The state funeral for slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was held in Tokyo on Sept. 27 as public opinion remained divided over the pros and cons. And debate on the matter continues to this day.

Nobody, before everything else, should be forced into offering their condolences for him. Public administrative bodies, in particular, are strongly called on to respect freedom of thought and conscience, which is provided for in the Constitution.

We cannot but feel concerned about the stance taken by the government of Yamaguchi Prefecture, home to Abe’s electoral constituency, over the matter.

The prefectural government decided in mid-September that the national and prefectural flags should be flown at half-staff on the day the state funeral was to be held.

The prefectural board of education sent a corresponding notice to 61 prefectural schools, including senior high schools and special-needs schools.

The education board said in early October that the principals of the schools where the flags failed to be flown at half-staff would be deemed as having disobeyed the official order and be subject to punishment.

It has also sent another notice to the schools to say the flags should again be flown at half-staff on Oct. 15, the scheduled date of a prefectural funeral for the former prime minister.

A supplementary explanation given ahead of the state funeral said the flags need not be flown at half-staff in case of rain. As it turned out, it was raining on the morning of Sept. 27, and the schools apparently took varying steps in coping with the weather in flying their flags.

The second notice sent ahead of the prefectural funeral clearly states that school officials are only requested to do what they can, because the ceremony day in October falls on a Saturday.

Education board officials said that school staff need not go to their schools just for the sake of flying the flags. They have also said they have no plan to find out whether the flags have actually been flown.

That, however, does not mean there are no lingering problems.

The prefectural education board officials have explained that the school principals are facility administrators, so they are deemed as having disobeyed the official order if they have failed, without good reason, to fly their flags at half-staff.

The officials have added they only instructed to fly the flags at half-staff, and they have never called on the principals, other staff and students of the schools to offer their condolences.

But that logic is not immediately convincing.

Flags are flown at half-staff, in the first place, to offer condolences. The act therefore could not be deemed unrelated to the freedom of the inner thoughts of individuals, which is about whether they want to offer their condolences and how specifically they want to do so, if ever.

The logic leaves it unclear for what purpose the instruction was given to fly the flags and whether there was enough need or rationality to justify that certain restrictions may be imposed on the freedom of inner thoughts.

Some people, in addition, may see no problem in the directive itself but still find it too much to punish people for disobeying it.

Public administrative bodies should take to heart that they should exercise caution when there are any concerns and, still more, strictly refrain from possible punishment by way of intimidation.

No law provides for a state funeral. The one held for Abe was not even approved by a Diet resolution. And it could hardly be said that extending condolences is an established norm of society at large.

Ahead of the state funeral, The Asahi Shimbun asked the education boards of Japan’s 47 prefectures and 20 ordinance-designated major cities whether they would ask schools to offer condolences, including by flying their flags at half-staff.

The survey showed the Yamaguchi prefectural education board stood out in its position on the matter.

There has been repeated debate, in court and elsewhere, over the relationship between educational administration and the freedom of inner thoughts.

Feelings and thoughts differ from one person to another. Due respect should be paid to the diversity of values.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 14