The Chicago Cubs have begun their marketing blitz for newly signed Japanese star Kosuke Fukudome.
On the Cubs’ official website, Fukudome is featured in a graphic that displays a historical variation of Japan’s traditional rising sun flag. But that particular flag design is not the official state flag of Japan, and ON 205TH reminds us that neighboring Asian nations aren’t exactly fond of it.
The flag was the symbol of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, which terrorized the region.
From Wikipedia’s “Flag of Japan” page: “In the surrounding Asian countries which were occupied by Japan this flag still carries a negative connotation.”
We know, this is kind of a PC police thing that doesn’t really affect us stateside. But if the Cubs were to play a game in say, Bejing, we don’t know if that marketing material would go over so well. And something tells me Bud & Co. are aiming for games there in the near future.
