Help Japan poster

James White made this poster, which you can buy at the Signalnoise store. All profits go to the relief effort.

• [Anonymous]

  from wp:
  “In Japan, under Chapter 4, Article 92 of the Criminal Code, any desecration of recognized foreign nation’s national flag and symbol to dishonour is prohibited and punishable by fine or penal labour, but only on complaint by the foreign government.
  In May 1958, Flag of the People’s Republic of China at a postage stamp convention was pulled down and damaged, but as Japan did not recognize People’s Republic of China at the time, the law was not applied. In February 2011, Japanese ultra-rightists held a protest over the Kuril islands dispute outside of the Russian embassy in Tokyo, during which they dragged a Russian flag on the ground; Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov stated that his ministry had asked the Japanese government to launch a criminal case over the incident.[31]
  However, there has never been a law explicitly prohibiting desecration of Flag of Japan. Absent such law, the act of desecration is implicitly protected by Article 21 “Freedom of speech” of Constitution of Japan.”

• [Anonymous]

  You guys know that the artist, James White, is Canadian right?

• [DSMVWL THS]

  My guess is that the poster was designed with this image, produced after 9/11, in mind:

  http://www.miltonglaserworks.com/product.php?productid=16279

• [blueelm]

  Oh, it’s definitely (to me) an image full of American hubris.

  • [emmdeeaych]

    Totally. Like when I heard on the BBC that American and British adults are heading to Japan to help take care of children.

    Seriously? You think that in the time of massive crisis the best way to help is to go take care of children who don’t speak your language?

    At some point the urge to help has to be balanced with the urge to not be an insensitive asshat trying to make yourself look good.

    • [DSMVWL THS]

      Really? Foreign adults heading to Japan to “help take care of children” sounds super-sketchy to me. I hope Japanese authorities vet these people very carefully.

    • [blueelm]

      Hmmm, I’m not sure I entirely understand your point.

      I don’t think it is any worse to contribute to the relief effort for them than it would be if they contributed for relief for us.

      I was speaking more in terms of the symbolism in the poster.

• [Anonymous]

  This is the same as with the German flag. For the same reason, I guess.
  We Germans tend to not raise our national flag due to the incredible patriotism that lead to nationalism and thus WW2.

  But the fifa world cup 2006 in Germany lead to a what we call »Fahnenmeer« (sea of flags) in the national colors black, red and gold. However this was very unlikely and felt strange. Since then the raising of national flags and colors in support of sportive events has become less exceptional.

  So I think that special or tragic events may help forming a national spirit.

• [Anonymous]

  It’s sold out! Hope the limited edition won’t limit the donations.
  Great image, worked for me. Didn’t read to much more into it. Paralysis through analysis is a danger here.

• [Anonymous]

  @blueelm completely agree. At least there is no full stop (or period) after the “Help Japan”. That would have been even more awful.

• [Anonymous]

  My name is flan* (flan.cat) and recently I launch one project for sell artworks and donate the benefits to Japan.

  The project is an issue of 15 canvas, one per day from March 9th, designeds mixing code and maths with data and statistics of the incident.

  Can you see more about the project at:
  http://www.overtype.net/2011/03/15/japan/?lang=en

  Thanks!

• [teapot]

  Having lived there for a long time, I can tell you that the flag is no problem there. I think you are mixing this flag up with the wartime one, which looks more like a rising sun with sunbeams…

  Agreed. This is the problem with understanding the world based on Wikipedia. The sections there which deal with the controversy of the flag are clearly added by (surprise, surprise) the same people who want to perpetuate said controversy. The War flag of the imperial Japanese army is the flag that right-wing nationalists are normally associated with, though they do fly the regular national flag during their noisy and meaningless protests in the streets.

  I was always tempted to go flip them the bird, but since I could not completely understand what they were shouting over megaphone I thought perhaps I should live and let live (but criticise the hell out of them).

  Any word on whether this poster is gonna have more reprints? I was gonna link it in a post about how to help Japan.

• [blueelm]

  Well I bought one. I really *do* like the poster a lot. I hope the money really is being donated to relief effort though.

• [BljahVljah]

  As Anon said, “the world’s 3rd largest economy” realy needs your 30 bucks more than… I dont know… Just look around… I+m sure you will find a person that needs the money more than japan.
  Dont get me wrong, I sympathise with the japanese people and I apologise to them for it, while their pride doesnt take likely towards sympathising with them…
  Bagabagabaga…..
  If you feel bad that you are lucky if you are not in the mittle of war/earthquake/locust attack/whatever, just be consistent and try to remember who it was that you felt sorry for last week…
  And if you can not find any local help needing people, try some 3rd world countries…
  In fact, I am running out of cash… HELP!

• [Anonymous]

  I feel a little weird about this poster. It’s wonderfully designed, yes, but it’s strange. Japanese people generally shy away from displaying their national flag. Flags are a lot rarer in Japan than America largely because Japanese people connect their flag with World War II. The flag has bad connotations in Japan, so I wonder what people would think about using it to brand relief efforts.

  • [Anonymous]

    Having lived there for a long time, I can tell you that the flag is no problem there.
    I think you are mixing this flag up with the wartime one, which looks more like a rising sun with sunbeams…

• [Matt Cornell]

  It’s a great design, but I wonder if it will be welcome as a sign of solidarity in Japan, where displays of the hinomaru remain controversial, especially among leftists.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Japan#Present-day_perception

• [Rich Keller]

  That is a beautiful thing all around.

  I realized that the artist Kazuki Takamatsu, featured earlier in the week, grew up and lived life in Sendai. I hope that he and his family and friends are all okay.

  http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/11/hi-fructose-art-show.html

• [Noodly]

  I also produced an artwork as an effort to help Japan.

  http://dailynoodle.org/blog/?p=160

  It’s an Omamori, a kind of protective amulet in Japanese Shinto religion. It’s supposed to ward off bad luck and keep the wearer safe.

  You can help by simply liking and sharing the linked page on FB, because for every 100 likes the page receive, I will donate £100, in the name of Flying Spaghetti Monster, to International Medical Corps who has deployed their emergency team to Japan.

• [Steeevyo]

  I dont care how rich Japan is.
  A donation should come from the heart and with regards to Japan
  it couldnt come more from the heart for me.
  I feel deep affection for this country and all its amazing facets.
  Many of my friends are Japanese. My heart goes out to them. Whenever i was there i felt nothing but the most amazing hospitality.

  So anyway.
  It is not mandatory to donate for ANYTHING. Get it?
  But it is totally inappropriate to counterargue request for donations for a cause like this.
  Issue your own damn donation request if there is a cause that matters to you.

  People! Really!

• [Anonymous]

  My impression is that people in Japan do not shy away from the Japanese flag but rather are very aware to try to temper down the nationalistic/patriotic tendency that is often associated with flag raising, and definitely dissociate themselves from the Imperial War Flag. So while I like the display of the Japanese flag, I do not like that the HINOMARU (sun disk)is breaking. The HINOMARU to me is considered unbreakable.

• [Ashley Y]

  I think if the country happened to be partitioning into separate independent nation-states, then this image might be appropriate. Otherwise it strikes me as likely to be highly offensive.

• [Matt Cornell]

  When I lived in Japan, about 12 years ago, the presence of the flag in schools was controversial. Not the “wartime flag” with the sunbeams, but the simplified one too. I don’t know if this attitude has changed, and I obviously can’t speak to who (if anyone) is perpetuating the controversy. Again, the point is that displays of nationalism (including the presence of a standing army) are very controversial.

• [Anonymous]

  THIS IS AN INTERNATIONAL HELP MESSAGE. PLEASE SHARE.

  http://remediochino.com/international_help_message_please_share_japan_needs_you.jpg

• [emmdeeaych]

  I believe Japan is capapble. I worry more about Haiti.

  • [Anonymous]

    Totally agree. To this day, the promised help has not arrived, and the tragedy was, in my opinion, bigger than the one in Japan.

• [Anonymous]

  Please don’t forget New Zealand in this time also. Although the Christchurch quake wasn’t as deadly as Japan’s earthquake and tsunami the small country doesn’t have the resources that the world’s 3rd largest economy does. The cost for rebuilding Christchurch is said to be NZ$16 Billion. The Christchurch death toll of 166 lives is a substantial percent of the tiny population.