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In episode 12 of Himouto! Umaru-chan there appear swastikas on the car's
navigation. What are these supposed to represent?

![Map with swastikas](https://i.stack.imgur.com/A8U8R.jpg)


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-26T00:32:56.527
28355
2016-01-27T16:32:28.810
2016-01-27T16:32:28.810
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question
culture himouto-umaru-chan
What are the swastikas on the car's navigation supposed to represent?


The Nazis did a great job at stigmatizing swastikas but the symbol has been
used for other purposes before and still is. You can verify that this isn't
particular to the anime by looking at the [respective area on Google
Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Enoshima+Station/@35.3108165,139.4876167,18z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x60184f020b633871:0x1e050e6fc9e9a1cd)
for example. Or any other major Japanese city for that matter.

[![Enoshima Station area in Google
maps](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jTPLO.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jTPLO.jpg)

Due to it's use in Hinduism, you will likely find it associated with temples
and the like. [Tofugu has an article on
it](http://www.tofugu.com/2012/03/21/why-are-there-swastikas-in-japan/) with a
bit more detail. The [Wikipedia
article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika) also goes into detail of the
symbol's usage in asian cultures. Additionally, the version used on the
Japanese maps is the clockwise one 卍, while the one used in Nazism is counter-
clockwise 卐.

You are however not the only one confused, so to brace for the expected influx
of foreign visitors around the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, Japan's mapping agency
(the [GSI](http://www.gsi.go.jp/)) is planning to [change some of the
symbols](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/01/12/national/japan-revamps-
map-symbols-baffle-tourists/) to make the maps easier to understand.

[![Symbols set to change on maps of
Japan](https://i.stack.imgur.com/otozP.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/otozP.jpg)

These changes are only for the maps aimed at foreigners though, the Japanese
ones will apparently remain unchanged, so you can expect anime car navigation
to still look like this in 5 years.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-26T00:48:05.120
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2016-01-27T11:52:40.437
2016-01-27T11:52:40.437
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