The national flag of Japan, also known as the Nichijo Flag and the Sun Flag, is a rectangular shape with a length-to-width ratio of 3:2, with the same gap at the top and bottom of the circle, the diameter of the circle being three-fifths of the length of the flag, and the centre of the circle coinciding with the centre of the flag [1].
The sun flag first appeared in 701; from the 13th to the 15th centuries, it was kept by the imperial guards who escorted the Emperor and was called the ‘Emperor's Flag’; in 1854, the Tokugawa Shogunate adopted the sun flag as a flag for Japanese ships at sea [1-2]; on 27 January 1870, the Grand Council of Ministers determined that the ‘Nissho Flag’ was to be used as the flag of Japan. Hijo flag’ as the national flag of Japan; on 22 July 1999, the House of Representatives passed the “Law on the National Flag and National Anthem of Japan” [3].
The flag of Japan is white with a red sun in the centre; white symbolises integrity and purity, and red symbolises sincerity and enthusiasm; in Japanese mythology, Japan is the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’, a country created by the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami, and the Emperor is the son of Amaterasu Omikami; the Japanese people have been worshipping the sun god since ancient times.
