8th Army and the Umbrella Corporation

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As I talked about in the past I sometimes get paid to be an extra in movies and TV here in Japan. Since Japan is in love with 40s historical dramas 90% of the time I play an American GI in the 8th Army Occupation force of Japan.

Read: How to become Big in Japan

I always wear the same uniform, usually a private first class (I apparently don’t have the face of an officer). The pay sucks but it’s great to go out hang on a movie set. A lot of the time there is a big group of people and I always get a kick out of how there are never any real Americans to fill the roles and so the movie extras playing GIs are made up of Brazilians, Italians and Russians; lots of Russians. Sometimes, I’ll meet some cool people, but most of the time they’re totally insane.

Read: Avoiding crazy people in Japan

Anyway, the badge on the army shoulder is this red and white emblem that I always thought was weird as it stands out, but an occupation army wears different symbols than one in the jungles of Asia. They look like this:

I didn’t notice at first but someone on the set pointed out that the 8th Army badge looks a lot like the Umbrella Corporation symbol from Resident Evil.

A lot like the 8th Army Badge

I couldn’t find any interviews with the makers of the game but it makes sense considering Resident Evil was developed in Japan and the American occupation had a huge affect on Japanese culture from creating a national market for whale meat or, as wonderfully pointed out by Embracing Defeat’s John W. Dower, the sexuality of Japanese Tits.