Japanese Prefectural Flag Twins - Osaka & Fukuoka : Part 4

Flag of Osaka

Osaka and Fukuoka make a good pair. Again they match by background colour - blue. They both have circular white icons in the center. The emblem of Fukuoka is a white plum flower. I'm not exactly sure what Osaka's symbol is supposed to be? Maybe of stylized Primula Flower, since it is a prefectural symbol?

They have a geographic balance because they are at opposite ends of the inland sea of Japan. In the West is Fukuoka and in the East is Osaka. Subsequently the cities of Osaka and Kitakyushu in Fukuoka are famous for having bold business like acumen. The business is so bold that Osaka Businesses manifested the world first artificial island airport in 1994. Likewise the wealth of Fukuoka's Business Class allowed Kitakyushu to give birth to another artificial island airport in the Inland Sea of Japan back in 2006.

Flag of Fukuoka

Osaka and Fukuoka also have unique shapes. Most Japanese Prefectures look like blobs. But Fukuoka looks like a mushroom while Osaka is similar to a crescent moon.

I had the pleasure of living one year in Osaka and three years in Fukuoka - so I know both prefectures fairly well. I am an alumni of the Kansai Gaidai - Hirakata Campus in Osaka. I was also JET participant and was assigned to two high schools to teach at in Fukuoka Prefecture - Kurume Chikusui and Meizen.

Some baseball fans might recognize the name Hirakata, since they won the little league world series in 1999 - while I was in Japan I might add. And I'm from Pennsylvania. Another odd ball on top of that - also in 1999 Fukuoka won the Japanese World Series as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks!


Kitakyushu certainly has an Osaka vibe. So what is an Osaka vibe? Osaka is famous for being not so neat, more open, bold, not afraid to wear wacky clothing and a bit more outspoken than your average Japanese person.

Fukuoka and Osaka are two Japanese prefectures that I also call home - if you bond with a place, and come back after a long time, it will feel like you're visiting a grandparents house or something like that.

Finally Osaka's flag used to be green, but then fate stepped in in 1984 and turned made it blue. Fukuoka's Flag also is the oldest prefectural flag in Japan - adopted in 1908!


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Japanese Prefectural Flag Twins - Akita & Aichi : Part 3

Flag of Akita Prefecture
Katakana "A"

The flags of Akita and Aichi make a harmonious pair on several levels. First their colours are a similar brownish-red. But most importantly their prefectural symbols are stylized letters for the Japanese letter for 'A.'

Akita in the North at a European Latitude has a very post modern looking Katakana A, while Aichi in the South at an African Latitude has a very artistic looking Hiragana A.

Flag of Aichi
Hiragana "A"

The dividing lines on the map below represent the extreme continental latitudes of Africa and Europe at their most northern and southern points. The red line is 37' 20" degrees north and represents the most northern point of Continental Africa by the nation of Tunisia. The blue line is 36' degrees north which is the most southern point of Continental Europe by the nation of Spain.

In between these two latitudes is where Africa and Europe are at eye to eye so to speak. Honshu is amazingly geographically balanced between these two great continents. Furthermore Japan is also balanced like yin and yang since Hokkaido is totally at a European Latitude while Kyushu and Shikoku are at totally African Latitudes.



The Akita Dog was bred in Akita. It is a dog that has been molded by Japanese hands, while the Toyota Car from Aichi is something man made by Japan. The Japanese are keenly aware between things that are alive and not alive. This aspect of aliveness is reflected in their language - which has two forms of 'IS.' One is reserved for living things such as an Akita Dog - the 'IMAUS' is-alive form.

While another 'IS' reserved for non living things such as a Toyota Camry - 'ARIMASU' is-non living form.

In English we don't have this form: for example - the dog is over there and the car is over there.




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Japanese Prefectural Flag Twins - Miyagi & Mie : Part 2

lag of Miyagi Prefecture

The prefecutral flags of Mie and Miyagi align almost perfectly. Both flags employ the Japanese Hiragana Letter "Me." Both prefectures are in Honshu with Miyagi in the north at a European Latitude and Mie in the south at an African Latitude.

Miyagi Prefecture is serendipitously famous because of the movie The Karate Kid 1984 with Ralph Macchio. In this movie Mr. Miyagi is a Japanese-American teacher who helps an Italian-American kid from New Jersey adjust to a new neighborhood in California.



Mie is famous in Japan as the proverbial Jerusalem of the Shinto Faith. The high temple dedicated to Amateratsu the Sun Goddess is located there. Arguably this is the holiest of holy Shinto Shrines.

Flag of Mie Prefecture



Miyagi Prefecture is famous for Japan's Celebration of Tanabata. This holiday takes place sometime in the summer, usually July. The Tanabata Celebration is based on an ancient Chinese tale of two star crossed lovers - a high society sky princess and a lowly farmer. Basically two stars become visible on opposite sides of the Milky Way - Vega & Altair. The farmer and princess become forbidden lovers by the Gods - except on one date: Tanabata.

Coincidentally in the most recent version of the Karate Kid 2010 with Jackie Chan, they retell a "Tanabata Story" in an 'original' Chinese form during a play. But during Japan's Tanabata they decorate and write wishes on paper, then hang them on bamboo stems. It kind of looks like a "Japanese Bamboo-Mas Tree," but without presents.


The odd parallel is that Mie is a central point in the worship of the sun which is a part of our solar system, while Miyagi is a prime nexus point in the appreciation of our neighboring stars -Vega and Altair which are stars in our Galaxy - the Milky Way. Coincidentally both Vega and Altair are rather close to our Sun.


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Japanese Prefectural Flag Twins - Nagano & Fukushima : Part 1

The core theme in my flag research is the revelation that flags display a unique patten. Basically flags of a similar class can be paired up as fraternal twins. I have already shown many examples with sub national flags of Russia, Australia, Canada and even the state flags of the USA. This flag symmetry phenomena even occurs with the culturally distant nation of Japan.

Since Fukushima Prefecture has risen to global attention due to the recent tragedy of the Tsunami, it seems appropriate that we should start there. Japan basically has 47 divisions below the federal level, akin to the 50 sub-federal divisions of US or 13 sub-federal divisions within Canada (Provincial & Territorial).

Upper Letters are Hiragana
Lower Letters are Katakana

47 is an enchanting and important number for Japan, since there are officially 47 letters in the Japanese Alphabet - Hiragana or Katakana without divisional strokes. The Japanese writing system is rather immense. First of all there is an adapted Chinese Character Kanji Set (immensely complex), second their own native phonetic script has two forms - kind of like cursive (Hiragana) and print (Katakana), and finally they use the Roman Letters.

47 is relevant to the story of the 47 Samurai who avenged their master's honor. The 47 Ronin accepted their mission yet knew they would have to commit suicide if they succeeded. The name of this story became the novel the Chushingura which is based on actual events that took place in the early 1700s.

Nagano Prefectural Flag

The flag of Fukushima pairs up harmoiously with the flag of Nagano. These are only two prefectural flags that use the colours orange. Both prefectural flags use Japanese Letters upon their flags. Fukushima uses a stylized letter 'Fu' in Hiragana, while Nagano useus a stylized letter 'Na' in Katakana.

Fukushima Prefectural Flag

As of 2011 the names of both prefectures should be known world wide due to the 1998 Nagano Olympics and 2011 Fukushima earthquake-tsunami nuclear disaster.

Culturally both prefectures are famous for world wide cultural icons of Japan. Mr. Tsuburaya, Eji is a key individual responsible for unleashing Godzilla upon the imagination of Japan and subsequently the world. Likewise one of the most famous Sumo Wrestlers ever to wrestle in Japan is Raiden Tameemon. Monsters and wrestling are universal to all cultures. But in Japan Godzilla and Sumo Wrestlers have become cultural ambassadors known to all nations and nearly all generations. Essentially these two prefectures have given the world larger than life characters - one is imaginary the other real.


Nagano and Fukushima are rather large prefectures compared to most - they are proverbial big lanky prefectures of Japan. They are geographic opposites - Nagano is mostly mountainous while Fukushima is rather plain.

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 MIYAGI & MIE

Video shown at the 23rd International Congress of Vexillology - 2009



Link to Toyota - http://www.toyota.com/

First Air Boming in History - at Libya 100 years later 1911/2011

Mankind Learns to Fly 1903
and then how to kill while Flying 1911

One hundred years ago in 1911 the world watched in astonishment as the first air attack by aircraft. This aerial bombing took place in North Africa. Italy was at war with the Turkish Empire. Fighting took place in Libya and the Aegean Sea.

Coincidentally 100 years later a Western Alliance has launched a few Tomahawk Missiles towards Libya in order to enforce a 'no fly zone.' This aggressive activity is was not done in honor of the Bombing of the Ottoman Empire - it is simply a coincidence.

St. Patty's Day 2011 - Ireland & Ivory Coast

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011!

Irish or not you can still enjoy it! Wear green, soak up the lucky vibes, or just be plain grateful for the good things in life!


The great thing about the Irish flag is when you turn it upside down you get the flag of an African country - the Ivory Coast.

But I believe in destiny & coincidence, thus it is no accident a nation in Europe would match with a nation in Africa, as a proverbial union of Ebony & Ivory! It is one of the surreal amazing matches of the passionate Irish with the soulful African.

The Humble and Common Clover -
a lucky symbol of the Irish for everyone

The Shamrock is an icon of Ireland and symbol of good fortune. The 'Gratitude Rock' would make a harmonious complement to the Ivory Coast. The concept of a Gratitude Rock gained enormous popularity with the release of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. In this movie we learn that 'Gratitude Rocks' worked miracles in Africa. Thus waving the Irish or Ivory flag is a kin to being grateful for all the good fortune that came your way!

The common and humble rock
rub it with an Attitude of African Gratitude

FACT: The more Gratitude you feel the more it will Rock your world and make you lucky!

Bristol, Pennsylvania

The original county seat of Bucks County is now a sleepy industrial suburban town.

Bristol Pennsylvania has a warm small town All American Pennsylvania vibe spiked with a New Jersey mojo and an gritty Philadelphia sparkle. Bristol is a patch work community that is an exotic mix of history and the modern world.

Seal of Bristol Township

The Township Seal is an interesting blend of American Heraldry. It features a wide semi-heart shaped shield. It is cross quartered with a small white star in the center. The upper left and bottom right quarters is a stretched checker design of blue and yellow. The upper right quarter has a large sailing ship. Finally the bottom left has a simple bowl.

The supporters are both lions in a natural, prowling ambush stance. Interestingly the lions support the shield on their back. An American bald eagle sits at the helm on top of a ribbon that reads in all capital letters, "BRISTOL TOWNSHIP." Within the frame of the shield is the date 1692. In the compartment is another ribbon with the motto, "Independence, Pride, Prosperity."