In ¡°Japan at War: An Oral History,¡± Hideo Sato recalls being forced to hoist the Hinomaru flag in tandem with the playing of the ¡°Kimigayo¡± ¡ª ¡°His Majesty¡¯s Reign,¡± the Japanese national anthem ¡ª as a schoolchild in the 1940s. If the flag reached the top of the pole too early the teachers would beat him.
More than 60 years on, he¡¯s ¡°chagrined that they still raise the flag.¡±
Today, public school teachers in Tokyo are being beaten ¡ª if only metaphorically ¡ª for refusing to stand when the ¡°Kimigayo¡± is played at school functions such as graduation ceremonies. Kimiko Nezu, a teacher at a Tokyo junior high school, has been suspended without pay for between one and six months every year since 2003. This year¡¯s suspension, if it comes, will be her last.
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