http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,7369,1187678,00.html
Tokyo dispatch
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Sing or be sacked
Japan's teachers are in uproar over a directive forcing them to pay
respect to the 'militarist' national anthem and flag, writes Justin
McCurry
Wednesday April 7, 2004
It was a moment I had been quietly dreading for days. Would I
remain seated and keep my conscience clear, or would I stand, open
my throat, and spare my daughter acute embarrassment on her first
day at school? Perhaps I could sing deliberately off-key, à la Les
Dawson.
In the end, the decision was made for me. The dozen or so teachers
had already been standing for several minutes, listening to the
head teacher, before the solemn, muffled tones of the Japanese
national anthem drifted across the gymnasium. They had not remained
seated for the anthem, but they had not exactly stood for it,
either. The rest of us - parents and children - were allowed to
stay as we were.
Five lines and 45 seconds later it was all over, and we could relax
again as a group of seven-year-old recorder players treated us to a
medley of much jollier tunes.
But at dozens of school graduation and entrance ceremonies held a
few miles away in Tokyo in recent weeks, proceedings have not been
quite so straightforward. There, teachers are not only encouraged
to perform their patriotic duty at official events; they risk
losing their jobs if they refuse.
Last October, the Tokyo metropolitan board of education issued a
lengthy directive requiring teachers at hundreds of state primary,
middle and high schools in the capital to stand and sing
"Kimigayo", eyes front, fixed on the national flag.
The edict was a minor victory in a battle of wills that has tainted
official school events for years. To many teachers, the anthem and
the "hinomaru" flag are reminders of an era of unbridled militarism
and have no place in today's Japan, where sovereignty resides with
the people, not the emperor.
They say that being forced to show respect for the symbols is a
violation of their constitutional freedoms of conscience and
expression. In defence of those freedoms, they have been willing to
tolerate the opprobrium of colleagues and parents, but not a
premature end to their teaching careers.
They are up against an equally strong-willed opponent in the form
of the Tokyo metropolitan government, led by the rightwing populist
Shintaro Ishihara, who has made no secret of his disdain for the
highly politicised teachers' unions.
This spring, almost 200 teachers have been punished for refusing to
stand and sing Kimigayo. Five of them - retirees employed on annual
contracts - were effectively sacked last week when the board of
education decided not to rehire them for the new academic
year.
According to a union official, the board will consider taking
tougher action, including dismissal, against teachers who breach
the rules three times.
The controversy over the national anthem was reignited in 1999 by
the death of Toshihiro Ishikawa, a head teacher in Hiroshima, whose
attempts to placate pro-anthem local education bosses and
rebellious staff drove him to suicide.
His death gave the government the excuse it needed to impose its
authority. Later that year, Kimigayo and the hinomaru were
officially recognised as Japan's national anthem and flag. The
prime minister at the time, Keizo Obuchi, indicated that, while it
would be mandatory to honour the symbols at school ceremonies,
teachers who chose to opt out would not be punished.
The authorities in Tokyo have sent officials, armed with seating
plans, to school ceremonies to ensure the rule is enforced and to
identify rebels. Reports have emerged of pupils privately begging
popular teachers to swallow their pride and sing to avoid the
sack.
Judging by the media response, there is no place for compromise.
The conservative Yomiuri Shimbun accused the rebel teachers of
"poisoning the atmosphere" at schools. "They must correct their
thoughtless behaviour," it thundered.
This week, the liberal Asahi Shimbun felt moved to defend its
stance after coming under attack from another newspaper. "We
recognise the right to raise the flag and sing the anthem," it said
in an editorial. "We also demand the freedom to choose not to do
these things."
The debate over the role of patriotism in education is unlikely to
disappear, even after the capital's pupils have been formally
welcomed to their new schools.
If conservative elements within the ruling Liberal Democratic party
get their way, the principles underpinning Japan's post-war state
education could be in for an overhaul.
The object of their ire is the 1947 Fundamental Law of Education,
which, they claim, places priority on children's individuality to
the detriment of their love of country. The answer, they say, lies
in patriotic and religious instruction, with children graded on
their enthusiasm.
So far, they have been held in check by members of the LDP's
sceptical coalition partner, New Komeito, the political wing of a
lay-Buddhist organisation. And with critical upper house elections
just three months away, Mr Koizumi has shown rather less enthusiasm
for patriotism in schools than for his annual visits to a Shinto
shrine honouring Japan's war-dead or the deployment of Japanese
troops to Iraq.
This is not the first time Japan's schools have been used as
conduits for ideological crusades. In the pre-war period, teachers
were given no choice but to instil in their pupils a nationalistic
fervour that would eventually lead them to kill, or be killed, in
the name of imperial Japan. The wider political environment has
changed beyond recognition, but Japan's teachers again find
themselves operating in a climate of fear.
