Top court rules principal's order to play national anthem constitutional

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that says it is constitutional for a public school principal to order a music teacher to play the piano to accompany Japan's "Kimigayo" national anthem at a school ceremony.

This is the first ever decision by Japan's top court on a series of lawsuits over teachers rejecting the national anthem in various ways such as declining to stand up or sing it on public occasions.

The top court upheld the Tokyo High Court's ruling in July 2004 after telling relevant parties last week it is handing down a decision on the case without listening to arguments by the plaintiff.

The suit was filed by a 53-year-old elementary school teacher in the suburban Tokyo city of Hino who sought to repeal a reprimand the Tokyo metropolitan school board issued to her for refusing to play the piano during an entrance ceremony in 1999.

Like other teachers, she cited a violation of freedom of thought and conscience when refusing the order. The Tokyo school board issued the reprimand on the grounds of a violation of the Local Public Service Law.

The Tokyo District Court ruled in December 2003 that "public servants must serve the whole of society and their freedom of thought and conscience are subject to restraint from the point of public welfare," and concluded the principal's order was constitutional and the reprimand was lawful.

The Tokyo High Court upheld the decision in July 2004.

In August 1999, the government instituted a law defining the Kimigayo as Japan's national anthem.

Since fiscal 2000, some 875 public school teachers across Japan have been reprimanded in various ways for actions against the national flag and the Kimigayo, such as refusing to stand up and sing the anthem in front of the flag.

A series of lawsuits have been filed by some of those teachers. While many of them have lost their cases in lower court rulings, the Tokyo District Court last September judged it unconstitutional for a local government to force teachers to stand up for the flag and sing the song in school ceremonies.

The court noted the Hinomaru flag and the Kimigayo have a history of being used as pillars of militarism and they are therefore not value-neutral and penalizing those who refuse to stand for the flag and the song is an action which violates freedom of thought and conscience under the Constitution.