Japan Press Weekly

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2012 March 14 - 20 [EDUCATION]

Osaka school principal checked if teachers sing ‘Kimigayo’

A high school principal in Osaka had teachers’ mouths closely monitored to see if they were singing the national anthem “Kimigayo” during a graduation ceremony.

Nakahara Toru, the principal of Osaka Prefectural Izumi High School (Kishiwada City), had the vice principal monitor the movement of teachers’ mouths during the singing of “Kimigayo” at the ceremony and later requested three teachers, who were found to have their mouths closed, to go to his office.

The principal is a lawyer and friend of Osaka City Mayor Hashimoto Toru, who is also a lawyer. During his tenure as the governor of Osaka, Hashimoto assigned Nakahara as the principal of the school.

The Osaka mayor later praised Nakahara, saying, “Principal Nakahara faithfully performed his duty. It is a matter of course for him to perform his work, and those who cannot do so are a problem.”

In June last year, the Osaka Prefectural Assembly forcibly enacted an ordinance, submitted by the Hashimoto-led local party “Osaka Ishin-no-Kai,” to force public teachers to stand up and sing “Kimigayo” during school ceremonies. In response to this move, the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education sent an order to all public schools in the prefecture, requiring them to have their teachers comply with the ordinance.

The education board has already issued a reprimand to 17 teachers at 14 schools who did not stand up and sing the national anthem.

The Osaka Prefectural Senior High School Teachers Union on March 12 submitted to the education board a statement demanding that it withdraw the punishment.

Union Chair Shima Tsuyoshi condemned the action to reprimand the teachers, saying that to force people to sing the national anthem is in violation of human rights as well as the constitutional freedom of thought and conscience.