I guess it’s old news already, but I just discovered this picture of The Hitler Bar, in Seoul, Korea, which launched as part of a wave of “Nazi chic” that exploded across the country in 2000-’01. Two other Nazi-themed bars in Seoul opened and closed in the same time frame—one called “The Third Reich” and another “Gestapo.”
Just next door, in Japan, ever-popular “rape fantasy” anime festishizes Nazism, and down river, in Hong Kong, a fashion label recently sported a Nazi-themed line for fall. Earlier this year Coke launched a promotion, in Hong Kong as well, which gave away a toy robot “adorned” with swastikas.
Are these just acts of mere ignorance or is there something greater in play here? Is the Indo-Aryan myth bleeding over into East Asia?