'Kimigayo' snub stings another teacher
'Kimigayo' snub stings another teacher The Tokyo metropolitan board of education punished a high school teacher Monday who refused to play the piano accompaniment to the "Kimigayo" national anthem during a school ceremony in November. The punishment, including a 10 percent pay cut, marked the first meted out since the Tokyo District Court ruled in September that a metropolitan directive that obliged teachers to stand and sing the anthem at school ceremonies violated their freedom of thought. The metropolitan government filed an appeal and the case is still pending. Mikiko Ikeda, who teaches music at Hamura High School in western Tokyo, is the 346th teacher to be punished under the directive.This is an interesting and sad problem. These teachers genuinely feel it is wrong for a public institution in Japan to sing songs like this. Consider this, the pledge of allegiance in America states:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.Note this contains the phrase *under God*. Now how about if this does not reflect the teacher's personal views? What if they are atheists or polytheists or whatever and in good conscience they don't want to say the pledge? Should they have to? Should they have to lead their students in saying the pledge? Here are the words for Kimigayo:
May your Imperial reign Continue for a thousand years, And last for eight thousand generations, Until pebbles Turn into boulders Covered in moss.According to Wikipedia:
Since the end of World War II, there has been criticism of the anthem for its association with militarism and the virtual worship of the emperor as a deity, which some see as incompatible with a democratic society. Similar objections have been raised to Japan's current national flag, and demonstrations are sometimes held against both.So should these teachers have to sing the song or play musical accompaniment? I would say certainly not, but apparently they do.
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How do you think about these
How do you think about these teachers that urge their students to sit and remain silent to politicize the school ceremony? School principles and local education committees have tried to keep the radical actions of these teachers in check, but they have been powerless. A suicide of a principal in Hiroshima(there exist twelve similar cases at least) has finally made the government realize the principals and committees need some regulatory support. If the Nikkyoso were not so radical, these measures would have been unnecessary. They are not victims at all. It is the students that are real victims.
Students should be taught
Students should be taught that people have diverse views. This is the reality in the world, and in Japan.
People will naturally have strong opposing opinions at times, and while open debate should be encouraged to help make progress between opposing views, in the mean time, tolerance should always be the order of the day.
I don't see students as being victims in cases like this, but instead are being taught two lesson in one, first, that the imposed harmony they see around on them is not reality, and two, the importance of standing up for what you believe. If the lesson is a hard one to learn, then it's only because teachers have waited too long before teaching it.
I will look into the case of the suicide in Hiroshima and try to comment on it. Thank you for making me aware of it. If you have links or information on similar cases please forward them here.
I've blogged more on this
I've blogged more on this topic at the above link.
A couple of years ago, I
A couple of years ago, I played Japan's national anthem for the first time and wrote a bit about the experience:
10 March '05
Yesterday, as I was thinking about the ceremony, the significance of one of the pieces we did hit me. We played 君が代 ("Kimi ga yo"), the national anthem. I suppose a redneck patriot would refuse and thus make a statement. For a change, I didn't think about it much. Just did it. Maybe, in the end, the graduation ceremony was just a musical gig and 君が代 was just one of the tunes that was on the program. Not a big deal -- or so I prefer to think.
Christmas '05
In the midst of all that came my first public performance as a bassist with the orchestra. That was at the graduation ceremony in early March. In addition to the pieces previously mentioned, we also played the accompaniment for singing of the national anthem, Kimi Ga Yo. For me personally, that was a very significant moment. Yes, you could say that I was just a musician performing a function. But there are many people in Japan who dislike their national anthem because they feel it is associated with militarism and with worship of the emperor. How would such people regard a foreigner participating in the playing of the anthem? Indeed, how did I feel about it myself? The patriot in me seemed to be saying, "Have you gone too far?" On the other hand, I wonder: Does a foreigner's participation in this singular national rite help to push those war-related associations further into the past? Perhaps.
As a guy who grew up in
As a guy who grew up in Japan, I think these teachers are way out of line. The graduation ceremony should be about students. Not about self-centered teachers. Yes, people should embrace diversity in opinion, but also should show respect to other people's opinion or feeling. Their public display of disdain made graduation ceremonies about themselves. That is wrong.
I have been in situations where people asked me to join the prayer. I have always joined or pretended to join just to show my support even if I am against public prayer. The prayer is for people in need of help, done by people who care about them. It is NOT an opportunity to show my personal view because it is not about me.