Job Discussion Forums

[Hoser]

So for my new hobby (well not really), I've begun to sew patches onto one of my jackets. On the right upper arm I sewed a patch of the Japanese flag. Well today I went to teach my private classes and the lady who picked me up (well hardly a lady, she's only 28 or 29) was quite surprised to see that on my shoulder. She said it was "right wing" (migi ryoku or something like that) and she mentioned something about the guys with the black vans. She wasn't really upset, she was just giving me a hard time. I was sort of shocked and said, "but this is your national flag!" Anyways she couldn't be convinced and said it was ok because I was a foreigner.

What the hell? This is the flag that represents their countrymen and women at the Olympics but you're not allowed to sew it onto your jacket or backpack? And to think that I also have an Imperial Rising Sun flag patch and decided not to put it on because I didn't want to upset peoples' sensitivities!

*edit* Oh and how do you say "patch" in Japanese? The guy at the store in Akihabara and I'll be darned if I can't remember it now. It was something a bit odd. My student thought it was something like アップリケ but that's not what the people at the store said.

[taikibansei]

[JL]

継ぎ〔つぎ） means a different kind of patch, as in a "patch'" that is taken from one kind of material, to mend another. As in a patch use over a hole in your pants. Actually, パッチ　is just fine for what you want to say. However, if a different word was used by the person in the store, I'm wondering if it might have been ワッペン?
Or it could have been something preceded by the word 刺繍（ししゅう）which means "embroidery" or "embroidery work."

But your student and Taikibansei are correct in that the red sun emblem of Japan has been hijacked by the right-wingers, and so the image of the right-wingers (右翼）and their thug-like behavior is the first thing that comes to mind with ordinary Japanese, when they see the Hi no Maru displayed outside of government settings.

But I seriously doubt you will ever be taken for a right-wing thug. You may have to get used to a few double-takes, and occasionally have to explain that you wear the patch to commemorate this time you're spending in Japan (or whatever personal reason you want the Hi no Maru as one of your many patches).

For me, nothing further would be necessary. But if you happen to be uncomfortable with any Japanese not fully understanding your intention, you could always have some phrase embroidered directly under the patch.

[taikibansei]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

[JL]

Nice new avatar, NCTBA. Though your Kung Fu Fightin' Homer Simpson was a classic!

Taikibansei,
I wouldn't disagree with anything you have to say about why many Japanese are uncomfortable with displays of the hinomaru flag. I'd say that the Japanese are split evenly between those who are troubled by Japan's military past, and those who are still not apologetic nor abashed. But almost all are intimdated by the right-wing thugs.The right-wingers are a group that wants a return to what they perceive as the glorious days of Japan's militaristic past. (Well, of course there's more to that under the surface. A lot of them have ties to the Yakuza --in fact, they could never carry out harassing people, shutting down traffic, parking in front of train stations, public schools, etc. with their deafening speaker trucks, without coordinating it with the "local boys." And some of those "harassment" ventures, are actually for hire. But that's a whole 'nother topic!）

One thing to not forget: Japanese who study English and who engage with foreigners who are in Japan teaching, ARE NOT, by definition, the most typical Japanese. They are more educated, more open to western culture and thinking, are more likely to have distaste for the right-wingers and their beliefs.

When I was single, and when I taught English for a living in Japan, I occasionally was told this. After leaving the ESL world and working in Japan at my own business, dealing with Japanese retail customers in ALL sorts of neighborhoods, and doing so many other things out and about in Japan, I came to see that there's are rougher edge to many Japanese, than what we see in the English classroom or in the Japanese businessman traveling abroad. A LOT of Japanese also support school students having to sing Kimi ga Yo before the Hinomaru flag. I went to my daughter's first day of elementary school; this was all too clear.

[Hoser]

Hi JL, thanks for the informative posts!! You're right. The word they used was wappen what the heck is the origin of that word anyways? Is it maybe not the correct word in this case as I asked two of my students what word they would use (actually pointing at the patch) and they couldn't come up with wappen. Is it something that only someone in retail would use I wonder?

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

[JL]

NCTBA,
Then here's a Homer quotation to mark the changing of your avatars:
"Beer. Now there's a temporary solution."
http://www.allgreatquotes.com/simpsons_quotes_homer5.shtml

Hoser,
I have to come clean and admit that "ワッペン(wappen)" was a word I looked up. パッチremains the word that comes to mind when I think in Japanese. That was a good question about the etymology of "wappen". It seems it comes from German, and it means coat of arms, insignia or emblem. Since a lot of emblems, insignia, etc., are popularly used as patches to adorn jackets (just as you did), in Japan, "wappen" has apparently become somewhat interchangeable with "pacchi". But I'm gathering that there still is a bit of a nuance, in that "wappen" still retains more of a connotation of "emblem", "coat of arms", "insignia", etc. For example, if you belonged to a bikers' club in Japan, you'd have a "wappen" representing your club that you'd proudly display on your biker's jacket. The Hinomaru flag, of course, is the ultimate insignia, representing the nation of Japan. But "pacchi" is more broadly used, just as it is in English. You could even have a "pacchi" made with the above Homer Simpson quotation embroidered into it. In both English and Japanese, while this would still be a "patch", we wouldn't call it an "insignia" (though I'm sure some fervent beer drinkers out there would be inclined to disagree! ).