Educate the people and keep the 'manji' (卍) on Japan's ...

The big-deal change is, of course, replacing the manji (卍), which represents temples, with a three-tiered pagoda. Itlookslikeyou'reusinganadblocker. Toenjoyourcontent,pleaseincludeTheJapanTimesonyourad-blocker'slistofapprovedsites. Thankyouforsupportingourjournalism. MENU Search News Opinion Life Community Culture Sports CityGuide Support Search Search Voices Issues OurLives Eventlistings How-tos News National World Business AsiaPacific Reference Columns Multimedia Opinion Editorials Commentary Cartoons Life Travel Digital Food&Drink Environment Style&Design Language Lifestyle People Columns Multimedia Community Voices Issues OurLives Eventlistings How-tos Columns Culture Film Music Art Stage Events Festivals Books TV Columns Multimedia Sports Rugby Baseball Soccer Basketball Sumo FigureSkating Tennis MoreSports Columns Multimedia CityGuide Restaurants Places Support Aboutus Faqs Voices|HOTLINETONAGATACHO Educatethepeopleandkeepthe'manji'(卍)onJapan'smaps Sorry,butyourbrowserneedsJavascripttousethissite. Ifyou'renotsurehowtoactivateit,pleaserefertothissite:https://www.enable-javascript.com/ SHARE Feb10,2016 DearresidentsofJapan,Afewweeksago,mapstookcenterstage.Itwasn’tthatterritorywasbeingacquiredorceded—boundarieswerenotbeingredrawn—butthechangesproposedbytheGeospatialInformationAuthorityofJapantoitstouristmapscausedaminoruproarnonetheless.Thegoalisclarity:Someofthecurrentsymbolsareabitconfusingforthosewhohavejustarrived.Forexample,“H”standsfor“hotel,”not“hospital,”whilean“X”meanskōban(policebox)—not,well,“treasure.” Thethoughtprocessbehindtheconsideredchangesisunderstandable.Afterall,howmanyforeignerswantingtosendoffapostcardwouldseethis—〒—andthink,“Oh,hey!Postoffice!”Standardizedsymbolsaregreat.Butthen,mapshavelegendsforareason.Thosesuggestedchanges,however,aren’ttheonesgettinganawfullotofpeople—Japaneseandforeignalike—awfullyhotunderthecollar.Thebig-dealchangeis,ofcourse,replacingthemanji(卍),whichrepresentstemples,withathree-tieredpagoda.AnyoneupontheirEurocentricWorldWarIIhistorywillunderstandtheproblem:ThemanjilooksprettysimilartotheNaziswastika.Thesymbol,asmostofyoulikelyalreadyknow,hasbeenaroundforthousandsofyears,andoutofthosethousandsofyears,foronlyroughly70or80hasitbeenassociatedwithanythingnegative.It’salsoorientedabitdifferently.TheNaziversionusuallysitsinadiamondshape,whilethemanjiversionisasquare.Somewillalsosaytheyfaceoppositedirections,butthat’snotaltogethertrue:JapaneseBuddhismhasbotharight-facingandleft-facingmanji.ManyofyouwillalsoknowthatitcomesfromSanskrit,andisusedinHinduism,BuddhismandJainism—and,beforeHitler’sriseinGermany,wasapopularsymbolevenintheWesternworld.Ithastodowithwell-being,goodluckandgoodhealth.IthasaverylonghistoryinJapaneseBuddhism,andevenifit’sofftouristmaps,it’sstillfoundalloverthecountry.I’msureIwasn’taloneinfeelingtornwhenarticlesonthechangesstartedshowinguponline.Inmycase,IhadalreadybeenmullingovertheWesternperceptionofthemanji.Justtheweekbefore,Ihadgonetopostaphotoofmynewgo-shūinchō(bookforcollectingstampsattemplesandshrines)tomysocialmediaaccountswhenIstoppedmid-post.Ihadn’tnoticeduntilthen,butmybeautifulbright-orangebookwascoveredinmanji.Iknewtheyweremanji.Manyotherpeoplewouldknowthattheyweremanji.Butwhataboutthepeoplewhodidn’t,theoneswhothoughtthemanjiwereNaziswastikas?Ithoughtlongandhard:DoIwriteaneducationalblurbtopostwiththephoto?WouldIhurtoroffendfriendsand/orpeopleIhavenevermet,evenwiththeblurb?Wouldpeopletakeonelookatthephoto,beshockedtothepointofoutrageandnotevenreadthepost,andlabelmeaneo-Nazianti-Semite?Itwasn’tjustmeover-thinkingthings—afriendhadrunintotroublewithamanji-decorateditemonatriphometoAustralia,soIknewthedangerwasreal.IrememberseeingthemanjiforthefirsttimeafterarrivinginJapan.IknewabitaboutitsSanskritheritage,butIwasstilltakenaback.AhistorydegreewithaninterestintheEuropeanTheaterofWWIIandahabitofreadingwar-andHolocaust-relatednovelsfromaboutage9wasalotofbackgroundtoworkthrough.ItwasalongtimebeforeIstoppedcringingwhenseeingit,and,tobehonest,IstillwincewhenIcomeacrossitoutofcontext.Whenitcametomygo-shūinchō,intheendIchosenottopostthephoto.ButIcontinuedtowrestlewithmydecision.Education(andtravel)isaboutchallengingperceptionsandlearningnewthings,afterall,whichcan’thappenifyouswaddleyourselfinbubble-wrap—orthree-tieredpagodas,forthatmatter.Iwasangrywithmyself,butNazisymbolismisaterriblebeasttotrytoslayinoneFacebookphotoandaccompanyingblurb.Andthenmynewsfeedlitupwitharticlesontheproposedchanges.IsawaChange.orgpetitiontopreventthemapalterations,whichIretweetedwithmystill-tornfeelingsonlytobeslightlycalledoutbytheoriginalposter,whopointedout,asIalreadyknewdeepdown,thateducationisthekey.SobeforeJapanspendstimeandmoneyupdatingitstouristmaps,beforethenextplaneloadofvisitorstouchesdownandtouristshavetheirfirst“Whyisthereaswastikaonthetemple?!”mini-crisis,let’sgettheeducationtrainmoving.Postarticlesonthetopic(aquicksearchwillturnupplenty),sharethepetition(includedbelow)andusetheseandotherresourcestostartaconversation.ResidentsofJapan,weknowthatthemanjisymbolizesauspiciousness,andmakingthatgeneralknowledgeintheWestwillmakeadifferencenotjusttoJapan’spocketbook—ifitcanavoidredesigningtouristmaps—buttohowmuchtouristsgetoutoftheirstay.Forthewell-beingofJapan’sculturalheritageanditsvisitors,spreadtheword.HELENA.LANGFORD-MATSUIKamakura,KanagawaChange.org‘spetitionisatbit.ly/savethemanji.Sendyourcommentsorsubmissions(addressedtolocalornationalpoliticians,officialsorotherauthorities)here:[email protected] Inatimeofbothmisinformationandtoomuchinformation,qualityjournalismismorecrucialthanever.Bysubscribing,youcanhelpusgetthestoryright. SUBSCRIBENOW PHOTOGALLERY(CLICKTOENLARGE) KEYWORDS WWII,religion,history,tourism,Nazis Withyourcurrentsubscriptionplanyoucancommentonstories.However,beforewritingyourfirstcomment,pleasecreateadisplayname intheProfilesectionofyoursubscriberaccountpage. 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