Asian = Oriental, etc.

[Douglas G. Wilson]

> > didn't Japan call itself The Land of the Rising Sun?
>
>Yes.  And their flag is a flag of the rising sun.

The Japanese flag depicts a red disc on a white field. In Japanese it is
called "Hi no Maru" = "sun circle" (could also be translated "sun ball"
etc.). (This is like "Stars and Stripes" for the US flag in English.)
Another word for this flag in Japanese is "Nisshouki" = "sun emblem flag".
I suppose the red color is chosen for its auspicious symbolism and not to
indicate that the sun is low in the sky or that it is cloudy. At any rate
the depicted "sun" is a full circle, so it is not specifically a depiction
of a sunrise. This is an old symbol in Japan, but only recently (mid-19th
Century, I think) used as the national flag. I think this symbol for Japan
is just the sun, not the rising sun particularly. Originally the Japanese
rulers claimed direct descent from the Sun Goddess (of course the Inca
rulers and many others all over the world made similar claims).

"Asahi" = "morning sun" is the name of a major Japanese newspaper and of a
brand of Japanese beer, but I don't think it's used for the flag.

As I stated in a separate message, I am dubious of the purported original
sense of "Nippon", and I think "Rising Sun" specifically and exactly as a
term for Japan has become common in Japan only recently, probably as an
import from the US. (There may have been a similar import from China much
earlier, but I don't believe it could have gained wide currency in Japan.)
Any Japanese scholar, please feel free to correct me.

-- Doug Wilson