URAWA, Saitama Pref. -- In the latest protest of Japan's de facto national anthem and flag, the majority of third-year students at a high school in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, skipped their graduation ceremony Monday for the second consecutive year.

As a result, the principal of Tokorozawa High School, Tatsuo Uchida, was only able to send off 128 of the school's 406 graduating seniors during the ceremony, officials of the school said.

However, the number of students who attended was significantly greater than last year, when only some 20 students out of 400 showed up, they said. The boycotting students gathered later in the day to hold their own graduation ceremony.