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〜故 三宅晶子先生を偲んで〜 | INDEX お知らせ |
Freedom and Japanese People
Akiko Miyake
"Freedom is such a bad
thing in Japan," said an American friend of mine. Last month, when
the Education Committee of Tokyo forced each school to sing the National
Anthem of Japan, "Kimigayo," at their graduation ceremonies,
I recalled her saying. . A little more than half of us are wondering. "Kimigayo"
just sings , "May the reign of the Emperor continue forever. Is such
a song good enough for our present state of democracy?. But the Education
Committee in Tokyo never gaive the teachers their freedom to discuss. Freedom
means in Christianity to follow God. In the Greek and Roman Classics, freedom
means to follow reason. Since God is reason, these two are the same. If
anybody do not follow God and reason, how can he or she be happy?
Yet in Japan any decision must be a group decision,and the member of the group should not speak up alone. This keeps Japanese people in harmony, but does harmony without freedom make us happy? I say, "No," because I saw from l937 to l945 Japanese people proceeded into the war in China and then in the South-East Asia with the perfect harmony within the nation. Even a group decision can be immoral or wicked. If Japanese people had enjoyed the freedom to speak up, no such wicked war would have come. In my own teaching career, also, I had to see my school principal made an immoral decision for us all. Of course I spoke up, so that I had to quit the school. I am a Christian, and believe that I must meet my Jesus at His Judgement. Can I tell Jesus that I had to commit the sin because I had no freedom? So at the age of 34, I had to start my graduate study in America.
"Kimigayo" is no wicked song, but it is not perfectly good, either. You may say that it is just like the British National Anthem, "God Save the Queen!" No. This song confesses that the queen is a sinner and needs the salvation of God. And God is the Father of all nations. If the queen starts a war just for her glory, say to keep Hong Kong,, God will punish her. "God Save our Queen" is not only a song to love their own nation, but to love other nations, too. The Japanese "Kimigayo" glorifies our nation only. "It's sweet to die for the glory of the Father Land," said the ancient Roman soldiers. But how about the deaths of the Asians, the English men and the Americans whom the the war for the glory of Japan killed? Their blood is still crying to heaven, and for many years to come the whole world will attack and despise the noble soldiers of Japan who died for the glory of the Emperor.
Our sad history all came because our culture is lacking the two important ideals:
the love for other nations and freedom. We must work out to bring in these two ideals. And even for this work the freedom of thought and speech is essential.
The problem is that our culture is lacking internationalism and freedom. We
must work to improve our culture. And even for this work, the freedom of speech and
thought is essential.