Japan's Supreme Court Limits National Anthem Punishments for Teachers
Jan. 22, 2012
Asia-Pacific Journal Feature

The Asia-Pacific Journal has closely followed the case of a group of Tokyo teachers punished because they refused to stand during school ceremonies for the playing of Kimigayo, Japan's national anthem. Some consider the anthem, a hymn of praise to the emperor, to be too closely connected to Japan's history of militarism and imperialism. For them, not standing is a form of conscientious protest. From 2004, Tokyo Governor and staunch conservative Ishihara Shintaro has led a drive to have the anthem played at Tokyo schools and to take punitive action, including fines and suspensions, against teachers who refuse to stand. That crackdown has spread, moreover, to Osaka and other cities.

In 2011, the Tokyo High Court rejected the claim of the teachers to protection based on based on constitutional language which declares "Freedom of thought and conscience shall not be violated."

Last week, however, the teachers won a victory of sorts when the Supreme Court deemed that punishments for not standing during the national anthem must not be "excessive". Below are editorials on the issue from the Mainichi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun outlining this new development and its potential consequences.

Mainichi Shimbun Editorial: Supreme Court's national anthem decision a call for restraint

Atsuko Watanabe, left, smiles after a ruling removing her pay cut for refusing to stand during the national anthem, while representative of the plaintiffs Naoyuki Hoshino is seen at right, in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, on Jan. 16. (Mainichi)

Is it truly valid to punish teachers who don't stand for the singing of "Kimigayo" -- Japan's national anthem -- at school ceremonies, as many Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education teachers have been? The Supreme Court presented its opinion on the matter for the first time on Jan. 16, when it ruled on a suit brought by some of those Tokyo teachers to have their punishments revoked.