For anybody new to The Netherlands, and more specifically right-wing Dutch social media, there are a few symbols you’ll come across, usually used together. Here’s what they tend to mean.

First, if you see an owl, it’s a reference to the Owl of Athena [Greek mythology] or the Owl of Minerva [Roman mythology], and has been a symbol used by one of country’s extreme-right parties that is currently falling apart.

The second emoji, also used by the same party, is the classical building that is part of their logo.

The third one is the Dutch flag, which in itself is just a flag, but when used in combination with the above-mentioned ones, more often that not means the account will feature right-wing politics in one way or another. The funny thing is, many of these accounts use the Luxembourg flag, as they don’t seem to know the difference.

Of course, it’s always good to remember that sometimes an emoji is just an emoji, but not in the case of the Luxembourg flag being used by what I imaginen is a Dutch person. I wonder if there are any people from Luxemburg using the Dutch flag by mistake.

As this video points out, “while the two flags are almost identical, they are unrelated in the origin of the colours.” For the fun with flags nerds, both the red and the blue are different, which is also the case with the emoji, and the official size is different as well.

(Image: Screenshot of the above-mentioned video)

Stalaclights are bulb shades that look like famous buildings designed by Dutch designer David Graas. A play on words with the mineral formations ‘stalactites’ (stalagmites are the ones on the ground pointing upwards), these bulb shades are 3D printed and resemble some of the first skyscrapers of New York, Chicago and more. The shade can be placed over the bulb, as the lighting is LED and therefore doesn’t burn through.

Graas also makes street furniture you can laser cut and 3D print out yourself. The “I’m Too Sexy For The Sidewalk” series consists of three different furniture designs you can download for free and produce yourself using cardboard found on the street.

(Link: www.neatorama.com, Photo: www.davidgraas.com, one of the Petronas twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

The oldest example of Western architecture in Matsue, on the West coast of Japan, is the Dutch Mansion. The Made in Matsue blog explains (pictures after the link):

This building known once as the “oranda-yashiki”(「オランダ屋敷」), or Dutch Residence/Mansion, is said to be the first example of western architecture here in the Sanin Region when construction was completed in 1871 (4th year of Meiji).

Originally built to serve as a temple school, ‘Omachi School’ (苧町学校), it is quite extraordinary that it has remained intact in its original form to this day, as buildings of this style have almost all been reconstructed on or after 100 years since construction.

It is not clear from the article whether this building was actually based on Dutch architecture, I am guessing that ‘Dutch’ in this case may have been shorthand for ‘European’.

Between 1633 and 1853 Japan closed itself off from the rest of the world, a policy called Sakoku. During this time only a limited number of countries were allowed to trade with Japan, the Netherlands being the only European trade partner. Dutch traders were confined to an artificial island in the harbour of Nagasaki called Dejima.

(Photo by Emre Ayaroglu, some rights reserved)