Sony Music apologizes for Japanese group's Nazi-like outfits

This is a non-story. Stop trying to make us pay attention to your one-among-millions "idol" group.

“We express our heartfelt apology for causing offense ..

As they laugh behind their hands all the way to the bank.

Japan simply doesn't have as much animosity towards their former allies. They regard the Germans highly even in modern times.

It is kinda like if you knew a friend, then went on a vacation, then when you came back you learned they did something bad, but it was now in the past. All your friends are still upset, but you have no experience with it, maybe even some collective guilt for what they did.

What I'm trying to say is the further out you get from Europe, the less World War 2 matters.

Actually go to Europe and see how much they try to suppress anything related to the war. It makes sense that on the opposite side of the world that some of the military fashion of that time would be judged more for its visual appeal rather than historical context.

Think about it, if I dressed up as a Confederate Soldier form the US Civil War in Virginia or Missouri it'll have different local context than if I dressed similar in India.

Oh the irony! In ten years time these kind of uniforms will be widespread, even compulsory, all over Europe and these kids would stand accused of mocking the glorious fatherland by their thoughtless actions and Sony will be apologising for that. Even funnier is that the most common theme for UK propagandists in WWII was to totally mock Hitler and the Nazis. This even had far-reaching repercussions into popular culture even up to now. Having a bunch of juvenile girls wear their uniforms and prance about seems like mocking the Nazis to me, though I get it probably far exceeds the intention or imagination of Sony, Akimoto or the girls. But in a way it shows how utterly serious and precious the culture of outrage and affrontedness has become. This is all too pathetic for words all the way up and down. As the two chimps agreed in a cartoon I once saw said, "Let's evolve".

This is a statement of fashion more than ideology. For Japanese and other Asians the Nazis are not the symbol and embodiment of evil that they are for Westerners.

Asians have their own culturally-informed symbols of evil - people like Pol Pot, Chairman Mao, and the Kim family of North Korea.

Without the moral baggage that the West attaches to Nazis and their imagery Asians are left simply admiring the beauty of their uniforms and accessories, because appearance dominates substance here. Witness the popularity of Nazi-themed advertising in Thailand.

I know a tailor in Tokyo who displays 1940s-era SS and Wehrmacht uniforms in his shop window, not because he is a Nazi sympathizer so much as because he is boasting about his tailoring skills.

You can teach history, but the people will be more interested in their own history than in European history, and once again tend to cast Asians as the faces of evil rather than Caucasian Europeans.

I still think she looks more like Wednesday Addams than an SS Trooper.

Boogeyman under the bed fear mongering.

I still think she looks more like Wednesday Addams than an SS Trooper.

I agree. But the models/manequins displaying the uniforms in the top left corner make me think that it is 'Springtime for Hitler and Germany'. Is that one of this idol band's songs?

I don't think these look like Nazi SS uniforms.

Political correctness gone amok. No need to apologize for anything

How about apologizing for the crappy music

Those are the design drawing that were made by Hugo Boss.

These looks like nothing but girls highschool winter uniform

It7s the hat right?

It's easy to palm this off as "PC gone mad", but try explaining that to Holocaust survivors who go into traumatic panic attacks at the slightest mention of Nazism. Having teenage girls dressed as psychotic torture murderers and prancing about on stage to mewling fans must seem like the ultimate perversion to the victims of these monsters. When it comes to Nazis, it's better to just not even go there in the first place

Asians have their own culturally-informed symbols of evil - people like Pol Pot, Chairman Mao, and the Kim family of North Korea. you forgot the Imperial Japanese Army, Hideki Tojo, Heitaro Kimura, Seishiro Itagaki, Kenji Doihara, Iwane Matsui, Akira Mutou, Koki Hirota.

Disappointing article. I had something akin to the outfits in "Ilsa - She Wolf of the SS" in mind. Oh, well, tastes change.

Yeah, there's no mistaking the influence of those outfits. Organizers are to blame, not the girls, except maybe for naïveté.

those vacuous little drones wouldnt have the slightest idea abt the significance of anything they might wear. Totally plastic creations of their mgt.

Am with oldman and a few others, no need to apologise.

How about the millions of western backpackers,hipsters, bands etc who travel the world with their fav CCCP, Lenin, Che or Mao tshirt/cap? These girls weren't celebrating nazism the same way young lads wearing these shirts or caps do not condone or proselityse communism/commie related massacres.

@dcog, I get your point but so does an american flag to north vietnamese survivors or all clothes/war related paraphernalia. My family still has a nazi dagger back home, doesn't mean we don't respect Holocaust' victims. How often have i heard westerners tell each other to 'stop being a nazi' when someone's overly rigid at work or in life. Is it particularly clever or sensitive,, probably not, but we all deal (or 'digest') differently with tragedies.

Storm (well PR coup) in a teacup.

Freedom of speech is guranteed by the Constitution. No need to apologize.

The hats look like repurposed security guard hats with some braid and emblems tacked on. And black ponchos form somewhere. Doesn't look like they spent a lot of time on them.

Oldest member is 21, youngest is 15, but they started last year so subtract a year (youngest was 14 then). Maybe weren't paying attention when Madonna / LadyGaga / Prince Harry / Ed Balls.

The producer's 58, though.

And now a LOT more people have heard of Keyakizaka46. Maybe they can do a world forgiveness tour!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyakizaka46

What's the big deal? The caps look like what an American Airlines pilot might wear. And the SS coats I've seen in Les Mis. If I were Sony, I'd say: "Thanks for the free publicity - you oversensitive schmucks!"

Freedom of speech is guranteed by the Constitution. No need to apologize.

You're right, they didn't need to, they wanted to. No one forced them, it was their choice to apologize.

nothing wrong with those uniforms... part of history...

Why stop at the hapless Keyakizaka46.Tokyohive article announcing Breakers to hold 10 concerts with 10 different artists for10th anniversary. Now, how would you describe Diago headgear, does that not resemble a SS Generals Visor Cap? Certainly sporting the deaths-head insignia, no? If one is looking for the dark and iniquitous, you'll find it imaginary or not .

http://www.tokyohive.com/article/2016/11/breakerz-to-hold-10-concerts-with-10-different-artists-for-10th-anniversary

causes great distress to the victims of the Nazi genocide

The victims have not come back from the dead yet. I do not think it is bothering them.

Shalom

The caps look like what an American Airlines pilot might wear.

Yeah like this?

http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/70/2c/00ac5304203fb22413a726f21b3ec481.jpg

Any Japanese Anime Otaku knows 999?

http://blog-imgs-82.fc2.com/s/u/b/subaryu23/img_0.jpg

That hat I can understand, but the dresses... how on earth are they Nazi style? What about cosplayers dressing as Zeon officers from the Gundam anime? That's a Nazi style uniform and no-one bats an eyelid.

Blown out of all proportion.

A storm in a tea cup maybe. Valuable free global publicity for producer Yasushi Akimoto, mission accomplished for sure.

DieRealityCheck: Yeah like this? http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/70/2c/00ac5304203fb22413a726f21b3ec481.jpg

That's Denzel Washington in a movie about a USA airline pilot ('Flight')!

I guess you're right, the girls' uniform looks a lot more like his than the Nazi officer's in the graphic.

Why'd they lighten up the Japanese poster, though?

He's a lot darker in the US version on wikipedia: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Flight_film_poster.jpg

“We express our heartfelt apology for causing offense ... because of our lack of understanding,”

How many times will Sony need to be spoken to about this sort of thing for them to understand? It's quite a pathetic response from people who are supposed to be intelligent.

To the few still taking the moral high ground, wearing this type of clothing in 2016 is also a way to 'reclaim' what is essentially nothing more than a garment. Punk rock bands in the 1980s, anarchists etc did it too.

As I said the other day, 'hitler youth haircuts' revival in the last few years does not mean nazism is back or that we have forgotten what happened. I know some Jewish groups did complain about this and although I respect their position I stand by mine: some of us just deal with tragedies differently and by 'reclaiming' long parkas, tall boots, hairstyles etc perhaps ppl are saying nazism is well and truly buried.

i've seen pictures of madonna dressed (or rather almost undressed) in that style. i find a very weak similarity to the facking nazis. what offends me more is the advertizing they are getting, to fill the pocketsies of sony

Its painful listening to the childlike reasoning of those who see no problem with this

"I don't see a swastika so it can't be a nazi!"

"the war was so long ago! who even cares!"

and then the outright antisemitic comment by Ms Delicious pretty much shows where a lot of the silliness comes from. (hey JT mod, lunch break not over yet?)

Any thread to do with the holocaust, nazis, Jews, etc on JT is like turning over a rock and seeing the insects underneath scurry.

**causes great distress to the victims of the Nazi genocide

The victims have not come back from the dead yet. I do not think it is bothering them. Shalom

So ignorant it beggars belief.

How about the millions of western backpackers,hipsters, bands etc who travel the world with their fav CCCP, Lenin, Che or Mao tshirt/cap?

If that was me, many would get a night in the fridge at police station and a little fine. For these girls, the problem is they are kids doing child labor. The company should be fined on 2 accounts, for the despising the victims and for making kids do the action.

'hitler youth haircuts'

I have no idea what it means, Nazi military had the haircut of all soldiers in both camps. The symbol on uniforms are another matter, they convey a message.

perhaps ppl are saying nazism is well and truly buried.

It's like saying Comfort Women did not exist. Go say that at the snack, you're in private with other idiots in your kind, nobody cares. But if you pass in media, expect complains and legal consequences.

Freedom of speech is guranteed by the Constitution.

Tina, in Japanese Constitution, not so much. You remember that the American have proofread it after the war, and it's going back to the war time (pro Nazi) Dai-Nippon ideology that is forbidden.

So, I had to reply to this:

It is kinda like if you knew a friend, then went on a vacation, then when you came back you learned they did something bad, but it was now in the past. All your friends are still upset, but you have no experience with it, maybe even some collective guilt for what they did.

What I'm trying to say is the further out you get from Europe, the less World War 2 matters.

Actually go to Europe and see how much they try to suppress anything related to the war. It makes sense that on the opposite side of the world that some of the military fashion of that time would be judged more for its visual appeal rather than historical context.

Seriously, what is this even based on? I've never met anyone here in Europe that actively blames the Germans for anything. There's no suppressing anything. In fact, the countries, including Germany, are filled with war memorials, museums displaying everything and so on. There's still much historical interest even among the younger generations. Admittedly, I've never seen anyone dancing in outfits such as these though but that's more common sense, something the Japanese probably do not really have regarding Nazism (since they weren't as actively exposed to it).

This was not a smart move but they apologized so let's not make it any bigger than it is, huh?

HalieG

Keep asking for next 20 years

A story, blown out of any logical explanation. Two naive girls put on something that, as somebody think, looks like SS uniform, and media along with the Simon Wiesenthal Center got them in the crosshairs. Hey guys, leave these girls alone, they had no intention to offend anybody.

. Hey guys, leave these girls alone,

It's not the kids, they can't choose even the color of their hair ribbon. It's a big global company called Sony Group. That used to be a serious business with high standards. They are getting lower every week.

Bad taste yes, but this part gets me:

“Watching young teens on the stage and in the audience dancing in Nazi-style uniforms causes great distress to the victims of the Nazi genocide,” <<

Come on now, really, how many victims are watching a bunch of Japanese teenagers perform Jpop music?

Yes fight the cause, but don't use this excuse to get the point across.

An "elite" group of society that thinks that apologising solves everything... It goes down with immense speed and friction will serve what's due at this rate.

clamenza: Its painful listening to the childlike reasoning of those who see no problem with this "I don't see a swastika so it can't be a nazi!"

Denzel Washington wore the same kind of uniform in his aircraft thriller movie, so apparently the girls are dressed as American airline pilots, as per the photo of Denzel the person with the German name provided:

DieRealityCheck: Yeah like this? http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/70/2c/00ac5304203fb22413a726f21b3ec481.jpg

turbotsat - I see. So the girls were dressed up as scary airline pilots for Halloween and not nazis!

Oh dear.....

Well, K46 and Denzel's uniforms look a lot more similar to each other than to any Nazi uniforms I've seen. As in REALLY similar. Did you compare them?

Google images for 'Nazi China wedding' if you want to see clueless wannabees wearing accurate Nazi uniform photos (at least, they look pretty accurate).

yes, they both wear hats with wings. what other similarities do you see?

But you ignored my last point; Are they dressed up as airline pilots and not nazis? Yes or no?

coskuri

Tina, in Japanese Constitution, not so much. You remember that the American have proofread it after the war, and it's going back to the war time (pro Nazi) Dai-Nippon ideology that is forbidden.

The American did not proofread it, the Americans (all member were Jewish) created it . It is not forbidden to express Dai-Nippon ideology (what ever it is) in Japan.

the Americans (all member were Jewish) created it

Rocks. Insects. Scurrying....

@Tinawatanabe "Freedom of speech... no need to apologize" How would you feel as a Japanese if some foreign country people performed wearing tshirts showing Japan being punished i.e. Nuke / earthquake / tsunami etc ... would you still feel it's not insensitive? Have a heart !

if some foreign country people performed wearing tshirts showing Japan being punished i.e. Nuke / earthquake / tsunami etc

The Koreans/Chinese/Americans have said things like that but Japan does not demand an apology. These Japanese girls did not intend to insult anyone with the outfit, but the t-shrts you said would.

tinawatanabe - ignorance is not an excuse.