inazuma festival general thread

[Chicken]

damn i would love to go to that. when is this held? every year?

from what i know, the inazuma festival is held every year by lightning magazine. but the locations vary year to year. i think the odaiba location went over really well, though.

alden indys with a custom vibram sole...

correcto! bonus points for the jube-meister. they're about a year old now.

Confederate flag slip ons??? WTF? This is ignorance at it grandest level. Maybe these dudes should read up on the history they aggrandize prior to producing such things.

don't mean to make this a political thread, but just wanted to post this for irony:

a pic taken by my gf when we went to north carolina for our friends' wedding last month.

[coleslawyum]

Hey Chicken, were those A-2's used? Awesome pics…

[wesc]

they wear confederate flags over in Japan now ? interesting........ O_O?

[Chicken]

those a-2s looked like deadstock repros to me, but i didn't spend much time with them so i didn't ask. (my sizes were pretty much gone.)

there are all sorts of strange stuff worn in japan. especially around harajuku.

[edmond]

super nice post chicken san! so how did the wedding go?

[horriblyjollyjinx]

Confederate flag slip ons??? WTF? This is ignorance at it grandest level. Maybe these dudes should read up on the history they aggrandize prior to producing such things.

hahahhaa, I love it! Hajime is already out looking for them for me.

great thread Chicken.

[lenn]

shit, i read about this in lightning magazine... wish i couldve stayed in japan a little longer to go there, it looked like a lot of fun

great pics

[rnrswitch]

Apparently the Japanese don't know that, for the most part, any American who still looks at the confederate flag with respect probably hates Japanese people.

Also, to HJJ, they probably hate you too.

Not to be a hater, but I can't believe people would wear something that has such a deep meaning to some and represent such hatred, without having any idea what its connotations are. Genocide, slavery, subjugation, these are what that flag represents.

[Chicken]

^ this could bring up interesting conversations, perhaps better in supertrash. but it reminds me the other day we walked into the new warehouse store near harajuku and they lovingly displayed a war-time toy that had american soldiers on horsebacks pulling a wagon that said "don't feed the monkeys." inside the wagon were mussolini, hitler and tojo look-alikes, all in their stereotype caricaturistic qualities.

it's difficult for me to say at what point what becomes historic and what becomes downright offensive. but it seems like the japanese people all and all have a high tolerance for more offensive materials.

[rnrswitch]

Not to hijack the thread, but to me, I don't think it has to do with offensiveness, because the confederate flag does not apply to Japanese people. I think it has more to do with blind consumerism. Japan is a consumerist culture, much like our own (American), and it seems like anything is fair game as long as it sells. And nothing is sacred.

Would the Japanese have t-shirts supporting the A-bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima?

[TokenIndianKid]

agreed

i think that due to the stigma of the confederate flag here in the United States, its a lil more ''shocking'' when we all see it plastered over everything from hats to handbags to fishing hats

but im sure to people abroad its just another part of history

like all the uber-douches on my campus who think they are rebellious and pin the communist flag/red stars to their bags with phrases like 'end communism, end bush'

im pretty sure someone who had lived in communist Russia when Stalin was in control would have had a massive stroke and heart attack almost immedeately upon seeing that...but to us, its just another symbol...

[Denim Phenom]

Would the Japanese have t-shirts supporting the A-bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima?

Company's in Japan and the United States both sell Rebel associated clothing. For some people in the South it's a symbol of pride, not necessarily a symbol of Racism. Sure, in some cases they might coincide but that can't always be assumed.

I don't think companies in any country of the world would celebrate the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on a t-shirt. Comparing the two as a novelty t-shirt item is a little absurd.

[hungryalien]

great pix! more more! so what did you buy from the market chicken-san?

[beatle]

Chicken - san ...promise you'll bring me along next year...

[Chicken]

alien, i feel like i got there a bit too late this year. and plus since i was in a rush to get to my sister's wedding, i really didn't spend much time there and i ended up buying nothing from the event. hopefully, i can change that for next year.

which brings me to, beatle, let's plan ahead for next year.

[rnrswitch]

Company's in Japan and the United States both sell Rebel associated clothing. For some people in the South it's a symbol of pride, not necessarily a symbol of Racism. Sure, in some cases they might coincide but that can't always be assumed.

I don't think companies in any country of the world would celebrate the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on a t-shirt. Comparing the two as a novelty t-shirt item is a little absurd.

Try telling that to black folk living with racism in the south. Do german people wear Nazi memorabilia because of the heritage associated with it?

My point with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki shirt is that those two events directly affect Japan, whereas the confederate flag does not affect them directly and only affects an outsider group (African Americans). Do you think a Japanese company would make a t-shirt with a stereotypical caracature of a Japanese person during WWII, with the thick glasses and buck teeth? I doubt it, but it is somehow okay for Japanese companies to print shirts with Sambo caracatures, showing caracatures of Black people chowing down on watermelons.

[gimmegimme]

Try telling that to black folk living with racism in the south. Do german people wear Nazi memorabilia because of the heritage associated with it?

My point with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki shirt is that those two events directly affect Japan, whereas the confederate flag does not affect them directly and only affects an outsider group (African Americans). Do you think a Japanese company would make a t-shirt with a stereotypical caracature of a Japanese person during WWII, with the thick glasses and buck teeth? I doubt it, but it is somehow okay for Japanese companies to print shirts with Sambo caracatures, showing caracatures of Black people chowing down on watermelons.

Check out the wallpaper...isn't there a thread on the Groover's controversy somewhere?

Great pics btw Chicken.

[jubei]

rnrswitch-

I think that the dialogue here is a little more complicated than it may seem at first.

Japanese culture has an infamous tradition for being xenophobic; there's no denying that the maintainance of so-called "cultural heritage" and a distinct national identity is a high priority in Japanese society (despite the "contradictory" inclusion of foreign elements. The adaptation of Chinese Characters into Japanese Kanji, the word "arigato" actually coming from the Protuguese "obrigado" being two prime examples... this is another dialogue altogther, though)

As a result, when so-called "foreign" elements are introduced into Japanese culture, they are often viewed with a fetishistic eye (they even have a whole other alphabet to describe foreign objects and concepts, Katakana).

Case in point, the Southern Cross. I don't think they are aware of the social meanings and implications of its image; they simply view it as another part of American history (and, for better or worse, it IS a part of our history). I mean, think about how an outsider would view the Southern Cross... there are plenty of people in the US who still wear it, who still fly those colors, hell it's even still on some State Flags. Why wouldn't they think that it's just another symbol for the US?

This isn't to say that the Japanese are blameless for appropriating Racially charged imagery. The fetishizing of African-American culture is something that I find disturbing at times. When I visited Japan a few years back, my Japanese friend told me about how some African immigrants were passing themselves off as African-Americans in order to pick up girls. Other things that threw me off were the rampant proliferation of minstrel imagery and caricatures and the ganguro subculture and its Blackface overtones.

So as I had earlier stated, the dialogue is definitely complex when it comes to the intersection of Japanese and American culture: what is being lost in translation? where do you draw the line between cultural participation and cultural fetishizing?

[rnrswitch]

Very informative Jubei. I don't think that Japanese are racist for wearing or promoting the souther cross, I just feel like there should be a little more knowledge involved when adopting foreign cultural symbols.

[edmond]

thanks jubei well at least some people are open minded about things ( well i learned my lesson duh?!) well one of the best cultures would be jap culture..the best for me thanks again!

[fre-co]

Nice post Jubei.

As a non-US citizen, I too was not entirely aware of the issues surrounding this flag. I know it's from the southern states and these states were/are infamously racist, and therefore I could assume that racist groups fly this flag.

However, I also thought it was a symbol of rebellion being the chosen symbol of that subculture. A little research shows that it is not ONLY associated with racist groups.

The point here is that it is very different from Nazi imagery or a-bomb imagery because these two things cannot be interpreted in any other way, whereas the confederate flag can. So I don't think these analogies work so well. People may argue that the swastika has other meanings, but I don't think that holds water in Germany and the UK. If you brandish a swastika then you will be viewed as a neo-nazi.

Similarly in the UK, the union jack and St georges cross are ALWAYS flown by racist groups. Be it the national front or it's pseudo-political wing, the BNP. This does not make the flags racist symbols, whatever the historic and current practices of the nation.

[mizanation]

very good analysis, jubei.

great pics, chicken! i'm glad you guys had a great time out there. ryu-san looks like a cool dude!

[rnrswitch]

Nice post Jubei.

As a non-US citizen, I too was not entirely aware of the issues surrounding this flag. I know it's from the southern states and these states were/are infamously racist, and therefore I could assume that racist groups fly this flag.

However, I also thought it was a symbol of rebellion being the chosen symbol of that subculture. A little research shows that it is not ONLY associated with racist groups.

The point here is that it is very different from Nazi imagery or a-bomb imagery because these two things cannot be interpreted in any other way, whereas the confederate flag can. So I don't think these analogies work so well. People may argue that the swastika has other meanings, but I don't think that holds water in Germany and the UK. If you brandish a swastika then you will be viewed as a neo-nazi.

Similarly in the UK, the union jack and St georges cross are ALWAYS flown by racist groups. Be it the national front or it's pseudo-political wing, the BNP. This does not make the flags racist symbols, whatever the historic and current practices of the nation.

While the flag is not only flown by racist groups, you will be hard pressed to find an African American who does not view that flag as a racist symbol, which stood for the enslavement of an entire people. People can place any meaning they want to a symbol, but that does not make its other meaning is negated. I could walk around with a swastika and claim it doesn't have any racist meaning, that doesn't mean that Jewish people will be cool with it.

Also, the idea that the confederate flag represents rebellion is an excuse for any redneck hillbilly from the south to fly it.

The point is that maybe it doesn't have the same connotation as the swastika or a-bombing Nagasaki to you or most on this forum, but it does have the same connotation as those other symbols to African Americans

[poly800rock]

While the flag is not only flown by racist groups, you will be hard pressed to find an African American who does not view that flag as a racist symbol, which stood for the enslavement of an entire people. People can place any meaning they want to a symbol, but that does not make its other meaning is negated. I could walk around with a swastika and claim it doesn't have any racist meaning, that doesn't mean that Jewish people will be cool with it.

Also, the idea that the confederate flag represents rebellion is an excuse for any redneck hillbilly from the south to fly it.

from what i've seen, thai dudes walk around wearing straight up nazi tilted tshirts for "shock value". Same as I've seen in Vietnam and Japan as well. The way I look at it in Thailand and Vietnam, no one is going to say otherwise. A confederate flag especially, I stayed in Vietnam for 2 months and saw 1 black person the entire time, on the very first day nonetheless. It's pure ignorance, but no one to tell anyone better.

[rnrswitch]

Agreed.

9 10.

[ang_kangkong]

How much does one have to smoke to turn the jeans brown?How much did he smoke while you were with him, C?

I love the fit of his jeans. He just got his true waist size?

[erbs]

they're the same size as his McCoy's, so probably.

[Denim Phenom]

Chicken, has anyone ever told you that you look like an Asian John Lennon?

[Chicken]

jubei, great analysis on a rather complex subject. ignorance does play a big factor in this subject and that's something that's far beyond just a denim festival.

miz, yeah, all these guys were great guys. ryu was really happy to guide us through the festival. takashi-san and his buddy took us around yokohama to numbers of shops there. had no idea yokohama was another good place to look around.

ang, i believe it's been at least two years since he posted those grail pics. so his 811s have been sitting around his room taking in smoke for at least that long. he seemed to be a regular smoker, but nothing too crazy. does it make you want to take on smoking, especially indoors?

oh, and no idea about ryu's sizing. you should ask him.

and phenom, no one has ever mistaken me for diddy (or lennon), but they have mentioned my glasses look like lennon.

[beatle]

Yes..let's plan ahead...