Swastikas could be erased from Japanese maps after a survey revealed that most tourists associate it with Nazi Germany instead of Buddhist temples.
The ancient Sanskrit symbol was used to denote religious buildings long before it was appropriated by the Nazi regime, but it continues to spread confusion among Western visitors to Japan.
It has prompted the country's tourism authorities to announce plans to update their maps, replacing the swastika with a more conventional image of a three-tiered pagoda.
But the proposals have prompted outrage in some quarters, with one Japanese academic calling for tourists to be better informed about the history of the countries they visit.
"We have been using this symbol for thousands of years before it was incorporated into the Nazi flag, so I believe it would be better for us to keep it on our maps and ask others to understand its true meaning", Makoto Watanabe, a communications expert at Hokkaido Bunkyo University, told The Telegraph. Full story...
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The ancient Sanskrit symbol was used to denote religious buildings long before it was appropriated by the Nazi regime, but it continues to spread confusion among Western visitors to Japan.
It has prompted the country's tourism authorities to announce plans to update their maps, replacing the swastika with a more conventional image of a three-tiered pagoda.
But the proposals have prompted outrage in some quarters, with one Japanese academic calling for tourists to be better informed about the history of the countries they visit.
"We have been using this symbol for thousands of years before it was incorporated into the Nazi flag, so I believe it would be better for us to keep it on our maps and ask others to understand its true meaning", Makoto Watanabe, a communications expert at Hokkaido Bunkyo University, told The Telegraph. Full story...
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