25 reasons why Seoul is now the coolest city in Asia

[zhaoyun]

Are there old parts of Seoul with traditional architecture or is it a bunch of skyscrapers?

Yes, of course.

[Mortimer]

From what I know they think it's cool or something to have nazi regalia or anything hitler-related. It just doesn't seem to have much political connotation. There's even Nazi merchandise on Taobao.




http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...zi-leader.html
http://asiaobscura.com/2012/04/nazi-...-in-china.html
http://blog.acroo.com/2013/06/17/tao...i-merchandise/

It seems to be construed as 'hitler worship' but I just think it's a pop culture trend.

Even in India it happens

Why do they think its cool? I just wonder, i understand they dont make a political statement

[zhaoyun]

More Seoul

[Goujian]

Why do they think its cool? I just wonder, i understand they dont make a political statement

I think they admire Hitler a little bit too much.

http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/4...-loves-hitler/

It's just something that's fashionable and cool.

http://www.vice.com/read/nazis-chic-...hion-craze-456

[Mortimer]

asia is a great place, i need to visit china, india, thailand (my sister was in thailand already), japan, korea etc.

[Mortimer]

I think they admire Hitler a little bit too much.

http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/4...-loves-hitler/

It's just something that's fashionable and cool.

http://www.vice.com/read/nazis-chic-...hion-craze-456

doesnt offend me really if some asians cartoonise him, i understand they dont make the racist idea behind it and hitler was a white supremacist eventhough he respected asians but im sure there are asian leaders which are better for popular use if you are right wing asian, why would your heroe be a white supremacist if you are asian in the first place

[Scholarios]

While SEOUL doesnt have as much impressive traditional or modern architecture as Tokyo, Kyoto, or BeijingThere are a few interesting things. Seoul City Hall was built by the Japanese and has that Japan 1920's Art Deco style.

Recently however, Seoul government built a new complex behind it to resemble a giant wave crashing the old Japanese building. ( it seems korean creativity seems to do well with channels for revenge motif)


Before



After


You can also see the waves motif subtlety in North Korean diplomatic exchanges with the West.

[Goujian]

While SEOUL doesnt have as much impressive traditional or modern architecture as Tokyo, Kyoto, or BeijingThere are a few interesting things. Seoul City Hall was built by the Japanese and has that Japan 1920's Art Deco style.

Recently however, Seoul government built a new complex behind it to resemble a giant wave crashing the old Japanese building. ( it seems korean creativity seems to do well with channels for revenge motif)

I have to say that though this * sounds * correct, I find almost the exact opposite to be true. Koreans will rarely openly express such things to foreigners- well, at least to Western foreigners. I wouldn't say Koreans are polite, but for instance the anti-immigrant marches or the " foreigners go home" vans of Japan can never come to Korea. Whereas, Koreans on the whole are much more likely to respond they'd disown their children for marrying a non-Korean, you're much less likely to know it. The " Japanese Only" sign is common in tourist areas of Kyoto and Osaka at least, but very rare in Korea ( and usually refers to GI specifically- though it does happen). Japanese are just much more diverse in their attitudes and opinions I think.

What I do seem to notice is that in some ways being a foreign Asian in an East Asian country is like a double-edged sword. Because you are expected to know the language and the culture as if you are a native who was born and raised there. I know this is true for Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and maybe Vietnamese. I get treated a lot better in Shanghai and some other places in the lower Yangtze because I can speak the local language like a native and quite familiar with the local culture. At least compared to other regions in China and amongst other Asian-Americans.
East Asians in general are similar in some ways but different in other ways, at least in terms of directness and indirectness. Chinese and Japanese are like this too to an extent but that depends on the regional culture. I find that Japanese culture is more or less sort of a non-confrontational culture, they would post 'Japanese only' or 'Foreigners not allowed' signs because it's more as a precautionary warning, meaning they have a few bad incidents with foreigners and want to avoid future situations.

doesnt offend me really if some asians cartoonise him, i understand they dont make the racist idea behind it and hitler was a white supremacist eventhough he respected asians but im sure there are asian leaders which are better for popular use if you are right wing asian, why would your heroe be a white supremacist if you are asian in the first place

Well, I mean there are even Malaysian and Mongolian Neo-Nazis with swastikas, sieg heil salutes, etc. not just Japanese Neo-Nazis. It's more likely that:
1) Asians never directly fought German troops. If anything, most WWII hatred in Asia is directed against the Japanese.
2) In the case of China, there was a lot of Chinese-German cooperation prior to 1941. Chinese never had direct military conflicts with Germans sometime around WWII and their influence for the most part was positive and more of a case of admiration. I would say Chinese have more respect for Germany than Japan, since Chinese already admired a lot about Germany. Then add Hitler on top of that and bingo.
3) I guess some Asians find some of his ideas revolting but Hitler found the Chinese more tolerable than the French or the British despite blood relations. He did have a level of respect for Indians, Chinese, Japanese and Muslims.

http://archive.org/stream/TheTestame.../TOAH_djvu.txt

2nd April 1945
I am sure that the Japanese, the Chinese and the peoples of Islam will always be closer to us than, for example, France, in spite of the fact that we are related by blood.

13th February 1945
"Pride in one's own race - and that does not imply contempt for other races - is also a normal and healthy sentiment. I have never regarded the Chinese or the Japanese as being inferior to ourselves. They belong to ancient civilizations, and I admit freely that their past history is superior to our own. They have the right to be proud of their past, just as we have the right to be proud of the civilization to which we belong. Indeed, I believe the more steadfast the Chinese and the Japanese remain in their pride of race, the easier I shall find it to get on with them."

7th February 1945
In them (Asians), the white races have imposed their will by force, and the influence they have had on the native inhabitants has been negligible; the Hindus have remained Hindus, the Chinese have remained Chinese, and the Moslems are still Moslems. There have been no profound transformations, and such changes as have occurred are less marked in the religious field, notwithstanding the tremendous efforts of the Christian missionaries, than in any other. There have been a few odd conversions the sincerity of which are open to considerable doubt-except, perhaps in the case of a few simpletons and mentally deficients. The white races did, of course, give some things to the natives, and they were the worst gifts that they could possibly have made, those plagues of our own modern world-materialism, fanaticism, alcoholism and syphilis. For the rest, since these peoples possessed qualities of their own which were superior to anything we could offer them, they have remained essentially unchanged.

colonization is not an activity which Germans feel called upon to pursue, Germany should never make common cause with the colonizing nations and should always abstain from supporting them in their colonial aspirations.

4) Education is also a factor in this. Most people in Asia weren't taught about Germany's role in WWII, their attention was focused mainly on Japan. And to this day, most people are angry about the comfort women issue or the Nanjing massacre. Most probably don't know what exactly Hitler did. Japan's education regarding this is near-masochistic as most of the people in the Japanese education system are left-wing or center-left.
5) And Hitler does look kind of funny to people which is why some people want to cartoonize him.

[Lurker]

A bit like how this flag doesn't offend any European.


Right?

No idea how people look toward the imperial Japanese flag though, it's still the flag of their navy anyway. Asians are less PC perhaps.

Never wear that flag in China. A man with a T-Shirt that had that flag was attacked by a mob in China last year.

http://www.chinasmack.com/2014/pictu...d-taishan.html

[Scholarios]

Never wear that flag in China. A man with a T-Shirt that had that flag was attacked by a mob in China last year.

http://www.chinasmack.com/2014/pictu...d-taishan.html

Oh, I bought that shirt in Japan. I wear it as pajamas usually, but I have worn it on the streets in Korea out of ignorance before. No one said or did anything, but I'd still be wary of it. I think the taboo is a new one in Asia and is a calque on the Nazi/Swastika taboo...

Koreans also find the simple Japanese flag offensive:



When I enter the words "Japanese Flag" in Korean language into Naver (the main Korean search engine) this is what page 1 looks like:



You can see the one part shows the Korean flag, the US flag, and the Japanese flag it reads:

Tae-geuk-gi (Korean banner)

Sung-jo-gi (Star-spangled banner)

Kae-saek-gi (son of a bitch)


Lots of other jokes about radiation etc. (Koreans have been convinced that Japan is sinking in the ocean since a 1980's novel talked about it and claimed Japan wanted to colonize Korea as a refuge for it's sinking. Also, the most popular Korean novel of all time was a story about how a United Korea nukes Japan).