The military culture of Showa Japan and other cultural tidbits...

In the late 1930's, when Japan was at war with China, music lessons in Japanese schools changed to reflect the new militaristic mindset of the nation. The songs children had once learned about the fall of snow or the emergence of spring gave way to songs about the feelings of soldiers departing for foreign lands, and marching songs which revered the rising sun flag:

"I see those faces, hear those voices.
My wife and son are waving,
Waving their flags until they break.
Their message to me is to fight well.
I look at the sky, and in the spaces
Between the clouds I see them waving still.
From the deck of the great fleet of battleships
I say goodbye to the land of my birth,
Goodbye to my wife and son.
I look to the place where the sky arches
Above the Imperial Palace
And I swear I will fight well."

"With a tiny hand
I waved the flag
From my mother's back.
That far-off day
Still returns to my mind
And patriotism's hot blood
Courses more strongly in my veins."

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Cultural notes