of the Reich with a 卍. Take my word for that.
A bit too obvious to need saying.
What is far more interesting is that even in Hiroshima & Nagasaki, there is no anti-American stigma per se.
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I agree. Other than the color scheme, it’s really a stretch to call these SS uniforms.
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‘Far more interesting’ is an understatement. I spent some time in Hiroshima and found folks were as nice there as anywhere else in the country and I can’t say I would’ve blamed anyone if I’d found otherwise. It was all the more astounding when you think about how commonly accepted trans-generational grudges are elsewhere in the world.
I’m not saying everything is roses ( criticisms regarding how Japanese-committed atrocities during WWII are passed over or ignored are warranted ) but getting to that place of national forgiveness would benefit a lot of countries and the world as a whole.
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An anchluss with cuteness.
It’s all down to intent, really, and education (or lack of).
The kids that look at old pictures of Nazi uniforms and try and emulate the style are doing just that. Unfortunately, they are ignorant of history but they are not trying to glorify anything the Nazis stood for. If Hitler had his way, the Japanese would have been as much a target as any non-white race.
I personally think the Germans had some great style, including uniforms, vehicles, cameras and other design of the 30s/40s.
If it wasn’t so offensive and inappropriate to dress as a Nazi, it would be a cool style to take on.
Look at the Mongrel Mob in New Zealand. They appropriated some of the Nazi symbols in order to shock people.
Co-opting or reclaiming words or symbols and exposure to them isn’t totally a bad thing. At least it makes people think.
the youngsters themselves likely had no idea of the SS uniforms’ deeper significance,
I realize that time and generations will inevitably forget these things. But this is how Donald Trump gets to where he is. People forgetting how easy it was for the Germans to buy into that bullshit because they do not recognize the pattern.
Big guy—big reach. And skinny guys fight till they’re burger.
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I personally think a lot of it is a deep undercurrent of fondness/respect for heavily militarized society and culture. Prussian designs are just as popular, if not moreso, than Nazi/SS, as an easy example.
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There was about 8 months during the early UK punk movement where wearing Nazi symbols was considered shocking in an acceptably disruptive way. I remember an interview clip with Tony Wilson, with him recounting that he had to explain to some bands that no, they couldn’t wear that on his show on Granada TV.
Then there’s The Sex Pistols’ “Holiday in the Sun”, the origin of the name Joy Division, and on and on.
I don’t recall any big apologies becoming part of the history of that musical/historical period, but since I wasn’t directly involved I may have missed a trick.
One would think that in the UK, in the late 70s, with far more people alive to remember the war first-hand, that would have raised a much bigger stink. A lot of these bands got snapped up pretty quickly by major record labels too, so they may well have had contracts while they were wearing Nazi gear to gigs.
I’ve never been into Nazi references as fashion (haute couture references are even worse, ugh), but the current situation seems odd, given the larger historical context. For all I know, the Japanese group’s stylists are referencing the 70s British bands.
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I thought Japan was friends with the Nazis. This shouldn’t be a problem at all to them.
The Japanese Imperial Army´s flag (which already existed in feudal times) is still used by parts of the Japanese army (go figure) and a very popular pop culture item in the west, despite being associated with the horrors of Japanese imperialism in the region. The Japanese have never given a shit about dealing with their own fascist-imperialist past so they certainly don´t give one about the significance of Nazi insignia on the other side of the world. Any apology is as insincere as can be and any expectation for that to be different is ignorant.
By that theory, it wouldn’t be a problem in Germany, either.
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there’s an exception for arts, could be worth a try as defence strategy
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I don’t think they’re facing legal action in Japan, so I really don’t think they need a legal defense.
I just brought up Germany to disprove the assertion that Japan’s status as an “Axis” country means that this would be acceptable, as demonstrated by the fact that Germany, the heart of the “Axis,” has very specifically passed laws against it.
I wonder how much the decline of nazi imagery in the British punk/postpunk scenes tracked with a spike in actually neo-nazi skinhead activity? Like were bands like Joy Division getting really sick of people coming to their shows and sieg heliging so they back off a bit on that imagery?
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I was talking about the German law, StGB §86 (3) defines a few exceptions, including art. Most likely not working, though. “Low” arts like pop music or computer games are typically ignored when it comes to rate the worthiness
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I checked the hat and it looks like a very stylized SS hat without the Totenkopf. If they ditched the hats I don’t think anyone would have noted the Nazi-esque uniforms. With it, though, they’re pretty reminiscent even if they aren’t copies of SS uniforms so much as inspired by them.
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