Buddha Cafe - Ch. 143 - Each Other

[MangaDex]

 

[Iceblade20]

Gotta respect her honesty

 

[Weoooo]

Yeah sorry, no turning that back. There's noooo going back on that symbol

 

[ribbitribbitsaga]

Lol no, every manji shall come with a hitler* quote accompanying it >: ))))))
Imagine being so used to holocaust denial laws you start panicking when you see a manji.

Goebbels, hell even their american counterpart, Rockwell and Pierce >: ))))))))))

 

[shinjachan]

Yeah, I agree, there's no going back on the meaning of that symbol-- in europe and america at least. But what the author is trying to say anyway is that this symbol has a different meaning in asia and always has for a long long time as part of an important religious tradition. The translator talks about it more on their website.

An analogy I found is that christians outside and inside of the us still wear the cross despite the horrors and perversion of the symbol by the klu klux klan.

Plus, Jewish and Hindu/Buddhist religious leaders recognize the meaning of the swastika in each other's communities so again I think that speaks to the authors point- mutual respect.

 

[miyako19]

@Weoooo As an Asian and Buddhist, I am pretty offense by what you said. It is like you don't even want to put any effort to understand the real meaning behind a beautiful symbol or respect other religions.
Well, my family and I will still use it though as it is our tradition and religion as my mother has a Manji necklace.

 

[Misticsan]

Oh, I'm surprised that the author touched the controversy about the temple symbols. Became famous due to the Olympics preparations. And the bit in the previous chapter about the manji having become popular slang seems to be true:
https://kotaku.com/the-buddhist-swastika-becomes-popular-slang-in-japan-1822404738

 

[justanothermanganerd]

There's also the part where the Nazi swastika is also supposed to be rotated 45 degrees

 

[havelmom]

there is no controversy really
only if you have low IQ
or NPC brain
everyone knows it's a Buddhist symbol

 

[Aldis]

@havelmom
Well, common sense it's not so common :')
Sometimes ppl relating controversy thing to common thing without care the other side (ignorant, or simply innocent, dunno).

 

[DjAlexDubCheck]

@Weoooo You and what army will be going to stop what ? Who put you in charge of anything ?

 

[DjAlexDubCheck]

"To be honest, I am a little nervous about translating them since I don’t want to upset or offend anybody"
This message from translator on Tumblr* offends me more than anything in the strips:
one should not be forced or force himself to bow down this way,
especially since it's not like they're translating a revisionist right-wing manga

*that may explain something

 

[Archleone]

While I don't think the author's being disrespectful it probably wouldn't have hurt to at least put a panel or two in dissociating from the usage of swastikas in nationalism. If you'll forgive a bland metaphor, it never hurts to put on a little protective wear when playing with fire (or a fiery topic, in this case.)

 

[bunny]

no

 

[Poipoy]

What fire are we talking about here?Didn't the author just explained its use in the last chapter, wasn't its original purpose that has been wronged in the first place? I see no reason why they shouldn't use it for their intended purpose, to bow down is to accept people's ignorance as the standard.

 

[theilikepie]

"Chaotic movement overseas" lol. Do they mean the holocaust?

 

[Misticsan]

@havelmom There was indeed a controversy in Japan, actually. In preparation for the Olympics, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan suggested modifications to tourist maps to make them more accessible to foreigners. The manji symbol became the focus due to the Nazi swastika, but other changes included ditching a symbol for hospitals that looked like a symbol for helipads, or the symbols for post offices and police stations.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35349619

The chapter is an obvious reference to that, from that "Tokyo 2020" poster to the appearance of several of the aforementioned symbols in the background, not just the manji.

 

[Weoooo]

As an Asian and Buddhist, I am pretty offense by what you said. It is like you don't even want to put any effort to understand the real meaning behind a beautiful symbol or respect other religions.

I didn't mean to offend, and I hope you don't see what I said as a sign of disrespect; I'm well aware that the nazis stole it and I don't bat an eye seeing it in a religious context. But listen, the the world is pretty much always gonna see the swastika as a nazi symbol, or at least for as long as any of us are gonna be alive; you can't reclaim a symbol after a genocide was done under it as long as anyone remembers that. I'm not asking for people to redo their iconography or redefine what ancient characters mean, but it's gonna be a very very long time before people will see the manji and not go "uhh... that's a swastika"

 

[shinjachan]

"But listen, the the world is pretty much always gonna see the swastika as a nazi symbol[...]"
By "world" you mean the west.
"[...]but it's gonna be a very very long time before people will see the manji and not go "uhh... that's a swastika""
By "people" you mean westerners.

I'm glad that you understand that the swastika is also a religious symbol, but I hope you see the problem with what you're saying. No doubt there are asians who don't know or understand the horrors of the holocaust. We see it when tourists visit concentration camps without showing the proper respect. But the point the author is making and what asians around the world hope westerners understand is that our iconography in our own countries can't be redefined or suddenly become offensive just because a westerner sees it differently. The history of the west is not the history of the world, and people who grew up in the west have such a hard time understanding this.

In other words, for a swastika drawn in asia, there is no such thing as "no going back" to its original meaning because its original meaning never changed.

Of course us we can sit here and debate this until the end of time because the moment these pages are exposed to a western audience, a manji will look like a swastika and that is that. But thanks to misticsan, now I get why author drew these pages in the first place. It sucks when people come to your country and then don't understand your customs or find them offensive.

 

[DjAlexDubCheck]

Just wondering, do you think that the foreign customer is German ?

@theilikepie
I too laughed when I read that, "talk about an euphemism" sez to myself.
But the true reason is linked to Tokyo Olympics (recently is the key word in her phrase)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35349619 (a little repost)