LA mural seen as symbolizing Japan's wartime army to be removed

show us the mural

Trying to earn favors? School need subsidies i guess.

show us the mural

Going overboard? What do you think?

https://www.lataco.com/offensive-koreatown-ava-gardner-mural-will-be-painted-over/

Sorry this one is better!

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-koreatown-mural-censorship-20181212-story.html

Seems overly sensitive. Keep it. Change the red sunrays to yellow/golden.

That means we should get rid of the Arizona state flag.

Hmmm. It's not the actual flag though. Also there is blue, not white between the red rays. It is a cool mural though, but as an artist, I would personally avoid its use. I know what the actual flag symbolizes to those affected by Japanese imperialism during WWII, but I think there is a difference between the Swastika and the rising sun motif. The Swastika is actively being used world wide by hate groups where as the rising sun is only used by the right wingers here in Japan where it is not banned. Or is it?

"Public use of (the) Swastika is prohibited; so should the rising sun flag," Phyllis Kim, executive director of the Korean American Forum of California, wrote in an email to Kyodo News.

Sounds fair to me.

Ridiculous.

This is stupid. The mural in question looks nothing like the rising sun flag. The stripes afe blue and red, there is no sun in the middle, there are more of them and they are thinner, etc. They are just a design feature which have zero connection to Japan.

This is about the equivalent of a campaign to eradicate the + sign because it shares certain common elements with the swastika.

Ridiculous... Korean activism going too far... Besides the fact that the mural has a somewhat remote resemblance to the rising sun flag which is so what... But really, banning or protesting the rising sun flag is indeed ridiculous. For some people that suffered under various wars or regimes in the past the U.S. flag, British flag, etc. could all evoke negative feelings but given the fact that the protesters in the U.S. (Korean Americans) was likely not even born during WW2 their unreasonable knee jerk reaction is distasteful to say the least. The flag has been in use way before WW2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun_Flag and is unquestionably a beautiful and striking pattern from an artistic point of view to many around the world thus its use in many products, clothing, etc.. This is actually reverse hate by Korean activism to smear anything with Japanese symbolism (even as far fetched and remote as that L.A. mural) and should be fought aggressively and head-on.

This is exaggeration. What, should we now forbid any shape resembling anything offensive? People are becoming too sensitive and too insane. bah

Seems overly sensitive

No they are sick.

Art is art. People should have the right to voice their opinions. But of course their are limits.

More character assassination--this time Ava Gardner and Beau Stanton! Who's next?

Ironical Korean-Japanese especially the extreme right wings with loudspeaker BlackVan love and waive the flag everytime

Ok this rising sun thing has gone beyond ridiculous now. And of course it's in California. It was either there or Seattle...

“It’s in Korean town”. I’ll give them that. Just try to paint the same mural in East LA. To see if they complain.

also “they should change the California flag. Bears are killers. “. That will be their new complaint

Maybe Koreans should protest the real rising sun for its resemblance to the Japanese naval flag. Take that, Mr. Sun!

Korean efforts to denounce Japan are too scattershot to have much of an impact. Clearly the solution is to establish a cabinet-level post, the Ministry of Japan Bashing, by which they can obtain the necessary funding and personnel to enable them to denounce Japan at the moment something offensive appears on the radar screen. South Koreas taxpayers will no doubt gladly accept a tax hike to pay for these activities.

Why now?

They should replace it with a mural depicting the atrocities committed by the Park dictatorship in Korea.

So, by people's logic here - it's OK to put up the swastika, or something that approximates it, as art? The world really has been dumbed down to dangerous levels if the majority cannot understand why this is not OK.

The world really has been dumbed down to dangerous levels if the majority cannot understand why this is not OK.

Sorry, AgentX, but before you say dumbed down you should try reading about the history of rising sun symbols, which have been in use in Japan since the 8th century. Moreover unlike Nazi Germany they were never the symbol of a political party or government. The rising sun is even used in the logo of the left-wing Asahi Shimbun.

The swastika comparison is simply a false equivalence.

Folks it's a combination of revisionist history and just plain ignorance! In time there will be no record of the The American Civil War or the World War's if we are not careful. History is History and should be preserved as such. Bias, prejudice or political correctness along with ignorance are an enemy to the truth. Just my thoughts.

That pattern is incredibly common. It might still be part of the Japanese military flag, but its been used in a billion other ways over decades. Its really a common design element. Seen it many times in website design as a background etc.

Doesn't offend me at all and I don't think it would offend most rational thinking Koreans either.

A noisy minority wins once again.

Ok this rising sun thing has gone beyond ridiculous now. And of course it's in California. It was either there or Seattle...

The left loves to indulge this nonsense.

BTW this will soon be California's "Revised" flag LOL!  

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/soviet-flag-royalty-free-image/72084596

This is Political Correctness gone mad. Nothing wrong with the mural, it looks amazing. I see similar designs on surfwear. South Korean Government causing more trouble, hating Japan simply to gain votes. Summon the SK Ambassador.

BTW this will soon be California's "Revised" flag LOL! 

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/soviet-flag-royalty-free-image/72084596

You see it all the time at so called anti-fascist protests.

They say we hate fascists! We don't like the fact millions were killed under fascism and Hitler.

We prefer the hundreds of millions killed under Communism. Much better.

Then again, that is leftist logic for you. Very perplexing.

The ignorance is astounding.

The left loves to indulge this nonsense.

This isn't a left/right thing in the American culture wars or whatever, its something peculiar to Korean-Japanese relations.

But if you want to put a left/right spin on it, its worth noting that its usually the right wing nationalist side of the Korean community's spectrum that pushes this sort of thing, not the left.

Seems like they look for any excuse to bring up their ancestors' alleged victim-hood, at the hands of the Japanese.

Here is a picture taken during the discussion of a local Korean organization:

https://izismile.com/2011/10/05/crazy_simpsons_costumes_from_korea_10_pics-10.html

In other news, South Korea bans the colors white & red as they resemble the Japanese imperial flag. Therefore, they are deemed offensive colors.

Whether you like this artist's work or not, it has to be said that there is zero connection with Korea or Japan.

And Korean soldiers committed attrocities under that very flag to appease their Japanese masters. Korea, start owning things. The good and the not so good.

K3PO: "Korea, start owning things"

Like Japan does on the issue? Hahaha. Are you one of those people who say Japan was "defending Asia" and Pearl Harbor was "self defense"? Never mind you probably believe Nanjing is a myth and Koreans were all well-paid prostitutes champing at the bit to work for their sagacious and benevolent "bosses".

The ignorance is astounding

So isnthe irony.

So, by people's logic here - it's OK to put up the swastika, or something that approximates it, as art? The world really has been dumbed down to dangerous levels if the majority cannot understand why this is not OK.

Actually the swatika is used all over Asia has a symbol for temple. It is the reverse of the Nazi one, but it looks pretty much the same. So yes, it is OK.

Whereas this looks nothing like the Japanese rising sun flag.

What this does resemble is the national flag of Tibet:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tibet+flag&prmd=ismvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlmNDy4J7fAhXYSxUIHWlfDTcQ_AUoAXoECAwQAQ&biw=360&bih=559#imgrc=1HoKiPzATsht-M:

Even Macedonia has a rising sun flag:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=360&bih=264&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=n1YTXJzvNNC11fAP8MSRSA&q=macedonia+flag&oq=mace&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-img.1.0.0i67l2j0l3.72399.73346..76560...2.0..0.104.372.3j1......0....1.......5..35i39.2Gf40-ghViU#imgrc=0-oSnEq2iL8CfM:

https://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-lausd-ava-gardner-mural-20181211-story.html

Seems to me that the main problem is that this mural, from 2016, was painted in Koreatown, whose populace is especially sensitive to the issue of the flag of the Imperial Army. If the mural were located someplace else, then Korean Americans still wouldn't like it, but it wouldn't be constantly in their face.

Korean propaganda and hate at work. Enjoy Japan, try to be nice in return.

Seems to me that the main problem is that this mural, from 2016, was painted in Koreatown, whose populace is especially sensitive to the issue of the flag of the Imperial Army.

Except in 2016, nobody, including Koreans, gave a damn about the rising sun flag. It's been, what, the last 6 months since South Korea started crying about it and now it can't be seen anywhere from South Korea to Canada.

Geez! The Koreans never stop with this kind of thing. Get over it!

Korean organizations and individuals, in November sent the Los Angeles Unified School District a letter detailing "serious concerns about the hate symbol portrayed" 

It's not a "hate symbol" it's the Japanese naval ensign alongside which naval ships from many countries including former WWII enemies train.

 "This flag symbolizes the Japanese military aggression which resulted in one of the most of horrendous and gruesome crimes against humanity in human history," the joint letter reads, referencing the Japanese army's wartime atrocities in Nanjing, Manila and Singapore

Has it occurred to anyone that the nations that actually fought Imperial Japan have no problem with the flag, but Koreans who fought under that flag carrying out those horrendous and gruesome crimes against humanity against Allied POWs and Asian civilians get totally bent out of shape by it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Sa-ik

Honestly, Korean Americans need to support the nation of their citizenship, not the CCP propaganda war against the US-JPN alliance.

This book needs to be sold in English.

https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Korea-Needs-Bashing-Japan/dp/4813325491

Not sure if this is mental illness, liberalism run amok or China taking over Hollywood.

Probablly a little of all 3

This and other similar cases some Koreans have insisted is typically a fallacy of composition.

The fallacy of composition arises when one infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole (or even of everyproper part). For example: "This wheel is made of rubber, therefore the vehicle to which it is a part is also made of rubber." This is fallacious, because vehicles are made with a variety of parts, many of which may not be made of rubber.

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

https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/88/Fallacy-of-Composition

The Korean irrationality/illogicality is totally at another level.