The principle of the kimono is comparable to that of graphic design or, conversely, graphic design might be said to function like a kimono. The makers of graphic art move between the two-dimensional world (fiction and the lie) and the world of reality (life and the economy). It is only natural that Japanese mass culture, with its time-honoured tradition of manipulating and consuming the two-dimensional graphic idiom, produces such excellent posters with superb printing technology.

Let us take a closer look at the large white field of the Hinomaru. Korea and Cyprus are the only other countries whose national flags are designed against a white background. Furthermore, the white field of the Hinomaru seems exceptionally large in comparison to the red circle. Why these unusual proportions? The answer is quite simple. They make the Hinomaru more beautiful (kirei).