EAGLE WITH A RISING SUN ON VALENTINE’S DAY: Scrambled symbols? No, another photo from Exercise Cope North 2020 held at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. A Koku Jieitai (Japan Air Self-Defense Force) F-15MJ Eagle flies over the Pacific and the photographer gets a great shot of the plane’s red disc “Rising Sun” nationality symbols (roundels). Photo take Feb. 14, 2020. This post from late 2019 has some background on the Japanese F-15 and its recent upgrades. The post also discusses Japan’s decision to buy F-35As.

RELATED: The Rising Sun flag (sun with rays) occasionally stirs controversy in South Korea. Scroll down through this post for a historical sketch.

Japanese atrocities during World War II are also still an issue in China and throughout East Asia but South Korea is a special case as it is a democracy with a free press and politicians and editors always have, and often use, the option to revive one of the many Japanese “crimes against humanity” and the Korean people.

Historical context for the “news.”