Quote:
Originally Posted by simmode1
Nah, fuck that piece of shit. Owner put Nazi decals all over it.
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In Japan, the swastika is called manji. when you type out the word on your computer, chances are the swastika symbol will come up (卍). The manji doesn't have the kind of stigma in Japan as it does in the West, and is used pretty frequently in Buddhist tradition.
In fact, if you look at a city in Japan on Google Maps – especially older cities like Kyoto or Nara – you'll see lots of manji markings where Buddhist temples are located.
The nazis specifically used the symbol with the prongs facing right, and in many cases tilted it to look like it was spinning. The symbols you'll see in Japan are almost always facing to the left. If you have trouble remembering which is which, just think (Left = Love, Right = Reich).
With all the horrific things that the Nazis did, it became hard not to associate the swastika with the Nazi's brand of terror and hate. After all, the Nazis adopted the swastika on their flag and plastered it over anything you can think of.
The swastika, in the Japanese sense, can mean a number of positive things from strength to compassion.
The bottom line is that when you see a swastika in Japan, it's not some anti-Semitic symbol; it's usually used as a positive symbol of Buddhism. I definitely understand why the swastika has such an incredibly negative connotation in the West, but the thousands of years of history that Japan has with the swastika overrides the awful associations that much of the Western world has with it.
From Hashi at tofugu.com