Maroon 5 recently announced its world tour, starting in Canada and ending in Asia. One of the Asian countries the pop-rock band will visit is South Korea, but it looks like netizens aren't happy with the group's poster design.
Koreans are now expressing concern over the "disrespect" of Maroon 5's poster design. As it bears Japan's "rising sun flag," the netizens couldn't help but associate the symbol with Japan's "wartime atrocities."
Adam Levine, Jesse Carmichael, James Valentine, Matt Flynn, PJ Morton and Sam Farrar will kick off their tour in Quebec City, Canada, in July and continue with their Asian leg in Singapore, Korea, Japan, Philippines and Thailand.
They're set to hold their concert in South Korea on November 30 at the Gocheok Sky Dome, known to be the place where K-pop idols perform their shows, too. However, when fans visited the sextet's official website and other social media platforms, they saw the rising sun flag design in the poster and criticized the band for using it.
Koreaboo noted that Koreans and other Asian countries affected by Japan's militarism and imperialism had been comparing the rising Japanese flag to the Nazi swastika. It was the Japanese imperial navy's flag when Japan colonized South Korea in the early 20th century.
Japan still uses the rising sun flag today, but South Korea and other Asian countries have demanded that this flag be fully banned. University of Connecticut Professor Alexis Dudden said it was "part of the collective effort to cleanse the history of imperial Japan's aggression during the Second World War."
Per Wikipedia, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is still letting the flag fly, while its eight-ray version is flown by the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. It's also part of Japanese's daily life, as seen being used by fishers as banners to show their large catch. Others also use it to celebrate childbirth and for seasonal festivities.
Meanwhile, Maroon 5 will begin their Asian leg tour at the Singapore National Stadium on November 29, per NME. They will then head to South Korea and their next stop will be in Japan.
From there, they will fly to the Philippines and perform at the Mall of Asia area. They will officially put their world tour to a close in Thailand on December 10. Ticketing details for Maroon 5's upcoming world tour will be announced in the coming days.
