Three teachers will be suspended from work for 6-12 months, 12 others got pay cuts and another 20 received warnings for not standing up to honor Japan's national anthem during graduation ceremonies.
Japan's school year ends in March.
Japan's Rising Sun flag and "Kimigayo" are considered to be symbols of Japan's militaristic past. They are the same flag that was waved and anthem that was played when Japan went to war earlier in the 20th century.
Usually, when a country loses a war, they change their flag and anthem. Japan
adopted both as their national symbols fifty years after WWII, instead of changing them.
There is ongoing friction between nationalist politicians and teachers in Japan over the use of the flag and anthem and what they represent.
When a nationalist comes in to power like the governor of Tokyo in 2003, the teachers get smacked down for standing up.
Still...there needs to be a change. In fact, Japan needs to remember more about its militarist past than the flag and anthem....starting with forced suicides in Okinawa perhaps?
Are Japanese nationalists refusing to acknowledge they lost?
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