ICV 23 - Day 1

I was at the Navios Yokohama around 8 AM to help with the opening ceremony. It was mostly putting flag poles together, getting the final steps right and making sure everything is in place. When the folks started to gather, I dealt with collecting money from a few persons and taking last minute requests from JAVA. Around the time when the ceremony started and the band played, I stayed with JAVA to help carry a flag during the ceremony. When the Yokohama City Anthem was played (instead of Kimi ga Yo due to its' political connections), the Japanese, Yokohama, JAVA and Harry Oswald memorial flag in. The Harry flag, which I carried, had a photo of Harry Oswald in the middle and surrounded by various other flags from Japan and related to FIAV (the maker, Peter Orenski, also added a US and Texas flags). It was very windy, so carrying the flag was not a hard task; but keeping the flags inside their bases provided a challenge all by itself. Several flags fell over during the ceremony and we either had to fetch the flags or had to hold the bases down. I knew a few in the crowd were filming us and taking photos of us, but I resisted every thought in my head that even came close to Iwo Jima. After a very long speech by Michel Lupant, the FIAV President, and by Nozomi Kariyasu (and in two languages), the FIAV and ICV 23 flags were marched in with the strains of the “FIAV March” in the background. The music was provided by the Yokohama City Fire Department Band. After the ceremony was over, I did a bit of cleanup and focused on what JAVA needed. Once that was done, myself and some FOTW members decided to head to kaiten sushi (sushi on a conveyor belt) and a few drinks. After some shopping and Starbucks, I headed back to the Port Memorial Hall with Jan Martens of FOTW. After a few minutes of looking and chatting, I found a seat close to the back. I'm sorry folks, but I need an outlet for my netbook; this puppy cannot last even three hours running on a battery. The desks themselves were kinda small, but everything fit just fine. To my right, a few of the association flags were placed inside the hall. From the farthest to closest; Croatia, RCVH, FOTW, Bretton and the French. On the left, in the same order, Swiss, SAVA, Belguim, Aussies, Germans, NAVA, two Dutch organizations and the Flag Institute. The Nordic Society was here in force, but their flag has gone AWOL. Near the lectern was the, from left to right, was Yokohama City, JAVA, FIAV and ICV 23. The Hinomaru was in the back, not sure if they ran out of bases but it looks pretty darn lonely among the boxes and empty bags.

At 2 PM, the lectures started at the Port Memorial Hall (Jack's Hall) with Tetsuo Kato explaining the rules of the lecture and the side events, such the bazaar. The first presenter was Nozomi Kariyasu, with his presentation about the Flags of Former Colonies and Overseas Territories of Colonial Powers, such as the British and the Americans. The segway to the main presentation was about the flags used at the 1964 Olympic Games held in Tokyo. He mentioned that many of Japanese never seen the flags of dependent territories, yet because of the Olympic Games, it will be hoisted at the opening ceremony. The first country that he focused on was the British, where the dependent flags were pretty much in the same pattern; a blue or red background, a Union Flag in the fly and the colony's badge in the fly. He mentioned a few flags that did not fit the British model, such as Egypt, Qatar and Tonga. Using both Japanese and English, he also explained the French and Japanese colonial flags. The French pretty much followed the British model for flags, but the Japanese focused on ensigns charged with artistic renderings of kanji (Chinese characters).

The next presenter was a very young boy by the name of Hibiki Kondo, the future of Japanese vexillology; he made a short presentation about his favorite flag, Paraguay. He liked it because it has the different reverse/obverse on it and also because it is the only one of its' kind existing. He look very nervous, but he did a very good job for a seven year old. I gave him a small 1824 Alamo flag and told him in Japanese “ganbatte ne” or “Keep on going.”

The next presenter was Ralph B. from Australia; he did a a presentation about the flags that employ the use of a sun (including Japan). He showed why some areas use the sun and even other symbols that use the sun, such as the coat of arms of the Soviet Republics. He also showcased where the sun was located on flags, such as Rwanda at the fly, Niger in the dead center and Malawi at the top stripe in the middle. Ralph also spent some time about the national flag of Japan, in honor of the host of the ICV. He also mentioned about his native Australia, showing various coat of arms that use the sun (but very little flags, except for a few proposals for the national flag in the late 1890's and the early 1900's). Most of the time the sun was used in Australian symbols, it was used in coat of arms, company logos and military badges to show the unity of all of the states into a brand new Commonwealth of Australia. The sun symbol fell out of use until the 1970's when it found it was used to make the Aboriginal Flag. It also found its way onto various military flags, including a centennial flag used by the Australian army. Because of the various contests to change the national flag, the sun was included in various designs with hope that the Anglo and Aboriginal populations can be forever united.

I missed the presentation by Andreas H. because I was helping JAVA with the coffee room, but I was greeted at my seat with three Dutch flags and hearing the question and answer period. Interesting, there was an exchange between Andreas and the delegates about a pink symbol by the German military. However, I did manage to see the presentation by Hiroyuki Innami and his outline of Japanese Vexillology. He talked about the samurai banners and other Japanese elements of vexillology. To my surprise, we ended a lot earlier than expected. While we started at two and took a longer coffee break than what we were scheduled for, my watch said 4:08 PM and we were on our last presentation for the day. The presentation ranged from samurai period to the various military conflicts of the Meiji and Showa periods and the long banner flags used during various festivals and restaurants. At 4:25 PM, thee presentation was done and it had a question/answer period for about 10 minutes. The questions directed at Innami ranged from the city/prefecture flags, flags found at construction sites (safety awareness and corporate) and what foreign influences found its way into Japanese vexillology.

About this bazaar, I personally liked it. There was a room for JAVA to sell books, flags and showcase other good reading. The Dutch also decided to have their own room, which I helped them assemble table flags either to sell or to give away. They also have a few flag books to sell written in Dutch; they had it for 6 Euro, 700 yen and I don't even want to know how much would this set me back in US dollars. The Dutch also had a presentation of the 2013 Bid for ICV 25, showing what kind of support and things we can find if we choose Rotterdam as the site. I also managed to get the only copy of Zeljko Heimer's book that he brought to Japan; while I know it is 60 Euros, me and him will work something out. I was also given a book by a JAVA member that has a lot of information about samurai banners and other historical information. The middle room has coffee, tea and iced coffee; it also serves as a room to us to look at old photos of Harry Oswald and to see his memorial flag on display. I didn't see many flags for sale there, but since today is just set up, I imagine more will show up soon. Most of the members were book hunting, so they were pretty happy at the selection that was present even at the very first day.

Later on, me and Jonathan Dixon have decided on a dinner with mostly FOTW, but we also decided to let other folks come in on the fun. We had Japanese shabu-shabu, where we grabbed what we want and cooked it in front of us. About 15 of us, myself included, showed up for the dinner and it was a real nice treat for everyone involved. Now, having to carry all of these flags and books back to the hotel, and eventually back to the United States, is going to be a major pain in the backside. Oh well, I will see what I can do.