Young people in Nanjing are being called upon to consider general public values while showing their personality after an incident in which a man wearing Japanese anime clothing including a swastika was challenged in the city’s Xuanwu Lake Scenic Area.
The incident took place on 3 January, when the man, who has not been named, was walking in the Area wearing a jacket featuring the wording, “东京卍会”, that is a reference to the Japanese anime, “Tokyo Revengers”.
Other visitors to the Area took offense at his expression. The man was ultimately challenged, and soon surrounded by both plain-old onlookers and those in opposition to his actions.
At their persuasion, the young man took off the jacket and folded it in front of his chest. “I can cover it”, he said to the nearby people, reports The Paper.
Some, however, protested that much of the jacket’s text was still visible. The man then turned the jacket inside out, completely obscuring the wording that had offended so many.
The incident has aroused the indignation of many Chinese in account they believe that the wearing of Japanese clothing in Nanjing in public is disrespectful to the city’s history.
The following day, yesterday, 4 January, Xuanwu Lake Scenic Area staff stated it is aware that many young people nowadays like the clothes and props from animations as a means to show their personality.
However, the Scenic Area also called on these young people to consider the common values of place and society when visiting the park to avoid controversy.
In another similar, but unrelated incident, a lady also landed herself in hot water last month, when she chose to wear traditional Japanese dress on 13 December, the anniversary of the start of the Nanjing Massacre.
The 6-week long invasion of Nanjing at the hands of the Japanese that left 300,000 citizens dead is the scar on the city that shall never heal.
