Tokyo gov't punishes 35 teachers over anthem

The Tokyo metropolitan board of education on Friday punished 35 public school teachers for refusing to stand up and sing the "Kimigayo" national anthem in front of the "Hinomaru" flag during graduation ceremonies this month, board officials said.

Of the 35, three were suspended from school for one, three and six months, respectively, and 12 others received pay cuts, while the remaining 20 faced admonitions, the officials said. The move has brought the total number of teachers in Tokyo reprimanded over the Kimigayo and Hinomaru issue to 381 since the education board in 2003 notified teachers at public schools that they could face punishment if they refuse to give respect to the flag and the anthem during school ceremonies.

Lawyers demand teachers not be forced to sing anthem

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations said Wednesday it has urged the government and the Tokyo education board not to force teachers to stand and sing the "Kimigayo" national anthem in front of the Hinomaru national flag and not to reprimand them for refusing to do so.

The federation, the country's sole organization of lawyers, also said it issued its gravest admonition to the Tokyo education board on Tuesday for violating the human and educational rights of five public schoolteachers by reprimanding them for not showing respect to the flag and the anthem during school ceremonies in 2004 and 2005. The move comes amid a series of lawsuits filed over the controversial notice the Tokyo metropolitan government issued Oct 23, 2003, demanding that teachers show respect to the flag or face reprimands.

Chiba teacher kills himself after suspected harassment by headmaster

A 50-year-old teacher at a junior high school in Chiba committed suicide last month after suspected harassment from the headmaster, the education board said Tuesday. The 58-year-old headmaster was witnessed yelling at and castigating the male teacher, who was in a managerial position, the board has found out from inquiries with his colleagues.

The board will question teachers and other people related to the matter and determine whether the headmaster's actions resulted in the suicide. The teacher was found dead after diving off a bridge over an expressway in Chiba's Midori Ward on Sept. 6. No suicide note was found. The headmaster had taken sick leave since mid-September.