In 1999, the principal of Hiroshima Prefectural SERA Senior High School committed suicide on the day of the commencement ceremony and it was rumored that the cause of this suicide was the fact that he had been caught in the middle of the instruction by the Ministry of Education chorus reading Kimigayo and raising the Japanese (rising sun) flag and opposing teachers who belonged to Nikkyoso.
平成11年（1999年）には広島県立世羅高等学校で卒業式当日に校長が自殺し、君が代斉唱や日章旗掲揚の文部省通達とそれに反対する日教組教職員との板挟みになっていたことが原因ではないかと言われた。