Following are some readers' responses to Nicholas Drapier's June 2 Zeit Gist article "Something to sing about?":

Mr. Drapier's argument seems to be that the Meiji Era government introduced "Kimigayo" as the national anthem and that people never really had a say in the matter. After defeat in 1945, "Kimigayo" became controversial because for many Japanese it represented militarism and war.

Now, Japanese have a national anthem that is far from popular amongst all the population. Therefore, a new national anthem that is satisfactory for all Japanese should be produced.