Education minister praises Imperial Rescript on Education

At a Cabinet Office education reform town meeting in Matsuyama City in Ehime Prefecture on May 15, Education Minister Kawamura Takeo praised the prewar Imperial Rescript on Education that forced schools to indoctrinate children with militaristic education.

Asked by a college student, "Is it necessary to enact a law that will force citizens to love their hometown and country?," Kawamura said, "The Imperial Rescript on Education employs an important theory. It cannot be said that everything in the rescript is wrong."

About 430 people, including Matsuyama residents, participated in the meeting. Six out of eight speakers from the floor expressed their opposition to the government's plan to revise the Fundamental Law of Education.

Published in 1890, the Imperial Rescript on Education served as a tool to force people to show their allegiance to the emperor during the war of aggression. It was abolished in 1948. (end)