Japan's Rising Sun flag removed from Canadian classroom following student petition

NEW YORK - The Rising Sun flag has been removed from a classroom at a school on the outskirts of Vancouver after students started an online petition, according to the local school board.

The Rising Sun flag was used by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy during World War II, and is thus regarded in South Korea and China as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression.

B. J. Moon, a Canadian student of Korean descent, and his friends collected over 9,500 names by Monday for his “Take off the Sun Rise Flag in an Educational Environment” petition hosted by the Change.org website

He was not a student in the history class of Walnut Grove Secondary School where the flag was used as a teaching tool, but observed it from the hallway, according to the school board.

Moon refused to comment on the decision to remove the flag after being contacted by Kyodo News.

• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

LATEST NATIONAL STORIES

In latest LDP gaffe, lawmaker compares working with Saga Prefecture to 'dealing with the Koreas' ...

Yaichi Tanigawa, 77, a Lower House member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party representing Nagasaki Prefecture's No. 3 constituency, apologized Sunday for saying that working with Saga Prefectur...

Japanese sculptor Tomonori Toyofuku dies at 94

Tomonori Toyofuku, a sculptor known for his abstract works featuring many oval holes, died Saturday at a hospital in the city of Fukuoka, according to his assistant. He was 94. Born in Kurume, F...

Kin of Japanese abductees being held in North Korea seek early return of their loved ones

Family members of Japanese nationals who were abducted by North Korea decades ago on Sunday called for progress in bilateral negotiations to bring home their loved ones at an early date.