Aha. The swastika vs. the rising sun in the US. I suppose the fact that the swastika is still a common anti-Semitic symbol, and that white supremacist groups have adopted it, and that racial prejudice is such a sore spot here has a lot to do with it. I can't really think of another symbol of a foreign power that triggers anything close to the feelings that it generally does.
I imagine that people who lived through WWII might take offense to the Imperial Flag, but that conflict was so long ago that I am not surprised that Japanese symbols from that era don't provoke responses in most people today. I think some Americans also feel uneasy about some of our behavior during the war in the Pacific Theater, with our use of the atomic bomb and the internment of Japanese Americans, and that may temper our emotions when confronted with reminders of that conflict.
Not that you aren't right, and it is an interesting observation. But most people aren't as intelligent and educated as you are.
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