In Japan, why are Nazi-themed bars still opening?

‘Unfair’ opened on October 10 and closed two days later after swastika motifs and male staff in uniforms at Osaka venue proved unpopular online

Not the first time fascist regime’s props used by Japan’s businesses; simple ‘ignorance’ of the Holocaust or ‘bad education’ blamed by some, but not all

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A worker at the ‘Unfair’ bar dressed in a Nazi uniform. Photo: Instagram

Published: 3:00pm, 30 Oct 2021Updated: 12:21am, 31 Oct 2021

A host bar in Japan that dressed its male staff in Nazi uniforms and used the swastika symbol as its motif, down to the labels on champagne bottles handsome young men poured for their female clients, recently closed less than 48 hours after it opened due to an outcry on social media.

And while the closure of the Osaka bar – named “Unfair” – and the removal of its website from the internet has been applauded, questions are being asked as to how the venue’s owners thought mimicking one of the most murderous regimes in history would be a selling point.

This is not, after all, the first time that the architects of World War II and the masterminds of the Holocaust have been used as props for Japanese businesses.

“It’s simply a matter of ignorance,” said Akio Yoshida, director of the Holocaust Education Centre, near the city of Hiroshima. “Far too many people in Japan simply do not know what happened in Europe in the last war, they don’t know that millions of people were persecuted and murdered.”

“I imagine they thought the uniforms would just catch the attention of potential clients and that it would be different or unusual. The hosts in the pictures, I am sure, were simply doing as they were told and didn’t know any better about wearing a Nazi uniform…”

In a statement, the operator issued an apology for a lack of “awareness” among its staff.

“We caused discomfort for a lot of people,” the statement added. “We will take your comments seriously and will work to make sure this sort of thing never happens again.”

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