TOKYO, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- A private kindergarten in Osaka, Japan has recently been trapped in escalating controversy over its militaristic education that sows seeds of hatred and its murky land deal with questioned ties to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
What does this far-right kindergarten teach the kids? How outrageous is the education that has even driven furious parents to pull their children out of the nursery?
1. RECITE PREWAR IDEALS
The three- to five year olds have to recite in stilted Japanese the prewar Imperial Rescript on Education, an 1890 edict meant for nurturing "ideal" citizens that would sacrifice for the emperor and the country.
"Should emergencies arise, offer yourself to the state," they chanted.
The rescript was abolished after World War II, which many saw as souces of the blind obedience and moral certitude that helped fuel Japan's militarism, but reintroduced 15 years ago by the Tsukamoto kindergarten, and has been listed on its official website.
2. SING MILITARY SONGS
In an online-video, uniformed kids of the kindergarten were singing the Kamikaze song at the Osaka gokoku Shrine, a local branch of the Yasukuni Shrine that honors Japan's 14 class-A war criminals.
Kamikaze were suicide attacks by Japanese military aviators in the closing stages of World War II.
The kids are also taught to sing other WWII military songs including "Warship March," and "Cherry Blossoms of the Same Year" which was adored by Kamikaze pilots and an incarnation of Japan' s imperialist ambitions.
The kindergarten also takes the students to go on school trips to Self-Defense Forces bases as a part of their curriculum.
3. SOW SEEDS OF HATRED
The kindergarten is also known to inspire hatred of Koreans and Chinese among its students.
During a field day in 2015, the school allegedly made students take an oath blaming Korea and China for making Japan a malevolent nation.
The school eventually sparked widespread controversy when it sent out fliers in December 2016, describing Korean residents in Japan and Chinese people as those with "wicked ideas," and calling the latter with a term considered derogatory toward Chinese people.
The school, though warned by the local government and later apologized, did not show real remorse, with the deputy principal writing an explanation to parents saying, "I don't discriminate. But in my mind, I hate Koreans and Chinese."
4. SENIOR LEADERSHIP APPROVAL
During her visit to the nursery school in April, 2014, Akie Abe, wife of Shinzo Abe, said her husband highly approved what the kids were learning there.
Akie Abe also served as the "honorary principal" of the new private elementary school, though she resigned Friday amid an escalating controversy over the very low price the school paid for government land.
Abe denied any involvement in the land purchase, yet at Friday's parliamentary questioning session, opposition lawmakers summoned finance and education ministry officials to clarify how the school obtained such a massive discount.
5. CONTINUE BRAINWASHING
While endorsing the kindergarten, Akie Abe also expressed her worry that the efforts to raise a new generation of Japanese nationalists could be dampened once these kids finish kindergarten and go on to other public schools that offer no such right-wing education.
In that case, Moritomo Gakuen, an Osaka school company that also owns the Trukamoto kindergarten, is going to open a primary school this April to continue its ultra-nationalistic brainwashing.
