Japan Press Weekly

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2013 October 30 - November 5 [CIVIL RIGHTS]

Teachers are committing offense by not singing ‘Kimigayo’: JRP representative in Kyoto

Teachers are committing an “ideological offense” if they refuse to sing the “Kimigayo” song at school ceremonies, said a member of the Japan Restoration Party at a Kyoto Prefectural Assembly meeting on October 18.

Japanese Communist Party representative Sako Yuji demanded that JRP member Toyoda Takashi retract this remark, severely criticizing it as infringing on teachers’ basic human rights and their freedom of thought and conscience.

The Kyoto Prefectural Assembly on October 28 decided to keep Toyoda’s remark in its official minutes of the meetings with support of all parties except the JCP.

JCP prefectural assembly members declared their strong protest against the JRP member for refusing to retract what he publicly said and showing no remorse for having made the remark.