Teachers lose appeal against ruling ordering them to sing Kimigayo

Tuesday 16th December, 05:58 AM JST

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bagofrom at 07:15 PM JST - 16th December

This is the new Peace Preservation Law. The Japanese judges doesn't know the differences between accepting the state and its laws, and skepticism towards the nation-thought. Everyone is from now on required to love the nation, and the state has been fixed to punish you if you don't.
Patrick Smash at 07:42 PM JST - 16th December

No free democratic country would be going through the law courts to force people to stand up and belt out a national anthem. People should sing their national anthem in certain situations, but if they really don't want to, they should just be ignored. Some countries have politically-charged anthems, like Japan and the UK, and people should not be forced to sing along to silly Imperialistic songs that they don't believe in.
likeitis at 09:25 PM JST - 16th December

The fact that it is such an issue makes predictions of Japan's descent into militarism a little silly. The JT brain trust has been predicting that during all the time that I've been posting here, and in several years have yet to see any real proof, particularly with the LDP likely in its death throes.

Hold the phone. I called it a step back, that's all. I never commented on further steps back, but they do become more likely.

In the capacity of their employment, not to engage in political activity.

Dogdog, participating in indoctrinating kids to nationalism/ emperor worship seems like a political activity to me.
Dogdog at 09:32 PM JST - 16th December

Dogdog, participating in indoctrinating kids to nationalism/ emperor worship seems like a political activity to me.

All state educations do this and singing the Kimigayo is hardly gonna make them crypto nats. I know every verse of the English national anthem, including the third verse of putting the Scots to deathly flight, sang it maybe a thousand times. Yet I could give two hoots about the Queen or slaying Scotsmen.
jeancolmar at 10:24 PM JST - 16th December

Forcing people to sing Kimigayo is disgusting and unconstitutional. Article One states that the emperor is a symbol of the state and derives his authority from the people. Therefore the people should not be forced to sing authoritarian praises to him. It is that simple.

If you are forced to sing this ditty, sing off key.
gonemad at 11:52 PM JST - 16th December

Many comments, but nobody has yet focused on one thing which puzzles me. The article states that reprimands go as far back as 1985. On the other hand, Kimigayo has legally become the national anthem only in 1999. That means school principals have tried to enforce the singing even long before it became national anthem. Despite this latest ruling I still consider forcing teachers to sing the national anthem is unconstitutional, but in case it isn't a national anthem I see even the slightest legal excuse fade away. Shouldn't we rather talk about abuse of authority by school principals instead?
ptolemy at 01:35 AM JST - 17th December

All they have to do is stand up and lip sync "God Save the King", "Lion King Theme" or "Ponyo". They get their pay checks, and if singing this insults them then lip sync something else. I do think it is a bit extreme to force people to stand and sing anything. Especially a song praising a fellow mammal for being a quasi-god.
martyman at 03:36 AM JST - 17th December

Good on them, they need to sing the national anthem, this is Japan...Right? Japanese people need to do keep their Japanese culture strong, or they may end up like the US school system with the choice of saying the pledge of allegence or not.
GJDailleult at 09:54 AM JST - 17th December

bdiego-I'm just saying the anthem will never change, because having an anthem that is politically acceptable to everybody is not what this is about. It's really a fight over the historical interpretation of WW2, meaning the promotion of the right-wing interpretation (which no doubt most Japanese politicians hold, at least in the LDP) and the discrediting of opposing views. And the right-wing will never compromise, same as with Yasukuni, because in their interpretation there is nothing to compromise about. That means that any compromise would legitimize the opposition interpretation, so they can't compromise, and so nothing changes. All a bit Alice in Wonderland, but that is how it works IMHO.
Youdontknow at 11:51 PM JST - 18th December

Last time I looked, Japan was a free-thinking society, meaning the Constitution gives its denizens the right to choose to sing the Kimigayo or not.

Docking their salary for not singing it, sounds just like another one of the many scams by Japanese bosses not to pay their staff the right salary!! Any excuse will do - this is just another for the 'Reasons Not To Pay You' book!
Youdontknow at 11:55 PM JST - 18th December

GJDailleult - the Kimigayo is the oldest national anthem in the world, unchanged for more than 1000 years!! It has absolutely nothing to do with 'the historical interpretation of WW2'. Do you mean that the thinking behind forcing citizens to sing the anthem is a result of right-wing thinking from WW2?

Sorry if I misunderstood, just trying to make sure I get it right. :-)
Youdontknow at 11:57 PM JST - 18th December

jeancolmar -

If you are forced to sing this ditty, sing off key.

Couldn't agree more, but would add, sing off key very LOUDLY!!
Nessie at 12:01 AM JST - 19th December

Couldn't agree more, but would add, sing off key very LOUDLY!!

...in a retarded voice, with your fingers interlaced behind your head as if you were being frisked by the thought police...

...which you are.
GJDailleult at 07:47 AM JST - 19th December

Youdontknow- more like the thinking behind refusing to sing the anthem is a result of non-right-wing thinking about WW2. Forcing people to sing is a response to that, and an attempt to discredit their point of view. As it says at the end of the article "singing it remains a sensitive issue for some people due to its symbolic links to Japan’s imperial system and militarist past." In other words, by not singing they are making a political statement, and not allowing that statement is also a political statement. The actual contents and age of the song are not important, it is the symbolism people have placed on it that are.
whyamiinjapan at 12:09 PM JST - 22nd December

My heart swells when I hear that song. At the beginning anyway, Then the tune gets kind of weird. But I always sing along, loudly, out of key with a jumble of words from various languages. Usually, people around me look at me like I'm nuts, which I am. They can't say I'm not trying with a serious face but they really don't know what the hell I am doing. "And he's not even Japanese . . ." Yeah, right. Same with the anthem in my own country. And church. Boy, we used to catch hell after church. Ha haaaaa!

I recommend this for the "Kimigayo 17" as well. Don't go to court. Go apeshit and overdo it, sing it out and proudly and OFF KEY AS HELL. No one can say anything about that.

Sometimes, at the beginning of our live shows, I play a tape of the song by the Pizzicato Five, the hip jazz swingy version and I tell people "Nippon-kuni no tame ni, tatte utaimashou!!!" The reactions are funny. Some laugh, some stand up and sit down again, very few take it seriously. It shouldn't be taken so.