I am not aware that Japanese actually started to sing it. The decision to make the Kimigayo the national anthem is very recent (I can't remember, last year's October or November). One of the arguments was that it was a national shame that Japanese athletes had nothing to sing in stadiums... We'll see how it goes at the Olympics of at the Soccer World Cup... I would be surprised if they don't sing it though.
>
>> Eery. I never ever had to sing La Marseillaise or to salute the
>> Tricolore in France. And I don't remember I did.
>
> As far as I know, no one in Europe sings the national anthem at local
> sporting events. (Important qualifier -- lots of countries do it at
> international matches. But only the immigrant nations do it when both
> teams are local. Or so I previously thought.)
>
> Michael
Well, since I never really took part in sporting event back in France I don't know. But as a French citizen I never _had_ to learn the national anthem. there are no flags all over the country (public schools etc) mostly city halls and ministries (facilities that represent the state, not one single ministry). I had to learn it though in junior high (when I was 11) when I had to play the role of a small town mayor after the first world war at the school's play. The day of the play I did not know what stance to take on stage so I raised my fist and sung it. A few teachers told me stuff I could not understand at this age, about the Popular Front etc... It is only now that I realize it must have looked funny (catholic private suburb school...)
So I guess I was a poet teenager ;-)
JC Helary