Is that who I think it is?

I've been keeping this topic for a while now, just waiting for the "Open Post" week to get here. Today's post is about a certain someone I've seen lurking in Shinsaibashi...

Do you recognize this person? Found in Shinsaibashi-suji, directly across the street from the Subway and directly above the Mos Burger. Yes, it is indeed who you think it is. Complete with ridiculous mustache and everything. The only thing missing is the Nazi flag (that's inside the store). The question is, what in the world is Hitler doing in Japan?

Well, in this instance, he's advertising for a military clothing store. Him and good ol' glory. Two things that, according to the culture in which I grew up, should never ever be seen together. So is this a political statement? No, I don't think so. First, they are more easily associated with what is inside the store than with each other. If they are meant to be associated with each other in any other way than that, both countries represent the most powerful militaries Japan has seen on its shores in recent history. Japan’s own military pre-1945 was based off of the Prussian Army (found via my Japanese Fashion book that chronicles Japanese fashion from Meiji era to present). The post-1945 Japanese self-defense force, on the other hand, is heavily influenced by the American model. Also, Japan’s greatest ally pre-1945 was Germany, whereas Japan’s largest political partner post-1945 is the US. But I don’t think that’s why this shop has Hitler and the US flag just hanging out in its display.

This store is two stories of military uniforms. Those of the US style are fairly modern and are accompanied of images of soldiers in a desert, holding some serious weaponry (photos from Iraq? Naaaaah, course not). Most of the US style uniforms are Army camouflage, with the exception of one small group of coats. The only other style of military uniform I found within the shop was German, designed to look like something straight out of the 1940s as well as more recent variations. They aren’t really separated by floor so the US camos and German military uniforms from all eras just kinda hang there together, separated only by hand-made signs that say where the clothing originates from. Other merchandise in this store includes combat boots, army tents, nets, and just about everything else you might consider military memorabilia. The only thing missing from this shop was a gun department, but this is Japan so we can’t have that… On the second floor, you aren’t allowed to take photos, so I don’t have a photo of the Nazi flag hanging over the entrance to the staff room. The sign was in English, so I couldn’t exactly use the “I’m sorry, I couldn’t read it” excuse.

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US Army coats for cold climates. In the corner where you can’t see are the German variation, according to the signs.

I’m just reporting what I saw. Again, though I don’t think there is much of a political statement to this store—the point of the store is fashion, not politics—I’m still not sure I’m exactly comfortable with the two very different ideologies presented here. You certainly would never see this sort of thing in the US, but then again, Japan doesn’t have a history of several years in which it was at war with Hitler and his atrocities. If I wore a 1940s replica Nazi uniform in the US, that would be suicide, but in Japan the point is that it is fashion. It’s not a political statement; it’s not an affiliation thing (except that you’re affiliating yourself with other people who dress this way for fashion reasons). It’s fashion, which means it’s part of that group of materials that both does and doesn’t make a statement at the same time.

And it’s an expensive fashion to follow. This was one of the cheapest prices I found in the entire store.

It feels really weird to me to see US army jackets in Japan (real or not) for sale.