Japan Press Weekly

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2015 December 9 - 15 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Court criticizes Tokyo for forcing teachers to stand for ‘Kimigayo’

Former teachers of public high schools in Tokyo have again won a victory in court over the education board’s refusal to offer them teaching positions just because they did not stand up and sing the “Kimigayo (may the Emperor’s reign be forever)”.

The Tokyo High Court on December 10 upheld a lower court decision and dismissed Tokyo’s appeal, ordering the Tokyo metropolitan government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education to pay the ex-teachers about 53.7 million yen in compensation.

Rejecting Tokyo’s claim, the high court ruled that the board’s decision to not reemploy those teachers constitutes an abuse of power and warned that the order to stand up and sing Kimigayo can likely be a breach of the constitutional freedom of thought and conscience.

At a meeting held after the court ruling, one of the former teachers, Watanabe Kazuaki said he used to have little interest in politics. “But,” he continued, “forcing us to obey the order by threatening us with punishment was going too far, I thought.” He said, “I now feel proud of having fought in court together with my colleagues. I’m really glad.”

This lawsuit was started in September 2009 by 25 former teachers whose reemployment after mandatory retirement between fiscal 2007 and 2009 was refused for the reason that they did not stand up for Kimigayo. The Tokyo District Court in May 2015 ruled in favor of their claim, but the Tokyo metropolitan government appealed this decision to the high court.

Past related article:
> Tokyo ordered to pay 2 million yen each to ex-public high school teachers over ‘Kimigayo’ lawsuit [May 26, 2015]