[alephnan]

Sure, I agree with you completely.

It’s just there are people (Americans) who offended by this and riled up about progressive issues such as feminism, for which Japan is behind even China, but then shut that part of their brain off when they decide they want to idolize Japan.

The context is that it was a museum of retro items. The imagery is very similar to the backlash that the Pokémon Jynx received such that it has to be redesigned for the American market [1]. I don’t think the Japanese have any malicious intent, but perhaps unaware (and I don’t blame them) that the visual motifs offend some people.

Another example is social justice warriors recently being offended by the “Manji” symbol present in Japan from Buddhism and other religious for thousands of years, but were later appropriated by the nazis into the swastika. Japan had to change their digital maps recently because of this. [2]

[1] https://lavacutcontent.com/3-pokemon-redesigned-due-to-racia...

[2] https://japantoday.com/category/poll/should-japan-stop-ident...