3-3 History, National Anthem, National Flag and National Identity(Q.25, 26)

It is often pointed out that Japanese students take far less interest than they should in politics. However, having a certain amount of knowledge about their own history is almost a prerequisite in order to follow the political world. Until very recently in the US, 'US History' was required in many universities and even in the present day the majority of college students take 'US History' regardless of their majors.
In Japanese society, many stay away from using the term 'patriotism' because of its close link to a political ideology, making it difficult to openly discuss how Japan should be or to express a national identity. With that in mind, we prepared questions regarding a national flag and so forth to discern some of the differences, and it demonstrated a sharp contrast between Japan and the US.
To put it simply, the expressed interest level of Japanese toward history is limited. Almost 70% of high school students say they have no interest in the history of their own country, and the figure remains around 50% for college students. The interest level of the US student is roughly double or about 60%. The absence of entrance examinations in the United States might encourage more high school students to take an interest in their own country. When students are compared by their academic aspirations, it is a gloomy prospect that in Japan those with higher aspirations have much less of an interest in history than their American counterparts.

[Are you interested in US History?]

[Do you like your national anthem?]

Whereas more than 90% of American students like their national flag, the figure lessens by half in Japan. When it comes to the national anthem, the margin gets even greater. Eighty-nine percent of the US side like the song; on the Japanese side only 23% favor the anthem. Approximately one third of those sampled responded that they do not like the national anthem at all, and close to 80% admitted they do not like it in general. Regardless of age, academic aspirations and gender, the above-mentioned pattern was observed throughout the Japanese data.
On the other hand, the students of M college, located in a conservative section of the US, profess more attachment to their national flag, and they also claim to like the national anthem "very much". However, seeing that the degree of "very much" diminishes and is somewhat lower toward having a national flag and national anthem in campus-situated I public High School, geographical as well as socio-economic factors present differentiating aspects of American society regarding the notion of patriotism.