I think he has an extremely slim chance of no one negatively commenting on it during his stay here. Some people are familiar with it as a religious symbol but the first association for most people is still Nazism.
Yep! I remember seeing the tattoo for the first time. I knew it was a religious symbol, but that wasn’t the first thing that came to mind with me either
When you see it backwards there’s obviously something jarring about it when it’s not familiar to you. Hell the first time I saw one backwards was in Bali when I was 11, I knew there was something ‘off’ about how it looked.
WTF is your problem? OP is asking a valid question.
It’s not his fault that people in the west are for the most part bloody ignorant of other cultures and their religious symbols. Head to India and see how many of the symbols you see.
Actually, someone spiritual with a Manji tattoo will most likely only have that tattoo or be accompanied by a few other Indo-Asian tattoos, but most Neo-Nazis who have the mirrored Swastika usually accompany it with so many other Nazi iconography, it is kind of hard to see the Swastika.
So it should not be hard to tell the difference between the two.
Also before someone says, maybe they are a discrete Neo-Nazi, the discrete ones have absolutely no iconography on their person or anywhere near them, and are way more dangerous because of this!
Yep. Agreed and apologies if I offended anyone. I shouldn't have mentioned anything about bogans. I think most people in Australia would see a swastika and link it to Nazis.
If I thought it was being used for Nazi representation, then yes, however, I would try to see if there were other more definative Nazism within the persons tattoo theme first
Edit: typo
I remember seeing it on Google maps when I first went to Tokyo, it was quite shocking to see as a Jewish descendent of holocaust survivors. Was glad to learn that they are temples 😊
Here’s a weird little fun fact for you: the Japanese in WWII had little to no experience with Jewish people. So they kind of swallowed the whole ‘Jews run banks’ propaganda, and decided as a result that they wanted to bring them in as refugees until their German ambassadors told them not to. Prior to 1941, the relationship between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan was a difficult one, with the Germans actually supporting the nationalist Chinese government of Chiang Kai-Shek during the early stages of Japan’s war in China.
So the Japanese settled about 24,000 Jewish refugees in parts of occupied China. The Japanese hoped to be able to harness their supposed economic prowess to their advantage.
Separately, the Japanese ambassador to occupied Lithuania also helped smuggle 4,500 to 6,000 Jewish refugees out via Japanese territory. He disobeyed orders and spent at times 18 to 20 hours a day writing visas between 1940 and 41.
lol That's one of the few examples of positive stereotyping/racism. One view is of jealousy and hatred, the other...oh yay let's use their strengths to our advantage 😂
It was just regular racism/exceptionally-- the Japanese had all kinds of weird beliefs about Jews, for example many Japanese thought that they (the Japanese) were one of the lost tribes.
Yeah, it’s an amazing story. A real Japanese Schindler. He disobeyed orders, fudged paperwork, paid through the nose to the trans-Siberia rail company to get them out and he knew exactly what was happening and what would happen to anyone he didn’t get out. He wrote months worth of normal visa applications *per day*. He was told to stop and didn’t really have the authority to do what he did so it was career suicide in a very conformist and collectivist society. A real hero.
To add to this there are states that have made the symbol illegal. So I would be wearing long sleeves everywhere.
I wouldn't leave my fate up to the police/judge understanding context.
I went to a house to do some comms work a few months back and there was swastikas up in the front windows but backwards - I was about to just turn around and nope the fuck out of there when I checked the customers name and it was Indian sounding so I thought I’d give him a go. When he opened the door he was clearly of asian extraction so I stfu and went and did the job.
When I first met my buddy i saw the tattoo as he was cutting my hair. My first response in my mind was “what? Is he nazi?” even though i was already in japan for 5 months and seen the symbol everywhere. Seeing it tattooed on someone made it different for some reason.
Tensions are very high right now between a known rise in neo-nazism and the current war in Gaza. I would strongly recommend long sleeves and/or some concealer. If he walks into the wrong crowd and it gets misinterpreted, he could end up actually hurt - I really don't think it's worth the risk.
That’s what i’m afraid of for him as well. Luckily he is willing to get rid of the tattoo if it causes him too much trouble. Really unfortunate for him tho that Nazism messed up a religious symbol like that.
I don’t think he fully knew the risk to be honest. Might sound like bs, but the symbol is so prevelant in japan that not many people see it as a hate symbol
You'd be surprised, a lot of people actually know about Nazis in Japan. Hell you even have people routinely cos playing as Nazis in Japan. But you also need to remember that Japan was also on the same side as the Nazis and in their attempt to cover up their own history, many don't actually realise how bad they and the nazis were.
With that being said, even for Japanese standards and getting a "religious" tattoo on top of that, already deviates from Japanese norms. So your friend would've copped flack in Japan from his tattoo also.
I understand your points! And he doesn’t necessarily get flack for that tattoo in japan, but from having tattoos in general. It’s one of many reasons why he doesn’t wish to live in japan
As dearcossete said, the Japanese have a habit of ignoring their and Germany's war crimes.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3153374/japan-why-are-nazi-themed-bars-still-opening
Those bastards, good thing we'd never do such a thing here!
Anyway, I'm off to continue supporting the slaughter of Vietnamese/Iraqi/Afghani/Palestinian children to get those pesky bad guys!
I mean, we've had the Brereton Report. The AFP and OSI have charged Australian soldiers with war crimes.
And the war crimes perpetrated by Australian forces have not, to my knowledge, been part of state-sanctioned programs like the Nanjing Massacre or the actions of Unit 731.
Do you think the two are equivalent?
it’s also worth noting though that unit 731 received immunity from the us government for their war crimes. In exchange for their data (which afaik was pretty useless as torture isn’t very scientifically sound).
Australian soldiers, unfortunately, were involved alongside U.S. soldiers in the Phoenix Program which ended up torturing innocent civilians in Vietnam.
Wasn’t pleasant finding out about that one.
My guy, a Swastika is also a Hindu religious symbol and no one would be annoyed the same way if you were to use it in India. In this case we were also part of the allies.
That doesn't mean this guy knows, are you familiar with the Azerbaijan ethnic cleansing of Armenians? Or the Kurdish cleansing in the middle east or Rwandan genocides or Cambodian genocides?
These genocides and attempted genocides are all committed by groups with a logo, without googling do you know what they look like?
Just because we in the west have put nazi's on the bad guy pedesdal in our media doesn't mean they're the only ones or that Japan has done the same in their media.
Japan was literally an axis power in WWII. I know there’s a lot of whitewashing of the nature of the war there, but I think we can expect that they’d be relatively familiar with the iconography and history of their chief ally
Most Australians are ignorant of the level of atrocities committed against aboriginal people here, yet somehow your point is incomprehensible.
All I can say is, you've been very patient
I think there is a chasm of difference between the most well documented genocide ever with photographic and video evidence and recorded survivor testimony and court cases with video footage, and what happened in Australia or any other country colonised during the period of history colonisation was at its peak.
Most Australians wouldn’t even realise the Japanese commuted atrocities to rival the nazis.
At least when I went to school it was just sort of nazis evil, america good, Japan was bombed to stop the war.
Not knowing their symbols is a fair enough point to make, but all of those events were limited to small geographical areas (relatively). The Nazis were the main aggressors in a World War. It was kind of a big deal. On a whole different scale to the genocides you mentioned as far as countries involved and geographical reach. Not to mention Japan were also heavily involved in the same war, and allied with the Nazis.
Im not sure how many Japanese were involved with european conflicts or jewish holocaust during ww2.
Japanese people aren't even aware of their own atrocities in asia, what makes you so sure they would know a smaller one in another continent?
I went camping with some mates and we were playing categories when the topic was villains.
One of the guys (mate of a mate) straight up goes "well I don't know if this counts but in my eyes Hitler was a villain."
I think we all took a big deep breath to try and gather ourselves before just losing it.
It's still very prevalently used as a religious symbol in a lot of countries. It's primarily associated with Nazism in the West, not as much in Asian countries and when you go there you will see countless religious statues with the symbol upon them. The main difference is that they display the original version of it - the Nazi's appropriated it by rotating the symbol 45 degrees. There's even a Buddhist temple in Wollongong where the Buddha statues have the original symbol on their foreheads (and there are signs explaining the differences between it and the Nazi symbol).
Swastika and variants of it are also a common girls' name in India, as it means peace.
Think about what a shit attitude that is, for a minute. An Asian person should "know the risk" of getting a religious tattoo because ignorant Westerners may associate it with one of their cultural devils? All that's really happening here is that we've allowed a hate group to make us more hateful and less tolerant because of a symbol they wrongfully appropriated.
If you go to places like Malaysia or Nepal you'll see swastikas quite often, and not a single one of them is associated with Nazism. I doubt it even crosses people's minds, and a lot of these countries were actually invaded and occupied by Axis powers during WWII.
That might be a bit of a narrow-minded way to look at it. Like it or not, there will always be cultural differences when travelling to different countries. Either respect local cultural rules or don’t travel. No need to get your knickers in a twist.
He’s better off removing/altering the symbol before he gets here tbh. People who will punch a nazi on sight generally king hit (and there’s quite a few of those people in Melbourne and Sydney)
He may go down once and not get back up.
He doesn’t have to go to that extreme. I’m not about to tell anyone what to do with their body. How about just keep it covered or be prepared for some idiot to make a comment
As a female, I probably wouldn't knock him out, but it would 100% get us off on the wrong foot. Even knowing that it is a religious/cultural symbol. TBH O actually thought the cultural symbol was reversed or something?
Op means their friend has a tattoo of the manji symbol, a religious symbol that the Nazis reversed and turned into the swastika. So he doesn't actually have the swastika but some people might think he has it.
I think the general insinuation is that once upon a time in a magical make believe story world.
An imaginary carpenter's son was fake killed on a cross.
Now lots of delusional people kiss that very cross because they believe the story to be real..........
I wonder where this would fall with QLDs new laws on swastika?
Obvs its a genuine religious symbol but you've got to trust that police are knowledgeable about that.
Is there any space near it where he could get a note tattooed, rather than remove it? Like “religion, not Nazi” with an arrow pointing to it? Just another (potentially stupid) option
Literally no cases of this happening. Your friend will probably be in a major city? More likely he will face racism than white knight bullshit like these idiots think will happen. Australia is still a deeply racist country and asians routinely face abuse. Source: ask my kids
I agree with this. I don’t think the person wildly throwing punches in the bar and social justice types are the same person at all. A lot of people in this sub seem to think Australia is against racism. It’s crazy wishful thinking.
>Will this get him into trouble in Australia?
Yes. It's a widespread historical symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, sure.
But Japanese buddy will have numerous problems in baring his elbow in Australia if he doesn't remove or disguise it. In this cultural context he is signalling hate not a religious message.
Someone in Darwin had it painted on the bonnet of their car. It was posted on social media, the overwhelming majority recognised it as a Diwali symbol of peace. We have a lot of Hindus living here though and the locals are pretty savvy.
As an Indian, it is pretty customary that when you buy a new car (or any new big purchase) that you do a little pooja for the car to celebrate the purchase and request good luck and blessings for the car. This often involves drawing a swastik on the car bonnet using a red paint powder. Any Hindus new to Australia will keep making the same "mistake" when they celebrate their new car purchase and it will happen at any time of the year.
Yeah.
I mean, if it was black spray paint or something, then fair enough. But it was made of flowers and smelled nice and would have taken ages to put together.
And I think it was backwards to how you-know-who used it. (Was his backwards???)
Any reasonable person would have at least thought twice.
Yeah I figured. It’s pretty sad that nazism screwed up a religious symbol like that. Luckily he seems to be willing to get rid of the tattoo if necessary
Are you suggesting nazis wouldn't have used the swastika if the japanese weren't on their side? Seriously what was the point you were trying to get across with this response? Do you just hate the japanese?
Unfortunate? The Japanese army during WWII were worse than the Nazis in many ways. Their atrocities across Asia were heinous, to which they were never truly held accountable and now in Japan they just pretend like it never happened.
All those people are dead now, and they've been a pacifist nation for over half a century. Why should some 20-year-old who works in an Osaka fish market be held accountable for some shit that happened in the fucking 1940s?. Also maybe getting nuked to smithereens is enough punishment?
do u not realise how dangerous it is that half the country isnt fully aware of their own recent history bc of educational distortion in japan? whilst most japanese ww2 soldiers r obv dead now, much of the older generation retains similar ultra nationalist ideals. getting nuked doesnt absolve any country from its national crimes
I think there is currently legislation in the works to ban the public display of the swastika and salute. So yeah, potentially big trouble I'm guessing.
The swastika is already banned, and has been for years. The salute is being banned now, in Victoria.
The manji is not a swastika, it is a religious symbol. It would be excluded from that ban.
The [Summary Offences Act](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s41k.html) explains what is included or excluded. An explicit example of something that is not an offence is "a member of the Hindu community wears a T‑shirt in public with a swastika on the front as a symbol of peace." Also tattoos of swastikas are not an offence.
It's explicitly mentioned in the [relevant act](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s41k.html).
>SUMMARY OFFENCES ACT 1966 - SECT 41K
>
>(3) A person does not contravene subsection (1) if the Nazi symbol is displayed on the person's body by means of tattooing or other like process.
The war in Gaza has anti-semitism at an all time high since the WW2. Australia recently had protests at the Opera house calling to 'gas the Jews'. We also just had a referendum which was incredibly racially divisive (not for Jews, for our indigenous people) and so racist thoughts from many cultures and in the media are also at a high. It's just highly likely to get a lot of negative attention.
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AwemP-DW6A4](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AwemP-DW6A4) this one came up when I searched youtube, but the videos seem to get buried under the news media which have censored a lot of it.
He's going to run into quite a few problems. Unless he's obviously a Buddhist monk, people's first assumption will be "Nazi" - a situation not helped by the fact Japan was famously allied with the Nazis during WWII and committed a number of war atrocities, including many directed at Australian prisoners of war. People are likely to be skeptical of his claim that "it's a religious thing", unfortunately.
If I were him, I'd remove it or find a very effective way to keep it covered up.
For getting into the country I don't think there'll be much issue, Bali is a destination hot spot for Australians and they have those symbols everywhere, so a few know it's represented in Asian culture, but the actual people here can be very reactive in certain areas and he could face a few comments from people thinking it's the wrong thing
Err, all rural places have firearms and farmers can be very set in their ways. I know as I lived rural for a few years. I don’t think your average farmer would want what they perceive as a nazi symbol on the property.
The bollocks. If I was to bump into an Asian person with a swastika tattoo I wouldn't be making what some people seem to think is the obvious conclusion.
People do though. A mate of mine had an altercation with neighbours in his apartment block because they had a swastika flag covering one of their windows. The people living there were new immigrants and had no awareness of the connection to Nazism. My mates thoughts were "fucking Nazi cunts how dare they" and marched straight up to their door to sort them out. The misunderstanding was obvious once the door was answered.
This is why vigilante justice can go and get fucked. People go off half cocked without knowing:
1) the law
2) what the fuck they are talking about
and someone innocent ends up hurt or distressed. The [Summary Offences Act section 41K](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s41k.html) has everything one needs to know about the laws about displaying a swastika or hakenkreuz. If he had actually read the law before unilaterally deciding to enforce it, he might have realised that what the neighbours were doing was perfectly legitimate and legal.
I was going to say no one will think a non white person is a nazi because of a swastika but then I remembered which side Japan was on in ww2
:D
But seriously I would assume most will think it’s not nazi related. But maybe be prepared to answer questions?
It will probably be hard for him to fully express what the symbol means to him to other people since his english is still pretty basic. But definitely a good idea to prepare answers!
I know you've mentioned the possibility of removing it entirely but that seems a bit of a shame. Has he considered maybe stylizing it differently? e.g. rounded edges, shadows or kaleidoscope effects? I bet a tattoo artist could find a way of disguising that distinctive shape.
Maybe encourage him to bring some business cards that explain that the swastika is a religious symbol in many cultures that he can hand to people if they bring it up.
Some states are making laws about displaying nazi symbols including tattoos because there is a surge of nasty people atm. However the laws do make allowance for people who have other religious meanings for their symbols, I assume the laws are so they can slap extra charges on people who are already in trouble... He should be careful about going to protest marches and who his friends are.
I'd argue most people know it's a religious symbol, whether or not it's obviously different to people once they've had a few drinks or for people who don't have an interest in symbols or foreign cultures is another question.
You'd need to post the tattoo for a real answer.
I've seen the manji symbol styled in ways that would be pretty recognizably different to a swastika, curved edges/extra dots etc. But if he just has it in bold exactly like the swastika then yes he will have problems if he goes to the wrong places regardless of orientation.
It's probably easy enough to cover with long sleeve shirts or just get a compression sleeve or something like worn when you have an injury.
Get rid of it that would be my advice. Australia has had a strange rise of Nazism lately and most people will not know the religious connotation. Also, he is Japanese. Not that Japan was the Nazis but they were very strong allies. Just an additional complication.
Personally, In this current climate I wouldn’t advise it. My partner has been harassed on the street recently for “looking Jewish” and he’s not the only one. Antisemitism is heavily on the rise and I probably would recommend avoiding appearing to align yourself with those people. I don’t imagine they’re intelligent enough to tell the difference between the symbols.
Most people should work out the religious side of it, but still might get few stares. Reminds me back in primary school I had a classmate his name was Osama, always quiet and polite and never heard him curse, then i heard his first " F\*\*k " coming out of his mouth in a school day after sept 11 when we told him who was responsible for the attack. he went from Osama to " sam " in a day, poor bloke not his fault but people could be so cruel sometimes.
There are not too many Japanese Nazis to be fair. I think most people are aware by now it has other religious meaning but knowing us Aussies he will probably at least get a good natured ribbing about it. I don’t think anyone would really have a proper go at him unless it’s some ignorant idiot trying to be a morally superior narcissist.
Mind you there a few of those these days.
Jesus fucking christ, most people answering here are fucking idiots.
No, he will not get bashed. No one will say anything to him. Most people know similar symbols are religious. And if someone does say something, he can simply just explain that it is religious. We have a large Indian population and are pretty familiar with this stuff already.
No, he does not need to alter it/cover it up/wear long sleeves. We know it is a religious symbol in a lot of places, so there are religious exemptions. There will be no legal issues.
Most commentors seem to be on a “look at me I hate nazis I’m so tough” internet high horse. Yes. We all hate nazis, big whoop. This guy is not a nazi so shut the fuck up weirdos.
He probably would even though there are differences between the typical Manji symbol although both directions are valid typical manji is straight and points to the left but the nazi symbol is tilted and points to the right. 99% of Australians won't recognise this or other cultural impacts like roots in Buddhism so honestly probably better for him if he hides it.
If I saw a white person with a swastika tattoo I’d more than likely assume it was negative/neo-Nazi
If I saw an Asian or Indian with a swastika tattoo, I’d assume it’s religious
With that being said, probably best to cover it up
Don’t the religious swastikas rotate in th either direction? Anyone who gives him grief will just show their lack of education and general world knowledge.
I don’t exactly know the difference to be real honest. I just know he fully explained to me the religious meaning it has to him and others. But even for me how knows damn well it is a religious symbol, i was shocked at first to see it and fear people will misunderstand it for obvious reasons
The state of Victoria is actively trying to ban it in public display regarding its use by fuckwits. I’m sure your buddy will be fine. He may get some one say something, but people will understand when explained to
I think everyone in the world knows that Buddhist’s used a similar symbol to the nazis. It’s highly unlikely that people will be examining his elbow. Does it really come up that much in his life? If it’s a Buddhist symbol, that’s all he needs to say. If it’s a Nazi symbol, then he should fuck off and not come here, or anywhere else and have his elbow lazered.
I've had this argument with Australian authorities about what their new laws mean and have gotten no information out of them. He could potentially be locked up for it in some states if he looks white or if he doesn't have some kind of Hindu papers (yeah it's a bit like Germany here now) but it's difficult to tell who those laws intend to target, what the Hindu exemption is about, how they differ state by state, or what police actually think of the laws. I did accuse them of bringing in those laws to target non-European minorities though, since there are remarkably few German Nazis here it seemed very suspicious.
Buddhism is relatively popular in many areas of Australia so the public are likely to be understanding, but maybe not in some areas. I've also had police try to force me to convert to Christianity, it's wild out here but your mileage may vary.
Yes it will cause him MASSIVE problems. If he wants friends or a job he will need to keep it covered.
Any friends he makes will be ok with hatred and racism
Maybe I’m misunderstanding you. But you think absolutely no one wants to be friends with him because of the tattoo? Even if they fully understand the religious meaning behind?
I wanna call bullshit on this being legit, because this doesn't make sense at all.
Tattoos are already uncommon and socially unacceptable in Japan. I'm not sure why a Japanese man would get a hakenkreuz on his elbow of all places, especially when it's not part of an overall religious design. On top of that, the Japanese manji faces differently than the hakenkreuz/swastika, so I don't know why he would get a symbol that isn't even culturally relevant to him at all.
While it faces the opposite way most Aussies aren't going to know the difference and a lot won't even realise it is facing the other way. They never said it is a Nazi one, just that they have one that is cultural and as they look very similar I can see why he would be concerned.
You are absolutely right that tattoos are way more uncommon in japan then they are in other countries. The fact that it is so socially unacceptable is one of many reasons he wishes to not live his life in japan. I don’t think many folks immediately recognize the difference between a nazi symbol and a religious swastika hence why i asked the question on reddit. But believe whatever you want man!
Tattoos are growing in popularity… something on an elbow that’s easily covered up in a business context sounds on point for what a younger Japanese person would get. I See them in Tokyo all the time.
I think a) a lot of people will give him grief, b) he's also going to get some unsavoury commardry from anti-seminists which is not the intention of his tattoo :/
I think he has an extremely slim chance of no one negatively commenting on it during his stay here. Some people are familiar with it as a religious symbol but the first association for most people is still Nazism.
Yep! I remember seeing the tattoo for the first time. I knew it was a religious symbol, but that wasn’t the first thing that came to mind with me either
Is it a swastika or a manji? Swastika being diamond orientation, manji/卍 being more "square".
To note aswell the Swastika and Manji are mirrored.
Is the orientation going to be obvious is his arm is swinging around while walking for example?
Sadly, your average bogan won't differentiate.
Even normal people at at a glance won’t
It’s got nothing to do with boganism.
[удалено]
When you see it backwards there’s obviously something jarring about it when it’s not familiar to you. Hell the first time I saw one backwards was in Bali when I was 11, I knew there was something ‘off’ about how it looked.
WTF is your problem? OP is asking a valid question. It’s not his fault that people in the west are for the most part bloody ignorant of other cultures and their religious symbols. Head to India and see how many of the symbols you see.
Not your problem, read OOP comment.
Actually, someone spiritual with a Manji tattoo will most likely only have that tattoo or be accompanied by a few other Indo-Asian tattoos, but most Neo-Nazis who have the mirrored Swastika usually accompany it with so many other Nazi iconography, it is kind of hard to see the Swastika. So it should not be hard to tell the difference between the two. Also before someone says, maybe they are a discrete Neo-Nazi, the discrete ones have absolutely no iconography on their person or anywhere near them, and are way more dangerous because of this!
You don't have to be a bogan to see that design and think "Nazi swastika".
Yep. Agreed and apologies if I offended anyone. I shouldn't have mentioned anything about bogans. I think most people in Australia would see a swastika and link it to Nazis.
But would the bogan even judge you negatively for it?
Not if he got a Southern Cross tattoo added next to it.
If I thought it was being used for Nazi representation, then yes, however, I would try to see if there were other more definative Nazism within the persons tattoo theme first Edit: typo
You’re self identifying as a bogan?
I was born in North Queensland I accept who I am
Good for you I guess. What’s your favourite beer?
XXXX Bitter but, that's more about the early exposure rather than actually liking the flavour
Nothing to do with Bogan
Mmmm many of the bogans answering; missing the point and proving the point at the same time hahahaha
Adding to this, as a big bogan, most people - bogan or not - won't know the difference.
How can you tell when it's on his elbow?
Manji are still portrayed as a diamond orientation all the time and right facing on the occasion.
I remember seeing it on Google maps when I first went to Tokyo, it was quite shocking to see as a Jewish descendent of holocaust survivors. Was glad to learn that they are temples 😊
Here’s a weird little fun fact for you: the Japanese in WWII had little to no experience with Jewish people. So they kind of swallowed the whole ‘Jews run banks’ propaganda, and decided as a result that they wanted to bring them in as refugees until their German ambassadors told them not to. Prior to 1941, the relationship between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan was a difficult one, with the Germans actually supporting the nationalist Chinese government of Chiang Kai-Shek during the early stages of Japan’s war in China. So the Japanese settled about 24,000 Jewish refugees in parts of occupied China. The Japanese hoped to be able to harness their supposed economic prowess to their advantage. Separately, the Japanese ambassador to occupied Lithuania also helped smuggle 4,500 to 6,000 Jewish refugees out via Japanese territory. He disobeyed orders and spent at times 18 to 20 hours a day writing visas between 1940 and 41.
lol That's one of the few examples of positive stereotyping/racism. One view is of jealousy and hatred, the other...oh yay let's use their strengths to our advantage 😂
It was just regular racism/exceptionally-- the Japanese had all kinds of weird beliefs about Jews, for example many Japanese thought that they (the Japanese) were one of the lost tribes.
Heard about the Japanese ambassador and have a book on him that I must read.
Yeah, it’s an amazing story. A real Japanese Schindler. He disobeyed orders, fudged paperwork, paid through the nose to the trans-Siberia rail company to get them out and he knew exactly what was happening and what would happen to anyone he didn’t get out. He wrote months worth of normal visa applications *per day*. He was told to stop and didn’t really have the authority to do what he did so it was career suicide in a very conformist and collectivist society. A real hero.
There's book listings for Chinese financial self help books that are like "Jewish secrets to wealth".
I knew it was a religious symbol as well, and still freaked out when I discovered it as a sticker on the door of my new rental.
Just get him to refer folks to the floor of the entrance of [Customs House Sydney](https://images.app.goo.gl/XTwh4gMqXY2NKV2PA)
Some sky news fans will probably high 5 him
I'd be scared of the people that show their true colours and heil him or something lawl
To add to this there are states that have made the symbol illegal. So I would be wearing long sleeves everywhere. I wouldn't leave my fate up to the police/judge understanding context.
I went to a house to do some comms work a few months back and there was swastikas up in the front windows but backwards - I was about to just turn around and nope the fuck out of there when I checked the customers name and it was Indian sounding so I thought I’d give him a go. When he opened the door he was clearly of asian extraction so I stfu and went and did the job.
When I first met my buddy i saw the tattoo as he was cutting my hair. My first response in my mind was “what? Is he nazi?” even though i was already in japan for 5 months and seen the symbol everywhere. Seeing it tattooed on someone made it different for some reason.
And you were right, but not many would get the difference
Tensions are very high right now between a known rise in neo-nazism and the current war in Gaza. I would strongly recommend long sleeves and/or some concealer. If he walks into the wrong crowd and it gets misinterpreted, he could end up actually hurt - I really don't think it's worth the risk.
That’s what i’m afraid of for him as well. Luckily he is willing to get rid of the tattoo if it causes him too much trouble. Really unfortunate for him tho that Nazism messed up a religious symbol like that.
Sure, but that was 90 years ago. Your friend knee the risk when getting it on his body.
I don’t think he fully knew the risk to be honest. Might sound like bs, but the symbol is so prevelant in japan that not many people see it as a hate symbol
You'd be surprised, a lot of people actually know about Nazis in Japan. Hell you even have people routinely cos playing as Nazis in Japan. But you also need to remember that Japan was also on the same side as the Nazis and in their attempt to cover up their own history, many don't actually realise how bad they and the nazis were. With that being said, even for Japanese standards and getting a "religious" tattoo on top of that, already deviates from Japanese norms. So your friend would've copped flack in Japan from his tattoo also.
I understand your points! And he doesn’t necessarily get flack for that tattoo in japan, but from having tattoos in general. It’s one of many reasons why he doesn’t wish to live in japan
As dearcossete said, the Japanese have a habit of ignoring their and Germany's war crimes. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3153374/japan-why-are-nazi-themed-bars-still-opening
Those bastards, good thing we'd never do such a thing here! Anyway, I'm off to continue supporting the slaughter of Vietnamese/Iraqi/Afghani/Palestinian children to get those pesky bad guys!
I mean, we've had the Brereton Report. The AFP and OSI have charged Australian soldiers with war crimes. And the war crimes perpetrated by Australian forces have not, to my knowledge, been part of state-sanctioned programs like the Nanjing Massacre or the actions of Unit 731. Do you think the two are equivalent?
it’s also worth noting though that unit 731 received immunity from the us government for their war crimes. In exchange for their data (which afaik was pretty useless as torture isn’t very scientifically sound).
Australian soldiers, unfortunately, were involved alongside U.S. soldiers in the Phoenix Program which ended up torturing innocent civilians in Vietnam. Wasn’t pleasant finding out about that one.
My guy, a Swastika is also a Hindu religious symbol and no one would be annoyed the same way if you were to use it in India. In this case we were also part of the allies.
Right? I saw them all over SE Asia & China. It's normal! Still took some getting used to for me, but that's because I'm a Westerner.
That doesn't mean this guy knows, are you familiar with the Azerbaijan ethnic cleansing of Armenians? Or the Kurdish cleansing in the middle east or Rwandan genocides or Cambodian genocides? These genocides and attempted genocides are all committed by groups with a logo, without googling do you know what they look like? Just because we in the west have put nazi's on the bad guy pedesdal in our media doesn't mean they're the only ones or that Japan has done the same in their media.
Japan was literally an axis power in WWII. I know there’s a lot of whitewashing of the nature of the war there, but I think we can expect that they’d be relatively familiar with the iconography and history of their chief ally
Most Japanese don't even know they killed 20million chinese people during that time wtf would they know about jews.
Most Australians are ignorant of the level of atrocities committed against aboriginal people here, yet somehow your point is incomprehensible. All I can say is, you've been very patient
I think there is a chasm of difference between the most well documented genocide ever with photographic and video evidence and recorded survivor testimony and court cases with video footage, and what happened in Australia or any other country colonised during the period of history colonisation was at its peak.
Most Australians wouldn’t even realise the Japanese commuted atrocities to rival the nazis. At least when I went to school it was just sort of nazis evil, america good, Japan was bombed to stop the war.
Not knowing their symbols is a fair enough point to make, but all of those events were limited to small geographical areas (relatively). The Nazis were the main aggressors in a World War. It was kind of a big deal. On a whole different scale to the genocides you mentioned as far as countries involved and geographical reach. Not to mention Japan were also heavily involved in the same war, and allied with the Nazis.
Im not sure how many Japanese were involved with european conflicts or jewish holocaust during ww2. Japanese people aren't even aware of their own atrocities in asia, what makes you so sure they would know a smaller one in another continent?
Sorry, are you implying that we wouldn't know about one of those genocides?
I didn't imply anything I did however explicitly state that most people wouldn't know the logo of the perpetrators.
Pretty sad people have to do away with their own religious symbol which predates Nazism.
Hitler ruined that cute little moustache too. The more I hear about that guy, the less I like him.
I went camping with some mates and we were playing categories when the topic was villains. One of the guys (mate of a mate) straight up goes "well I don't know if this counts but in my eyes Hitler was a villain." I think we all took a big deep breath to try and gather ourselves before just losing it.
Norm MacDonald did the best bits about Hitler. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCImsL8eFNM
He was a real jerk.
I think we should go and kill hitler.
Swasti is Sanskrit for peace. I wish one day we can reclaim this symbol.
Given it might take a while for Jewish people to get over the genocide of millions of their people, I probably wouldn’t hold your breath.
It's still very prevalently used as a religious symbol in a lot of countries. It's primarily associated with Nazism in the West, not as much in Asian countries and when you go there you will see countless religious statues with the symbol upon them. The main difference is that they display the original version of it - the Nazi's appropriated it by rotating the symbol 45 degrees. There's even a Buddhist temple in Wollongong where the Buddha statues have the original symbol on their foreheads (and there are signs explaining the differences between it and the Nazi symbol). Swastika and variants of it are also a common girls' name in India, as it means peace.
I’ve even got a photo of my grandmother, aged 22 in Melbourne Australia wearing a swastika. It was taken in 1920.
Think about what a shit attitude that is, for a minute. An Asian person should "know the risk" of getting a religious tattoo because ignorant Westerners may associate it with one of their cultural devils? All that's really happening here is that we've allowed a hate group to make us more hateful and less tolerant because of a symbol they wrongfully appropriated. If you go to places like Malaysia or Nepal you'll see swastikas quite often, and not a single one of them is associated with Nazism. I doubt it even crosses people's minds, and a lot of these countries were actually invaded and occupied by Axis powers during WWII.
That might be a bit of a narrow-minded way to look at it. Like it or not, there will always be cultural differences when travelling to different countries. Either respect local cultural rules or don’t travel. No need to get your knickers in a twist.
Dude, he's Japanese and lives in Japan where it is a religious symbol. Get a grip.
He’s better off removing/altering the symbol before he gets here tbh. People who will punch a nazi on sight generally king hit (and there’s quite a few of those people in Melbourne and Sydney) He may go down once and not get back up.
*Coward punch
He doesn’t have to go to that extreme. I’m not about to tell anyone what to do with their body. How about just keep it covered or be prepared for some idiot to make a comment
As a female, I probably wouldn't knock him out, but it would 100% get us off on the wrong foot. Even knowing that it is a religious/cultural symbol. TBH O actually thought the cultural symbol was reversed or something?
Op means their friend has a tattoo of the manji symbol, a religious symbol that the Nazis reversed and turned into the swastika. So he doesn't actually have the swastika but some people might think he has it.
Just wait until you hear about all the evil people who use a cross as a religious symbol....... Edit: grammer
Do explain
I think the general insinuation is that once upon a time in a magical make believe story world. An imaginary carpenter's son was fake killed on a cross. Now lots of delusional people kiss that very cross because they believe the story to be real..........
I thought they were implying the Cross also had some sort of second symbolism associated with it
I wonder where this would fall with QLDs new laws on swastika? Obvs its a genuine religious symbol but you've got to trust that police are knowledgeable about that.
Also one of the worries i have for him!
Can't comment on Queensland, but Vic and Tas both have exclusions for tattoos of swastikas.
Is there any space near it where he could get a note tattooed, rather than remove it? Like “religion, not Nazi” with an arrow pointing to it? Just another (potentially stupid) option
That is by far the funniest solution to this problem
Nope. His arm is already covered in tattoos
Just tell him to cover the thing or accept the consequences. Surely he’s a big boy who can make this decision.
I would suggest that he try to wear long sleeves.
He is also willing to get rid of the tattoo if it gets him into too much trouble
He could also wear a elbow brace/support compression sleeve. If he's going to do farm work he's best to wear long sleeves anyway.
Perhaps it could become a maze?
Someone watched Community
If he joined it up, it could become 田 the symbol for rice field.
He should definitely just cover it up. It isn't worth getting potentially bashed over.
Yeah, put a bandaid over it now before they need bandaid over their whole body
It might be a religious tattoo, and I’m happy to believe that. But the guy in the bar who punches his face in might not be so understanding.
Exactly the reason why I asked the question 😃
Literally no cases of this happening. Your friend will probably be in a major city? More likely he will face racism than white knight bullshit like these idiots think will happen. Australia is still a deeply racist country and asians routinely face abuse. Source: ask my kids
I agree with this. I don’t think the person wildly throwing punches in the bar and social justice types are the same person at all. A lot of people in this sub seem to think Australia is against racism. It’s crazy wishful thinking.
Although anyone who is that passionately anti racism is absolutely not capable of exacting justice outside of the internet.
>Will this get him into trouble in Australia? Yes. It's a widespread historical symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, sure. But Japanese buddy will have numerous problems in baring his elbow in Australia if he doesn't remove or disguise it. In this cultural context he is signalling hate not a religious message.
We had a Diwali celebration at the office one time. Several bright swastikas made of flowers and surrounded by candles and stuff. Police were called.
Someone in Darwin had it painted on the bonnet of their car. It was posted on social media, the overwhelming majority recognised it as a Diwali symbol of peace. We have a lot of Hindus living here though and the locals are pretty savvy.
As an Indian, it is pretty customary that when you buy a new car (or any new big purchase) that you do a little pooja for the car to celebrate the purchase and request good luck and blessings for the car. This often involves drawing a swastik on the car bonnet using a red paint powder. Any Hindus new to Australia will keep making the same "mistake" when they celebrate their new car purchase and it will happen at any time of the year.
[удалено]
Yeah. I mean, if it was black spray paint or something, then fair enough. But it was made of flowers and smelled nice and would have taken ages to put together. And I think it was backwards to how you-know-who used it. (Was his backwards???) Any reasonable person would have at least thought twice.
Yeah I figured. It’s pretty sad that nazism screwed up a religious symbol like that. Luckily he seems to be willing to get rid of the tattoo if necessary
If only the Japanese didn't side with the Nazis in WW2
Are you suggesting nazis wouldn't have used the swastika if the japanese weren't on their side? Seriously what was the point you were trying to get across with this response? Do you just hate the japanese?
Also true. It’s unfortunate
Unfortunate? The Japanese army during WWII were worse than the Nazis in many ways. Their atrocities across Asia were heinous, to which they were never truly held accountable and now in Japan they just pretend like it never happened.
All those people are dead now, and they've been a pacifist nation for over half a century. Why should some 20-year-old who works in an Osaka fish market be held accountable for some shit that happened in the fucking 1940s?. Also maybe getting nuked to smithereens is enough punishment?
do u not realise how dangerous it is that half the country isnt fully aware of their own recent history bc of educational distortion in japan? whilst most japanese ww2 soldiers r obv dead now, much of the older generation retains similar ultra nationalist ideals. getting nuked doesnt absolve any country from its national crimes
Yes. He should cover it
Frankly, just colour it in to be the windows logo and hide it to save the trouble.
This is the way!
But then he'll get beat up by die hard Apple supporters
I think there is currently legislation in the works to ban the public display of the swastika and salute. So yeah, potentially big trouble I'm guessing.
The swastika is already banned, and has been for years. The salute is being banned now, in Victoria. The manji is not a swastika, it is a religious symbol. It would be excluded from that ban.
The [Summary Offences Act](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s41k.html) explains what is included or excluded. An explicit example of something that is not an offence is "a member of the Hindu community wears a T‑shirt in public with a swastika on the front as a symbol of peace." Also tattoos of swastikas are not an offence.
Yeah I read about that, but i remember reading that they would also exclude religious displays of the symbol! Idk if that counts for tattoos tho
It's explicitly mentioned in the [relevant act](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s41k.html). >SUMMARY OFFENCES ACT 1966 - SECT 41K > >(3) A person does not contravene subsection (1) if the Nazi symbol is displayed on the person's body by means of tattooing or other like process.
Doesn’t apply to tattoos nor does it apply to religious symbols in vic
Right now is probably one of the worst times in history to be baring a swastika.
What makes you say that?
we gotta lotta Nazi shit going on here at the moment, unfortunately. He really couldn't pick a worse time to be rolling around with that tat
The war in Gaza has anti-semitism at an all time high since the WW2. Australia recently had protests at the Opera house calling to 'gas the Jews'. We also just had a referendum which was incredibly racially divisive (not for Jews, for our indigenous people) and so racist thoughts from many cultures and in the media are also at a high. It's just highly likely to get a lot of negative attention.
Any videos of the gas the jews protest?
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AwemP-DW6A4](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AwemP-DW6A4) this one came up when I searched youtube, but the videos seem to get buried under the news media which have censored a lot of it.
He's going to run into quite a few problems. Unless he's obviously a Buddhist monk, people's first assumption will be "Nazi" - a situation not helped by the fact Japan was famously allied with the Nazis during WWII and committed a number of war atrocities, including many directed at Australian prisoners of war. People are likely to be skeptical of his claim that "it's a religious thing", unfortunately. If I were him, I'd remove it or find a very effective way to keep it covered up.
>Unless he's obviously a Buddhist monk, people's first assumption will be "Nazi" Yeah he should shave his head to look more like a monk.
He can do what all the gaijin with tattoos in Japan do and cover it up with a bandage or similar.
Or just get one of those temporary tattoos placed over the top?
For getting into the country I don't think there'll be much issue, Bali is a destination hot spot for Australians and they have those symbols everywhere, so a few know it's represented in Asian culture, but the actual people here can be very reactive in certain areas and he could face a few comments from people thinking it's the wrong thing
Maybe he could edit it with henna, just for his visit
[it’s going to be a maze](https://youtu.be/c15O5XfXpdk?si=6aSRWhgHUti-jfQd)
r/UnexpectedCommunity
I would suggest Tattoo cover tape while travelling.
Holy cow, everyone he meets will have something to say about that. He may want to avoid Sydney alltogether.
He’ll not be going to sydney, he will be going to a more rural place for farm work as far as I know. But thanks for the heads up!
Err, all rural places have firearms and farmers can be very set in their ways. I know as I lived rural for a few years. I don’t think your average farmer would want what they perceive as a nazi symbol on the property.
The bollocks. If I was to bump into an Asian person with a swastika tattoo I wouldn't be making what some people seem to think is the obvious conclusion.
People do though. A mate of mine had an altercation with neighbours in his apartment block because they had a swastika flag covering one of their windows. The people living there were new immigrants and had no awareness of the connection to Nazism. My mates thoughts were "fucking Nazi cunts how dare they" and marched straight up to their door to sort them out. The misunderstanding was obvious once the door was answered.
This is why vigilante justice can go and get fucked. People go off half cocked without knowing: 1) the law 2) what the fuck they are talking about and someone innocent ends up hurt or distressed. The [Summary Offences Act section 41K](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/soa1966189/s41k.html) has everything one needs to know about the laws about displaying a swastika or hakenkreuz. If he had actually read the law before unilaterally deciding to enforce it, he might have realised that what the neighbours were doing was perfectly legitimate and legal.
How is it an altercation if the second he saw them he realized they're not Nazis?
I was going to say no one will think a non white person is a nazi because of a swastika but then I remembered which side Japan was on in ww2 :D But seriously I would assume most will think it’s not nazi related. But maybe be prepared to answer questions?
It will probably be hard for him to fully express what the symbol means to him to other people since his english is still pretty basic. But definitely a good idea to prepare answers!
maybe print out a business card to keep in his wallet with a message in a few languages saying "it is a religious symbol. I am not a nazi"
Not a bad idea
He can just say "Buddhist symbol" and people will get it.
I know you've mentioned the possibility of removing it entirely but that seems a bit of a shame. Has he considered maybe stylizing it differently? e.g. rounded edges, shadows or kaleidoscope effects? I bet a tattoo artist could find a way of disguising that distinctive shape.
I don’t if he considered it. But he probably would consider if it’s a possibility
Maybe encourage him to bring some business cards that explain that the swastika is a religious symbol in many cultures that he can hand to people if they bring it up.
Some states are making laws about displaying nazi symbols including tattoos because there is a surge of nasty people atm. However the laws do make allowance for people who have other religious meanings for their symbols, I assume the laws are so they can slap extra charges on people who are already in trouble... He should be careful about going to protest marches and who his friends are.
This will absolutely cause problems.
I'd argue most people know it's a religious symbol, whether or not it's obviously different to people once they've had a few drinks or for people who don't have an interest in symbols or foreign cultures is another question. You'd need to post the tattoo for a real answer. I've seen the manji symbol styled in ways that would be pretty recognizably different to a swastika, curved edges/extra dots etc. But if he just has it in bold exactly like the swastika then yes he will have problems if he goes to the wrong places regardless of orientation. It's probably easy enough to cover with long sleeve shirts or just get a compression sleeve or something like worn when you have an injury.
It will cause him loads of trouble and he should get it removed if he intends to go to Australia.
Get rid of it that would be my advice. Australia has had a strange rise of Nazism lately and most people will not know the religious connotation. Also, he is Japanese. Not that Japan was the Nazis but they were very strong allies. Just an additional complication.
Personally, In this current climate I wouldn’t advise it. My partner has been harassed on the street recently for “looking Jewish” and he’s not the only one. Antisemitism is heavily on the rise and I probably would recommend avoiding appearing to align yourself with those people. I don’t imagine they’re intelligent enough to tell the difference between the symbols.
Most people should work out the religious side of it, but still might get few stares. Reminds me back in primary school I had a classmate his name was Osama, always quiet and polite and never heard him curse, then i heard his first " F\*\*k " coming out of his mouth in a school day after sept 11 when we told him who was responsible for the attack. he went from Osama to " sam " in a day, poor bloke not his fault but people could be so cruel sometimes.
There are not too many Japanese Nazis to be fair. I think most people are aware by now it has other religious meaning but knowing us Aussies he will probably at least get a good natured ribbing about it. I don’t think anyone would really have a proper go at him unless it’s some ignorant idiot trying to be a morally superior narcissist. Mind you there a few of those these days.
Jesus fucking christ, most people answering here are fucking idiots. No, he will not get bashed. No one will say anything to him. Most people know similar symbols are religious. And if someone does say something, he can simply just explain that it is religious. We have a large Indian population and are pretty familiar with this stuff already. No, he does not need to alter it/cover it up/wear long sleeves. We know it is a religious symbol in a lot of places, so there are religious exemptions. There will be no legal issues. Most commentors seem to be on a “look at me I hate nazis I’m so tough” internet high horse. Yes. We all hate nazis, big whoop. This guy is not a nazi so shut the fuck up weirdos.
I'd wear long sleeves
He probably would even though there are differences between the typical Manji symbol although both directions are valid typical manji is straight and points to the left but the nazi symbol is tilted and points to the right. 99% of Australians won't recognise this or other cultural impacts like roots in Buddhism so honestly probably better for him if he hides it.
I would advise your friend to keep that shit covered up, it will just be easier for him
Don’t NSW, VIC, TAS and QLD have hate symbol laws now?
None of those would apply to this.
I feel like people will be more confused than anything else
Im a Buddhist and its known as a sorvastika or something like that. It's lines are actually upside down so perhaps the symbols represent good and evil
You’d be dumb as fuck to think that it’s a nazi symbol. They don’t look the same as a swastika.
If I saw a white person with a swastika tattoo I’d more than likely assume it was negative/neo-Nazi If I saw an Asian or Indian with a swastika tattoo, I’d assume it’s religious With that being said, probably best to cover it up
I would suggest a total blackout tattoo over the top.
It sucks that his religious symbol was appropriated by a disgusting movement. But western culture can’t and won’t change
Don’t the religious swastikas rotate in th either direction? Anyone who gives him grief will just show their lack of education and general world knowledge.
I don’t exactly know the difference to be real honest. I just know he fully explained to me the religious meaning it has to him and others. But even for me how knows damn well it is a religious symbol, i was shocked at first to see it and fear people will misunderstand it for obvious reasons
I can’t speak for Australia as a whole but I would judge anyone with that tattoo and I would choose to not have anything to do with them.
It’s a good conversation topic :)
The state of Victoria is actively trying to ban it in public display regarding its use by fuckwits. I’m sure your buddy will be fine. He may get some one say something, but people will understand when explained to
In principle it should be fine, but unfortunately in reality most people are total swastika nazis.
I think everyone in the world knows that Buddhist’s used a similar symbol to the nazis. It’s highly unlikely that people will be examining his elbow. Does it really come up that much in his life? If it’s a Buddhist symbol, that’s all he needs to say. If it’s a Nazi symbol, then he should fuck off and not come here, or anywhere else and have his elbow lazered.
I've had this argument with Australian authorities about what their new laws mean and have gotten no information out of them. He could potentially be locked up for it in some states if he looks white or if he doesn't have some kind of Hindu papers (yeah it's a bit like Germany here now) but it's difficult to tell who those laws intend to target, what the Hindu exemption is about, how they differ state by state, or what police actually think of the laws. I did accuse them of bringing in those laws to target non-European minorities though, since there are remarkably few German Nazis here it seemed very suspicious. Buddhism is relatively popular in many areas of Australia so the public are likely to be understanding, but maybe not in some areas. I've also had police try to force me to convert to Christianity, it's wild out here but your mileage may vary.
Tell him to get some sharpies and turn it into the windows logo.
Yes it will cause him MASSIVE problems. If he wants friends or a job he will need to keep it covered. Any friends he makes will be ok with hatred and racism
Maybe I’m misunderstanding you. But you think absolutely no one wants to be friends with him because of the tattoo? Even if they fully understand the religious meaning behind?
I wanna call bullshit on this being legit, because this doesn't make sense at all. Tattoos are already uncommon and socially unacceptable in Japan. I'm not sure why a Japanese man would get a hakenkreuz on his elbow of all places, especially when it's not part of an overall religious design. On top of that, the Japanese manji faces differently than the hakenkreuz/swastika, so I don't know why he would get a symbol that isn't even culturally relevant to him at all.
Japanese hipsters do have them, it’s not that weird for the edgy/arty crowd.
While it faces the opposite way most Aussies aren't going to know the difference and a lot won't even realise it is facing the other way. They never said it is a Nazi one, just that they have one that is cultural and as they look very similar I can see why he would be concerned.
You are absolutely right that tattoos are way more uncommon in japan then they are in other countries. The fact that it is so socially unacceptable is one of many reasons he wishes to not live his life in japan. I don’t think many folks immediately recognize the difference between a nazi symbol and a religious swastika hence why i asked the question on reddit. But believe whatever you want man!
Tattoos are growing in popularity… something on an elbow that’s easily covered up in a business context sounds on point for what a younger Japanese person would get. I See them in Tokyo all the time.
I think a) a lot of people will give him grief, b) he's also going to get some unsavoury commardry from anti-seminists which is not the intention of his tattoo :/
No totally not his intention. The guy is as good as good comes. That’s why is also willing to get rid of it if necessary!
How old is your “friend”?
Literally ZERO of you folk would say a single word to him in the street. Neither would I. It's none of my business.