MOROI YUICHI    Department   Undergraduate School  , School of Global Japanese Studies    Position   Visiting Assistant Professor
Language	English
Publication Date	2017/06
Type	Essay
Title	"'Here I Sit; I Can Do No Other': Conscientious Objection to the National Anthem in Japan and the US"
Contribution Type	Sole-authored
Journal	The Peace Chronicle
Journal Type	Another Country
Publisher	The Peace and Justice Studies Association
Volume, Issue, Page	Spring-Fall, 2017,pp.19-23
Details	In this essay, I will examine the national anthem protest as a form of conscientious objection. Focusing on the cases of Colin Kaepernick in the US and school teachers in Japan, this essay will compare and contrast between the cases. I shall start with a number of obvious differences in the national anthem protest between the cases. Surprising similarities, however, do emerge when it comes to the control of behavior to the symbols of a nation and to the conscientious nature of the reasons behind the protest. We shall see how the conscientious action, seemingly an individual protest, is connected to the social with a sense of civic responsibility. This essay will find that while the minority protest to the national anthem seems individualistic and even anti-national (un-American or un-Japanese), their sense of civic responsibility makes the protest of individual conscience and conviction social in both countries.