POLITICS-JAPAN: Legalisation of Flag, Anthem Stokes Wartime Past

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Mar 16 1999 (IPS) - They evoke nationalist pride in other countries, but here in Japan the flag and the national anthem are eliciting less than positive emotions.

Indeed, a government move to legally recognise the Hinomaru flag and the ‘Kimigayo,’ Japan’s national anthem, has sparked a bitter public debate, with many Japanese saying they would rather that Tokyo not push the issue.

Instead of pride and love of country, many say the Rising Sun flag and the Kimigayo remind them of their country’s atrocious wartime past, which they would rather not remember at all.

“I am opposed to the move because it forces upon the people symbols of our ugly past, a past that has brought only pain and sorrow not only on Asians colonised by Japan, but also on the Japanese themselves,” says Rieko Yamada, a 65-year-old who describes herself as an atom bomb survivor.

She says that hearing the Kimigayo brings back memories of how she was forced as a child to sing the song as a sign of her undying loyalty to the Emperor.

“We were taught the Emperor was a god and the symbol of our civilisation,” says Yamada. “So my father was convinced he had to go to war.”

The Kimigayo has lyrics that praise the Emperor, who was forced to deny his divinity after Japan was defeated in the Pacific War. The song and the Hinomaru flag have been symbols of Japan for the last 150 years.

Those who oppose the move to formally legalise them say the Kimigayo and the Hinomaru flag are closely linked to Japan’s wartime emperor system and militarism.

But supporters of the government proposal point out that the song is played at the Olympics to celebrate Japanese victories at the Games. It is also used by various countries to welcome Japanese dignitaries.

Recently, the conservative ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ newspaper observed that the flag flies along with those of other countries at the United Nations. Thus, it said, there is no need to make the issue a national debate as majority of the Japanese accept the symbols.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka told the Diet this month that as Japan prepares for the 21st century, there is a need to put the Hinomaru flag and Kimigayo song in proper perspective by giving them a “legal basis”.

But there is no denying that at the heart of the controversy lies Japan’s refusal to officially present a clear interpretation of its role before and during the Second World War.

Until recently, history textbooks had ignored the more painful aspects of Japanese imperialism such as the establishment of ‘comfort stations’ where Asian women were taken forcibly to provide sex to Japanese soldiers during the war.

References to the Nanjing Massacre, where Chinese survivors say more than 300,000 civilians were killed by Japanese troops, remains a heated issue even today. Top government officials recently refuted evidence presented to the world.

As a result, Japanese children often face a confusing variety of interpretations of their country’s history.

Says Megumi Sagawa, a 14-year-old junior high school student: “Teachers tell me to ignore what my history textbooks tell us, and they explain that Japan was very bad to the Asian people we colonised. Then when I ask my father, he tells me that the Asians are exaggerating.”

Education experts say this does nothing to help Japan own up to its past and come to a national consensus.

The government was prompted to seek formal legalisation of the flag and the national anthem after a rumpus created by a decision taken last month by teachers at a Hiroshima school, to reject an education ministry directive to have the Kimigayo sung at its graduation ceremony.

The principal of the school — well-known for excursion trips to South Korea where students apologised to their counterparts there for Japan’s harsh colonisation of the Korean peninsula — hanged himself over the issue.

Under the present directive, the education ministry can instruct local school boards to heed its order and have the national anthem sung. But its order can also be defied, since such an instruction does not have legal basis.

Surveys indicate that 20 percent of schools across Japan do not follow the order regarding the singing of Kimigayo, despite steps taken by the education ministry since 1990 to enforce the directive.

“The confusion is based on the complicated aspect of Japanese history that has caused suffering all around,” says professor Akihito Kita, a known advocate of children’s rights.

He adds that it should be left to the students if they want to sing the Kimigayo or not. “Despite (Premier Keizo) Obuchi saying he will not order people to sing the national anthem,” says Kita, “there is fear that if the song is legalised, then it could infringe on the rights of children who might not want to sing the Kimigayo.”

So far, the major political parties have not opposed the proposal for the legalisation of the Kimigayo and the Rising Sun flag. Even the Japanese Communist Party, which used to be a staunch opponent of such moves, issued a statement expressing a degree of understanding for the proposal.

Still, the process of legalisation may not be easy. The most vociferous of its opponents is Japan’s powerful, left-leaning teachers’ union, which has flatly rejected any effort to force schools to follow the government’s orders.

The government will also have to contend with protesters like Yamada, as well as Dr Ken Iwasa, who some years ago had revealed that he had worked in the Japanese Imperial Army’s infamous 731 Unit that conducted experiments on germ warfare using live Chinese prisoners.

“As young men, we were forced to sing Kimigayo and hoist the sun flag many times a day,” says Iwasa, now 83. “These symbols now stand for being duped by the state, untold misery and suffering among civilians. There is no national pride in my heart when I hear the song.”

Yet others see the controversy as a sign that the Japanese society may well be breaking from a tradition of repressing forthright debate. The current discussions, however painful, may well show that Japan is no longer afraid to try to come to terms with itself.