A Chinese online friend of mine who also is a Visual Kei fan told me that appearantly Lime from Kizu had for some promotional content visit a “temple for war criminals”.
I have no real idea what either this temple is or when they did it as I don’t invest too much time into the online presence of Bands on Twitter.
If you know anything about it please educate me
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Yasukuni Shrine?
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I was also thinking Yasukuni Shrine. It would help if the people lobbing the accusations referred to places by name.
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Without wanting to defend anything or anyone here
Here first a Wikipedia page
@marvelous_sunday thanks for the name of the shrine, I remember there was one, but always keep forgetting the name
One thing I think we should remember is that it is a public shrine, a shrine that has been visited over years by important people, incl. Politicians and foreign diplomats. So unless you dig into history and inform yourself of which names are written in there, it could have gone past your knowledge.
All in all, I am in doubt that it was meant as a promotion of anything or anyone named in that temple. It is however worth to mention that your Chinese friend brought it up, accounting the past and how Japan behaved in China, I guess it’s understandable that they feel more sensetive about the topic.
I would also account that Kizu are as oblivious and ignorant about their own history like many japanese. Is it bad and worth to avoid them now? Welp that’s up to each their own.
By the way where exactly they did use it?
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I would be curious as well about how your friend got that information, that Kizu was in any way affiliated with the Yasukuni shrine.
Given how critical Kizu has been towards Japan and its history, especially how the japanese society overall has been kept unaware about the crimes Japan has commited by the japanese political landscape.
I live in China, and many people here are (rightfully) very sensitive when it comes to such topics. As much as chinese people love japanese culture and entertainment, but the cultural boycott is still in place, and given that Kizu have played in China several times already, and Lime seems to be visiting Shanghai frequently, it wouldn’t make much sense, but in the end you never know.
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I don’t know anything about it, but Lime seems to be quite knowledgeable and curious, and he is interested in history.
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Got a point, I forgot that Kizu has some WW2 themed stuff in their songs, but even then.
In the end it’s the same everywhere, if it makes you uncomfortable avoid the band. There are enough other fish in the sea to listen too (that have not already announced their coming hiatus)
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It would surprise me because they seemed to have much fun when they went to Shanghai, and they were quite nice during the photo sesion after the show…and they returned again for an acoustic show, they openned weibo accounts…they seemed like really trying hard to get Chinese fandom so this would be a really big step back.
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Right now this is 100% hear-say 
tbh I doubt this even happen with the evidence we have right now. Maybe the chinese friend was mixing it up with other such incidents? Yasukuni debate is happening again and again.
Not to mean to discredit the friend but I have read so many things online that were definitivly wrong because people were playing a game of telephon with rumors.
I am sure there are peoplewho believe all of Malice Mizer are dead because Gackt said so…
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Right, the internet is full of the most bizarre rumours, so many secret bandomen children and all that.
Also, like, yes 靖国神社 has a really questionable and problematic history, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find Japanese people, at least those who do/have lived in Kanto, who haven’t visited it. It’s still a very important shrine smack down in the middle of Tokyo, has really important matsuri, and all that. Tons of tourists visit it without having any idea that it’s problematic, I see it recommended in Tokyo itineraries very often. The really questionable visits are Japanese politicians who specifically go there as a performative act with the intent of showing respect to the war criminals.
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It was posted by their manager that the Japanese flag displayed during the tour is from the World War II era and had been blessed at Yasukuni Shrine. While there is no evidence that the members themselves brought the flag to the shrine, it’s difficult to believe they were completely unaware of its background. They specifically chose a Japanese flag associated with the World War II era, and out of all possible shrines, it was blessed at Yasukuni Shrine. Given those circumstances, it’s hard to see it as merely a coincidence.
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Also, the second pic was from their song Phoenix, where the laser display shows a bird rising from the ashes in front of a World War II–era Japanese flag. it’s pretty on the nose.
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Oof
Well, that’s a source, finally.
It might went like “War song” let’s use “war artefact”. What is best place to get war related thing blessed? War shrine!
But in the end we can really only guess how aware they are about the controversy or if it might even was on purpose because “visual shock something something”.
Between on purpose and total oblivious everything is possible
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Yeah, I don’t think Lime had any malicious intentions. It seems more like a typical visual kei chuunibyo mindset, thinking it looked cool without fully understanding the implications. That said, the people who felt offended by it are completely justified in how they feel.
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It’s not really smart, no matter his intensions, when he wants to appeal to chinese audience.
Well…
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Also, considering how much Lime usually talks about the meanings behind his lyrics, songs, and MVs, it’s interesting that he never mentioned the flag being a wartime artifact or having been blessed by the shrine. That makes me think he knew how it would be viewed outside Japan. Unfortunately, the manager couldn’t keep a secretHe apparently so proud of obtaining the flag and posted on X to brag about it.
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You could have done the whole thing completely disconnected from the actual facist political movement. Why is it so important for shock factor to get an imperial Japanese flag blessed by a shrine with extreme facist connection.
You could as well just print the flag cheaply yourself.
Is the intent now from the members itself or has the managers forced it upon them I don’t know for sure. But it is kinda insane to say that Kizu (as project including the manager) did not had any political intent and did not knew about it.
Like let’s think about it. How did they got access to such an old imperial flag? Did they like rented or even bought it? To whom did the money exactly go to in the end. And how likely is it that this person was a fanatical facist?
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The Japanese flag displayed behind the members during this tour was actually an authentic flag from the wartime era.
After paying a visit to Yasukuni Shrine, we took it with us across the country as part of the tour of Kizu, a Japanese rock band.
The shrine itself is dedicated to the memory of military personnel and others who died in service to the Japanese state. It enshrines the spirits of approximately 2.5 million people who lost their lives in various wars and conflicts since the 19th century.
It’s important to understand that attitudes toward Yasukuni Shrine within Japan are mixed:
For some, it is a place to commemorate family members who died in war.
For others, it is a symbol of Japanese militarism and an insufficient reckoning with the country’s wartime past.
Many Japanese people do not attach significant political meaning to it at all and simply view it as a historical shrine.
I think that if the goal had been to create some kind of shock value, they would have said so themselves.
I honestly don’t think this is worth discussing. Knowing the band and their attitude toward these kinds of things, I don’t think they would do something like that just to provoke people.
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