Kishidan's agency apologizes for their Nazi-like attire

TOKYO —

The management agency of a popular Japanese pop band on early Wednesday issued an apology for their appearing in a TV program in costume resembling uniforms of wartime Germany’s SS, or the Nazi Party’s armed units, in response to a Jewish human rights group’s protest.

‘‘We deeply regret and apologize for the distress it has caused Simon Wiesenthal Center and all concerned,’’ Sony Music Artists Inc said in a statement, adding that the pop band Kishidan ‘‘will never again use this costume and it will be disposed of immediately.’‘

All six male band members also ‘‘deeply regret and apologize in this matter,’’ the statement said, while noting that ‘‘it was not meant to carry any ideological meaning whatsoever.’‘

‘‘We have taken the words of advice from Simon Wiesenthal Center very seriously…we sincerely apologize for the insensitive action,’’ it said.

On Monday, the Los Angeles-based center, which monitors anti-Semitic and racist activities, asked for an apology from the pop band over its appearance in SS uniform-like costume during an interview aired on MTV Japan on Feb. 23, saying it disrespects Holocaust victims.

Kishidan is known for often wearing Japanese school uniforms in the style of ‘‘bosozoku’’ motorcycle gangs.

Apology is here: www.kishidan.com/

Thanks to saihara for the tip

Source: japantoday

Page 1 of 2
<<	[1] [2]	>>

Leave a Comment

noir_shiroi 2nd-Mar-2011 12:21 am (UTC)

Even though I don't think we know what the uniform looked like it is good that they apologized and aren't making a big deal of it.

thingofshadows 2nd-Mar-2011 12:46 am (UTC)

I think they updated the first post about this with pictures.

(no subject) -

noir_shiroi - Expand

lady_mercury 2nd-Mar-2011 12:23 am (UTC)

That was prompt.

liime_arix 2nd-Mar-2011 12:23 am (UTC)

Yeah, I was expecting it to take longer.

brucelynn - Expand

liime_arix - Expand

lady_mercury - Expand

yakiseop 2nd-Mar-2011 12:23 am (UTC)

Kishidan ♥♥♥♥♥♥ they weren't even wrong but apologized and complied anyway u_u

noir_shiroi 2nd-Mar-2011 12:27 am (UTC)

Um, if they were in fact SS uniforms then yes, they were wrong.

yakiseop - Expand

followingmyfish - Expand

brucelynn 2nd-Mar-2011 12:25 am (UTC)

Now everyone can be happy :D

I'm glad they apologized, if this was kpop they would have covered it up

Lol

lady_mercury 2nd-Mar-2011 12:31 am (UTC)

Oppa didn't mean to do it :(

Edited at 2011-03-02 12:31 am (UTC)

chiaki95 - Expand

j_o_n_n_o 2nd-Mar-2011 12:32 am (UTC)

Don't disappoint me, deranged apologist weeaboos.

akbitches 2nd-Mar-2011 12:36 am (UTC)

JAPAN IS NEVER WRONG!!!!1!!!111!!

lady_mercury 2nd-Mar-2011 12:35 am (UTC)

Also, OT but is Arama's layout fucked up or is it just me? Fucking livejournal, I don't pay you guys for this shitty ass service.

Edited at 2011-03-02 12:35 am (UTC)

All of lj is messed up rn

ilovekonkon - Expand

peachie_ego - Expand

cherrycoloured - Expand

nene718 - Expand

hannahime25 - Expand

raatkerani 2nd-Mar-2011 12:35 am (UTC)

i'm still wondering if there's a clip of the show.
or did i miss it in yesterday's comments?

akbitches 2nd-Mar-2011 12:37 am (UTC)

More importantly Japan (and some people here) should be educated about why it's wrong and not just be told that it's wrong.

cherrycoloured 2nd-Mar-2011 01:24 am (UTC)

A+

breathless31 - Expand

yellyell 2nd-Mar-2011 12:45 am (UTC)

I am not saying it was exactly a SS uniform but you can't deny that there was a resemblance. Other people have donned such things so it would not be surprising if that's the look they went for.

It's a good thing that they apologized. I don't care if you think SS uniforms are hot, it's wrong for anyone to wear them.

The amount of weeaboos riding Japan's dick the other day made me headesk. Get educated if you see nothing wrong with someone wearing such. Japan, just like the rest of the world can do wrong too.

kestral_kitsune 2nd-Mar-2011 01:14 am (UTC)

<3 this right here sums up my thoughts. I don't even follow these guys but still think its good that they apologized for it.

angelachibayuy - Expand

agentduckiechan - Expand

lovecallinearth - Expand

forest_venus - Expand

kinenbi 2nd-Mar-2011 01:02 am (UTC)

I'm happy they apologized and I forgive then <33333.

d0ci 2nd-Mar-2011 01:14 am (UTC)

noo..why were our allies defeated again.
It's a shame that it was the U.S but then again we have other important issues in our paradies here while I also think no one here except some Japan addicts know who kishidan is :O
Important issues here like freezing out our minister who copied his doctoral dissertation or interesting incest stories.(O__o;)
But ok maybe I can't get upset about such small stuff since we still have a nazi fraction in germany and since the hakenkreuz is still a symbol you can find somewhere at house walls stupid jerks put there as graffiti.
After all Life is wonderful.

Sometimes I am also disgusted how racistic many germans act here...but then again I can't blame them how they are annoyed by those millions of foreigners in the big cities..amd the government won't say: "NO" coz if they do it's like "WUT Naziland is still Naziland!?!"
..however Japan is rather...close?

lady_mercury 2nd-Mar-2011 01:27 am (UTC)

What in the hell are you trying to say, Sakurai?

d0ci - Expand

insanelampshade 2nd-Mar-2011 01:31 am (UTC)

...seems that's all Japan ever does these days, apologise.

Needs to grow some balls (as do us Brits).

cherrycoloured 2nd-Mar-2011 01:57 am (UTC)

Oh yes, when someone is offended clearly they are in the wrong. Especially when it comes to a Jewish organization being offended by Nazi uniforms.

billybar - Expand

lovelylaura003 - Expand

insanelampshade - Expand

muzikiz4evaluv 2nd-Mar-2011 01:33 am (UTC)

i know they didn't mean to offend and i'm sure there were misunderstandings on both sides but i'm happy they apologized (i hope they were educated about why the uniforms were wrong though...) seriously saw the uniforms did some research and yea let's keep it real people BIG similarites, the only thing missing was the swastika

angelachibayuy 2nd-Mar-2011 01:51 am (UTC)

Sucks that they had to apologize for something that shouldn't have been a big deal as it in no way affected the Jewish center. But this same center has overreacted in the past to something that didn't concern them so probably they have nothing better to do than look at other countries media and goods to make sure there is nothing that may offend their sensitive sensitive souls.

cherrycoloured 2nd-Mar-2011 01:54 am (UTC)

Trivializing the Holocaust effects the Jewish community worldwide, even if not directly.

carbonidiot - Expand

nice_vibe - Expand

kochan_addict 2nd-Mar-2011 01:53 am (UTC)

And a stylist just got fired...

forest_venus 2nd-Mar-2011 02:39 am (UTC)

Maybe they can use it as an opportunity to go take some history classes then.

ih8je 2nd-Mar-2011 02:02 am (UTC)

awwww...how sweet..they apologize...I still have faith in Japan and humanity.

And I do think the Jewish center has a point when they said young Japanese don't have a full knowledge of WWII events. They probably don't.

forest_venus 2nd-Mar-2011 02:34 am (UTC)

...where is the "Like" button right now?

tomoeicemaiden 2nd-Mar-2011 03:17 am (UTC)

Very pleased with Kishidan and their agency apologizing for their actions. Now we can move on :)

nene718 2nd-Mar-2011 03:40 am (UTC)

Good for them.

darlingpoppet 2nd-Mar-2011 03:56 am (UTC)

I only watched this wank from afar when it was unfolding, and I'm glad they apologized, but! Why is everyone ("weeaboo apologists" and their dissenters both) making this a Japan issue? Not all Japanese people think it's okay to wear SS inspired uniforms in order to look edgy, and what this one random band does isn't a reflection of the society as a whole.

you guys do this all the time though, i guess that's just how arama rolls!

isolacompulsive 2nd-Mar-2011 05:58 am (UTC)

I agree that there are certainly people in Japan who understand why wearing Nazi-looking uniforms is inappropriate. However, this is not just one random band in an isolated incident, this is a pervasive issue that has been going on for years, and Japanese society in general IS apathetic towards the glorification of Nazism and Hitler. So many celebrities have worn similar uniforms, and no Japanese group has stepped up and said this isn't right. Maybe with this outside group coming in and saying something, more Japanese people will be ready to step up and speak out as well, but I think that Japanese society as a whole will continue to not care until more and more people speak out against it.

sleepydragon_26 - Expand

hola_meg_a_cola 2nd-Mar-2011 04:29 am (UTC)

Good. Now, whether they knew why it was wrong or not is another matter...

saihara

capybara_cafe 2nd-Mar-2011 07:24 am (UTC)

It's because there are apparently a lot of REALLY ignorant people around here.
Reading the initial reactions to the story yesterday sure made me think of that old adage "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

If people HONESTLY don't understand why it was offensive, they need to do some studying.

digital_eon - Expand

I'm really surprised at how quickly the apology was issued, and applaud all agencies involved for taking care of it promptly.

However, like others here have expressed, I hope they actually understand why it was offensive to begin with, or if not, will make an attempt to educate themselves about it now.

digital_eon 2nd-Mar-2011 08:39 am (UTC)

Some of these comments have really bothered me, and I'm talking about the ones where people have themselves said they're bothered by comments here. And then gone on to complain about apologist Japanophiles or some shit.

I can have my own opinion that I do not find those uniforms offensive, nor do I feel this incident should have provoked such a reaction, and that does not make me a Japanophile, an apologist, a racist, or even wrong. Not everyone who expressed that belief is doing so because it's ~Japan~ and that somehow makes them right. It doesn't even mean you don't think the Holocaust was a big deal or anything and we should forget about it. I don't. I think it was a very big deal and we should make sure genocides don't happen again.

But I do feel that getting offended over the casual use of a uniform, a symbol associated with (if not as strongly as others) the Nazi regime, is a bit much... and seems to not be about ensuring its prevention in the future (which seems to be a point that has been brought up here?) but remembering the tragedy that happened to a group of people seventy years ago.

Except I don't think that only remembering the one group is necessarily right. The Holocaust was undeniably wrong, but those weren't the only innocent people who suffered and died in World War II - or at any time, but many countries lost innocent civilians to mass murders. Besides the bombs on Japan, what about China and Korea? What about the Eastern European victims of the Soviets (who apparently aren't even being recognized by some groups because their nations collaborated in atrocities by the Nazi regime - somehow, the murder of their people isn't on the same level of wrongness because of that?), or the European civilians on both sides whose homes were bombed? I have family who suffered and even died at the hands of opposing soldiers; should I be offended when I see that military being glorified and their WWII-era uniforms being worn when people wearing those uniforms killed members of my family? Or is my family somehow worth less because their nations lost the war? Because those soldiers were Allies?

I feel that the focus on uniforms, and even remembering a specific genocide in history to such an extent that the uniforms become such a strong symbol, misses an important point: we remember these horrors because we want to make sure that they don't happen again. The uniform is not going to cause another genocide. No concrete symbol will. Genocide won't even be caused by a failure to understand or remember an event that didn't concern your nation (and here I'm thinking of the fact that I didn't learn anything about Asia in WWII besides Japan being bombed in my North American school system). It's going to caused by social and political situations, attitudes and conditions, that need to be avoided. I would honestly say the Japanese attitudes towards foreigners in their country is a bigger issue than a pop group wearing these uniforms.

That's my take on it. Of course, people are free to be offended by the Nazi uniform, and that's okay, that they're inappropriate in this context is an opinion too and it's very understandable considering the circumstances, but it's not okay to insult people that disagree like I've seen here.