Haraujuku fashion blogger, model and recording artist Kyary Pamyu Pamyu created a stir with her Korean fans earlier this month after posting some New Year’s Greeting photos on her twitter. The photos in question were deemed controversial by the fans because of their depictions of the war flag of the Imperial Japanese Army – the Rising Sun Flag. After some initial backlash, the photos were removed from her account. However, by that point the damage was already done and word had quickly spread through Korean forums.
This comes months after she gained positive feedback from Korean fans regarding the incident with K-pop group T-ARA. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu posted several tweets that appeared to admonish the group for bullying fellow member Hwa Young and eventually causing her to leave.
From Itai News:
‘This makes me sick’, Koreans’ Reactions To Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s Imperial Flag New Year’s Greeting
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, the pop idol held in regard as the ‘Japanese Lady GAGA’, left Korean fans in dismay when she posed for New Year’s photos with the Japanese Imperial Flag.
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu herself posted the photos along with the message ‘Happy New Year’ on her twitter, January 1.
In one picture she is posed wearing a blue wig reminiscent of Mt. Fuji while another iteration of her face represents the sun motif of the flag. In the other photo, she is kneeling in a kimono and holding the imperial flag in one hand.
These photos quickly spread throughout Korean online communities. Korean netizens who saw it commented with the likes of:
‘Despite becoming famous by doing all of these performances in outlandish costumes, I’m disappointed that she looks ended up looking like a floozy holding the flag of war criminals’
‘This makes me sick’
‘It’s like she’s trying too hard to be unique’
‘She seemed like she had a lot of good sense during the T-ARA incident, but whatever sense she had is lost now’
From 2ch.net:
マーゲイ(広島県):
I guess it wasn’t a New Year’s Greeting directed toward Koreans www
バリニーズ(チベット自治区)：
You know, if it were the other way around and she was insulting the Rising Sun Flag, Japanese would be the one’s saying “This makes me sick”.
ヨーロッパヤマネコ(西日本)：
The Koreans are the only ones who think that flag has that much meaning w
ピクシーボブ(東京都)：
It’s not like she had any kind of ideology behind it. If you’re all getting pissed off at Japan…stop paying attention to us.
シャルトリュー(兵庫県)：
Who doesn’t understand why they’re so pissed off?
マンチカン(奈良県)：
I see. She’s really good at selling herself.
黒トラ(山陽地方)：
C’mon guys, you don’t have to keep checking on Japan to fuel your Hwabyeong.
マンクス(埼玉県)：
These guys found this faster than Japanese did. w
アフリカゴールデンキャット(東京都)：
Alright, let’s see you complain about this:
[Note: Flag of the Asahi Shinbun Company. The character ‘朝’ can also represent Korea]
黒トラ(千葉県)：
Would they respect her if she was wearing a chima jeogori?
マンクス(埼玉県)：
Koreans copied the Rising Sun Flag. In reality, they aspire to it. w
ジャパニーズボブテイル(関西・北陸)：
I’d like to cast a spell that will erase the word ‘Japan’ from the minds of all Koreans.
From J-cast News:
そのうち:
Next, someone’s gonna come forward and say America’s flag reminds them of the Rising Sun Flag because it has red and white stripes. w
勘違い:
And thus, the huge misunderstanding that one’s own sense of values is the world standard just got even worse.
つまり :
Showing a Korean the Rising Sun Flag is like waving a red cloth at a bull. ww
どっちでもいいけど :
First of all, nowadays there aren’t really any Japanese who have emotional attachments to that flag…
Well, assuming she did intend to represent imperial Japan, even if she lost all her Korean fans, she’d probably still explode in popularity here.
