Wave of ’patriotism’ in Osaka

By Nam Sang-gu

I recently met a Japanese friend who came from Osaka and asked him what it looked like these days. He said it was a sort of a “melting pot.” Osaka has been a maritime traffic hub since ancient times and has been frequented by not only the Japanese but also foreign visitors. It has developed into a big city through diverse exchanges from within and without.

In Ikuno-ku located in the southeastern part of Osaka, the number of foreign residents is estimated at 32,000, accounting for 23.8 percent of the total population of 134,000.

What’s noteworthy is that a wave of “patriotism” has recently been spreading through Osaka. On June 3, the Osaka Prefectural Assembly passed an ordinance obliging teachers and other school employees to stand and sing the Japanese national anthem, “Kimigayo,” during school ceremonies. The ordinance was the first local regulation of its kind in Japan.

On June 23, the Osaka city council’s culture-education-economy committee adopted a petition calling on schools to select textbooks that reflect Japan’s basic education law and new teaching guidelines.

The ordinance and the petition share common ground as they emphasize “love for the state and the land, and respect for tradition and culture.”

Some Japanese argue that it is natural for teachers and other school employees to stand when singing the national anthem. They certainly do not take into consideration what “Kimigayo” symbolizes for foreign people who suffered from Japan’s aggression or colonial rule during World War II. Critics point out that the national anthem has become a symbol of Japan’s past imperialism and militarism.

With no compunction about past misdeeds, the Japanese are urging the younger generation to stand and sing “Kimigayo” if they live in Japanese society and become teachers or other school staff.

One out of every four residents in Ikuno-ku is a foreigner who is obliged to pay tax but is denied any political rights. The Osaka city council committee has maintained a position that its recommended textbooks are fit to cultivate “love for the state and the land.” Such textbooks stick to a stance that denying foreign residents voting rights is not discriminating against them as suffrage is a matter of national sovereignty.

Standing and singing the national anthem has become the rule in every school throughout Japan since the country enacted a law concerning the national flag and anthem in 1999. In this regard, the Osaka Prefecture’s ordinance is not a surprise. The city council’s adoption of the petition is not confined to Osaka. Such a petition is now being submitted to municipal councils or prefectural assemblies in many regions of Japan.

The question is that such a thing happened in Osaka, a place that boast of its time-honored tradition of people from different regions and nations living together and respecting each other.

It is not certain that the wave of “patriotism” running against Osaka’s history and reality will surge high or recede sooner or later. However, it is not hard to imagine that not only Osaka but also Japan has no future prosperity if the wave rages ferociously and destroy people’s ability to listen to different voices of others.

We need to notice that the Japanese riding the wave of “patriotism” stress a misguided belief that the controversial basic education law helps foster love for the state and the land, respect other countries, and contribute to peace and development for the international community.

Nam Sang-gu is a researcher at the Seoul-based Northeast Asian History Foundation. He can be reached at nsggg@nahf.or.kr.