March 9& 10, 2017
Defense Minister Inada Tomomi, praising the wartime Imperial Rescript on Education which had instructed “Japanese subjects to sacrifice their lives for the Emperor” as the supreme moral obligation, said that today’s Japan should restore the spirit of this edict.
In response to a question from Social Democratic Party lawmaker Fukushima Mizuho at an Upper House committee meeting on March 8, Inada answered, “I still believe that Japan should become a country of high morals as taught by the Imperial edict.”
She also said, “Postwar Japan decided that the Imperial education ordinance itself was totally wrong, but I disagree.”
She said in an interview with a conservative magazine before, “The spirit of the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education as a whole should be revived.”
* * *
Inada not qualified as Defense Minister: Shii on Inada’s pro-Rescript remarks
Regarding Inada’s praise for the prewar/wartime Imperial Rescript on Education, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo said, “The JCP will raise questions about her qualification as Defense Minister.”
Shii on March 9 held a press conference in the Diet building and criticized DM Inada for ignoring the fact that a resolution to eliminate the Rescript and a resolution to invalidate the Rescript was adopted in the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors, respectively, immediately after WWII.
He said, “In both Houses at that time, some spoke of the good points of the Rescript. However, such an argument was soon overwhelmingly rejected.”
Shii also said that a series of “virtues” in the Rescript had suggested the sacrifice of people’s lives for the Emperor in emergencies and had urged young people to go to war. “To praise the Imperial Rescript on Education is definitely unacceptable under the postwar Constitution,” he stressed.
Past related articles:
> What was the prewar Imperial Rescript on Education? [June 16, 2014]
> Education minister praises imperial rescript on education [April 9, 2014]
In response to a question from Social Democratic Party lawmaker Fukushima Mizuho at an Upper House committee meeting on March 8, Inada answered, “I still believe that Japan should become a country of high morals as taught by the Imperial edict.”
She also said, “Postwar Japan decided that the Imperial education ordinance itself was totally wrong, but I disagree.”
She said in an interview with a conservative magazine before, “The spirit of the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education as a whole should be revived.”
* * *
Inada not qualified as Defense Minister: Shii on Inada’s pro-Rescript remarks
Regarding Inada’s praise for the prewar/wartime Imperial Rescript on Education, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo said, “The JCP will raise questions about her qualification as Defense Minister.”
Shii on March 9 held a press conference in the Diet building and criticized DM Inada for ignoring the fact that a resolution to eliminate the Rescript and a resolution to invalidate the Rescript was adopted in the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors, respectively, immediately after WWII.
He said, “In both Houses at that time, some spoke of the good points of the Rescript. However, such an argument was soon overwhelmingly rejected.”
Shii also said that a series of “virtues” in the Rescript had suggested the sacrifice of people’s lives for the Emperor in emergencies and had urged young people to go to war. “To praise the Imperial Rescript on Education is definitely unacceptable under the postwar Constitution,” he stressed.
Past related articles:
> What was the prewar Imperial Rescript on Education? [June 16, 2014]
> Education minister praises imperial rescript on education [April 9, 2014]
