After the Matsue board of education caused a stir last week by restricting student access to an iconic manga about the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and other wartime cruelties, it said Thursday that 44 of 49 school principals polled in the city wanted the curbs lifted.
The board's disclosure came after it told public elementary and junior high schools to restrict access to "Hadashi no Gen" ("Barefoot Gen") last week because members deemed it too graphic.
The regular meeting, open to the public, was the board's first since stirring the controversy last week, but a final decision on the policy was put off until an ad hoc meeting next Monday.