They All Look Alike

Barely a month after a pseudo-coffee brand committed its little indiscretion in South Korea, a pseudo-clothing brand has accomplished a similar feat of marketing in China, by using a traditional Japanese drum in place of a traditional Chinese one. The error is all the more unfortunate in that the relationship between China and Japan is coloured by such historical incidents as the 1970s TV adaptations of Journey to the West and The Water Margin, and also (which may be scarcely less traumatic) the Second World War; and might therefore best be described as fraught. It is arguable that few more serious cultural misunderstandings have arisen since St Thomas Malory unaccountably decided to title his biography of the British hero King Arthur in the language of the beastly French. Fortunately, in the judgement of Britain's leading liberal newspaper the onus to adapt is on the customer rather than the merchant, so that the incident highlights the risks of "falling foul of domestic political and cultural sensibilities" rather than the risks of sheer bloody ignorance.