HINOMARU and KIMIGAYO -- I would like to appeal to all of my friends in the world who are interested in the problems of freedom, democracy, and human rights.
"HINOMARU" is the Japanese national flag and "KIMIGAYO," the Japanese national anthem.
I would like you to take notice of the fact that schools in
Japan force their teachers and students to display
HINOMARU and sing KIMIGAYO .
You may think you should of course pay respect to your own country's national flag and national anthem.
In Japan, may democratic school teachers and other citizens oppose the forced hoisting of HINOMARU and the singing in unison of KIMIGAYO at school ceremonies.
Some people say that HINOMARU and KIMIGAYO, accused of having a tainted past, should be replaced by a new national flag and anthem agreed by national common consent. Those people, however, are being oppressed.
The Japanese Education Ministry states in its instruction platform
that HINOMARU and KIMIGAYO should be promoted in order to "cultivate
patriotism." Those against this promotion hope to discuss
the issue with the Japanese society as a whole. Those democratic
people, however, have had their demands refused by the
Education Ministry, Board of Education, school masters, etc.,
and punished forcibly.
With this, their "patriotism" does not mean to love each of the people making up the nation but to be obedient to the national authority.
Such kind of patriotism is the same as that of the militaristic age.
I think it is the oppression by the national authority against
democracy in line with the movement to revise the Japanese
current peaceful Japanese constitution, which states to give up
wars, into something that can wage wars.
HINOMARU symbolizes the Japanese Emperor system, stating that the age of the Japanese Emperor (Tennoh) may last forever.
Tennoh was the absolute man of power during World War II.
Japanese militarism is closely connected with the Tennoh system.
The Japanese soldiers were forced to absolutely obey the orders of their higher-ranking ones under the saying of "Regard your high-ranking soldier's words as Tennoh's words." Some citizens who were against the war were also oppressed by the power and many of them were killed.
During World War II, Japan invaded many Asian countries and
massacred many people. The War killed about 3 million Japanese,
while the Japanese army killed 19 million non-Japanese Asians.
Japan created a puppet country, Manchuria, in the North East of China.
Korea was also annexed by Japan . Japan then forced the Koreans
to swear their loyalty to Tennoh because they were
also his children. Moreover, Japan forced the Koreans to use Japanese
instead of Korean. Their names were also changed into
Japanese-like ones, which are called "Sohshi-Kaimei,"
which literally means to change both the surname and the given
name.Those who opposed were caught and killed.
HINOMARU symbolized the Japanese militarism, leading the invasion and massacre.
The Japanese Government has not yet apologized officially to those Asian victims.
Immediately after World War II, the Japanese constitution was
revised and the status of Tennoh was also changed from the
absolute man of power to the "Japanese national symbol."Still,
however, Tennoh and HINOMARU serve as symbols of nationalism.
For the past 10 or more years, Japan has been suffering from harassment, a high suicide rate, and felonies.
Upon recognizing such phenomenon, the Education Ministry started to say that it is necessary to grow sympathetic personalities in education. Actually, however, they ignore the voice of the students by the school rules, to force them to sing KIMIGAYO in unison and hoist HINOMARU by punishing the opposing teachers.
The Education Ministry would like people to conform and develop harmonious relationships with each other "A nail standing out gets pounded down" is a common phrase is Japanese society.
This type of conformity brings several problems. One of them being independent though being stifled.
The students understand that they must conform and participate in activities involving the hoisting of Hinomaru and singing Kimigayo because they have seen their teachers be reprimanded for non-conformity in past instances.
(Such a policy by the Education Ministry would create those children who obey the power with no criticism but those at all who sympathize others.)
Example of Okinawa
Near the end of World War II, in Okinawa, many people had family members killed by the Japanese army, which should have been an ally.
For this reason, almost none of the schools (elementary, junior-high, and high schools) accepted HINOMARU or KIMIGAYO.Specifically, only 7% of them accepted HINOMARU and 0%, KIMIGAYO.
However, only one year after the National Athletic Meet held in Okinawa in 1986, at which the Government punished the opposing teachers, 100% of those schools came to accept them.
Example of a friend of mine, a female teacher
I know a woman who teaches at a junior-high school inHachioji-city, Tokyo.
In classroom, she emphasized the importance of peace through an understandings of modern history including the wars waged by Japan.
Although Japanese children are said to be un interested in nor the social affairs, those children in her class became interested in her history lessons.
Then interesting incident occurred at the graduation ceremony of that junior-high school held in March, 1993.
First at the conference organized to set up the graduation ceremony the teachers agreed not to display HINOMARU. Only the principal opposed, because, otherwise, he would be sent for and scolded by the Board of Education.
On that day, the principal tried to hoist HINOMARU. My friend tried to stop him.
Upon seeing this, many children booed the principal. So many children booed so loudy that there voices could be heard around the neighborhood-.
It is a rare occasion in recent Japanese schools, in which many children are not interested in social affairs.
That principal went away with HINOMARU as hoisted. The children shouted, demanding that it should be lowered down. Ms. Nezu, that female teacher, lowered it down and took it to him.
The 8'th grader children asked him in their class the reason why he forcibly hoisted HINOMARU.
He even answered "The graduation ceremony is not for students but for the state." The children were not persuaded.
Before long, that principal did not come even when he asked.Ms. Nezu was called by the Board of Education and sentenced to a reduction of salary.
Not persuaded with this, Ms. Nezu brought the case to the Human-Affairs Committee but they turned it down and she lost it.
Ms. Nezu still now insists the illegality of HINOMARU.
What does that "state" by that principal mean? It at least is none other than the oppressing power not in consideration of the students.
There even are some principals who ask to let them hoist HINOMARU when refused to do so in the teachers' conference. They even take their own photos with HINOMARU as hoisted to show it to the Board of Education as an evidence.
Those oppressions support the fact that the forcible hoisting of HINOMARU and singing in unison of KIMIGAYO would lead to totalitarianism and militarism, which is doubted by manyteachers.
In Japan, there is left such a tendency of oppression and criticizing obedience. I would like all the people in the world to pay attention to such a situation which may bring aboutdangerous incidents in line with those that are trying to change the Japanese Constitution in a bad direction.
The reason why I, who was fired by Oki Denki and have been opposing it, is strongly interested in those HINOMARU problems is as follows:
What did most to change the Oki Denki's Hachioji Plant, which
had been the most liberal among its plants and therefore the most
opposing against streamlining, into a fearful one were the control
against the the distribution of anti-establishing
leaflets and the subsequent forcible morning exercise as a test
for loyalty to the company. As a result, it turned the most bullying
work-place.
This is similar to the incident in Okinawa, because it is something like a loyalty test to decide whether any teachers are loyal to the power represented by HINOMARU and KIMIGAYO.
We should never permit the same incident as that occurred in Oki Denki to occur in the Japanese society. That is, it must never occur that the same fearful incident as occurred in Oki Denki would reoccur where ifferentiation, bullying, and secret information are prevalent.