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 on public occasions.

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 her for refusing to play the instrument during an entrance ceremony in 1999.

The Japan Times Weekly: March 3, 2007
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