Is it a crime that a retired high school teacher urged parents at a graduation ceremony to remain seated when those in attendance sang Japan's ''Kimigayo'' national anthem?
     The Tokyo District Court will reveal its decision May 30, when it hands down a verdict on Katsuhisa Fujita, 65, who has been accused of disturbing a graduation ceremony by urging the attendees to do so.
     Fujita was indicted in December 2004 for telling parents before the graduation ceremony at the Tokyo metropolitan government-run Itabashi High School in March that year the ceremony is ''abnormal,'' referring to how ''teachers will be punished if they do not stand up and sing Kimigayo.''
     Fujita taught social science there until retiring in March 2002, and was invited to the graduation ceremony as a former faculty member.
     He also refused to follow the demand of the school supervisors to stop his appeal and leave the gymnasium, at which the ceremony was to take place, causing a ''tumult'' there, prosecutors said, demanding that he receive eight months in jail.
     The indictment came after the Tokyo board of education issued a controversial notice on Oct. 23, 2003, requiring metropolitan government-run schools to display Japan's ''Hinomaru'' flag and sing Kimigayo at school ceremonies. The notice indicated teachers would be punished if they refuse to show respect for the flag or sing the anthem.
     ''The Tokyo education board has gone too far by issuing such a notification, which infringes on the constitutional right of freedom of thought and conscience,'' Fujita said. ''I wanted parents to be aware of the excessiveness by the educational administration.''
     A total of 340 teachers have been punished since the notification was issued.
     Fujita's lawyers have argued the authorities aim to crack down on speeches opposing the compulsive display of the Hinomaru flag and forced singing of the Kimigayo anthem by indicting him for ''minor acts that are not punishable legally or socially.''
     They have also said the ''tumult'' was not brought about and that the execution of the graduation ceremony was not disturbed, insisting Fujita is not guilty.
     ''The indictment apparently shows the authorities' intention to forcibly impose their policy over Hinomaru and Kimigayo on the public and they consider those who go against them unforgivable,'' said Bunya Kato, a Tokyo lawyer who heads the defense team.
     ''In that sense, Mr. Fujita's case has the same roots as another high-profile case, in which three activists were indicted for trespassing at a Self-Defense Forces residential complex in Tokyo to distribute leaflets in mailboxes to express opposition to the SDF deployment in Iraq,'' Kato added.
     The three were arrested and detained for 75 days in 2004. Amnesty International called them ''prisoners of conscience,'' while a group of legal scholars noted in its statement the arrest ''may constrain people's lawful activities of expression and intimidate democratic society.''
     They were found not guilty, with the Tokyo District Court determining that the posting of the fliers was a way of expressing political views, which is guaranteed under the Constitution. But the Tokyo High Court overturned the initial ruling last December, fining them from 100,000 yen to 200,000 yen each.
     ''The significance of the constitutional freedom of expression is to guarantee freedom of speech even if (what is being said is) unfavorable to others,'' Kato and his fellow lawyers have argued for Fujita. ''If the defendant is punished due to his remarks unfavorable to the education board and the school supervisors, it will lead to disregard for this constitutional significance.''
     Hinomaru and Kimigayo, unofficially translated as ''His Majesty's Reign,'' were designated Japan's national flag and anthem by law in 1999. But opposition to granting them official status remains due to their symbolic link to Japan's military past.
     Moreover, their compulsory display and singing at school ceremonies, along with accompanying fears of punishment against teachers, have drawn criticism that such practices violate the constitutional freedom of thought and conscience.
     Separately, the Diet has just started debate on revising Japan's Fundamental Law of Education, with the ruling bloc of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party aiming to cultivate a sense of patriotism through education.
     According to Fujita's lawyers, it was an ordinary practice at the metropolitan government-run high schools before the issuance of the 2003 notification to explain the constitutional right to those in attendance and leave it to them whether to stand and sing Kimigayo.
     Kato, the chief defense lawyer, said the practice ''provided options to the attendees, and enabled particularly those with foreign nationalities to remain seated with peace of mind.''
     The number of students with foreign citizenship came to 925, or 0.68 percent of the overall student body at metropolitan government-run high schools, as of May 1 last year, according to the Tokyo education board.
     On the upcoming ruling on Fujita, Teruhisa Horio, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, said, ''It will make people in the educational field more hesitant to speak out about what they believe if he is found guilty.''
     A guilty verdict may also lead parents to become reluctant to comment on school education and management, the education expert suggested.
     ''I never dreamed of being indicted,'' Fujita said. ''I just wanted to say school business should be left to teachers and that it should be decided through discussion by teachers and students about what they sing at school ceremonies.''
==Kyodo