Japan's prime minister is an unabashed patriot, as outspoken in his love for his country as in his desire to instill that love in his compatriots. Are his compatriots receptive? Opinion polls on attitudes toward pending revisions of long-standing interpretations of the pacifist Constitution, prologue possibly to revisions of the Constitution itself, suggest not. A growing majority prefers the status quo.

Future generations, potentially, are another matter, and educational reforms being pushed by the government include "moral education," key tenets of which would be "respect for traditional culture and love of our country and of our hometowns." The weekly Shukan Asahi, to its dismay, sees classroom teaching advancing steadily in the direction of "education to suit the government's convenience." As evidence it cites a new junior high school history textbook in use in Yokohama since 2012 — a text characterized, the magazine says, by "copious descriptions of the national flag, the national anthem and Japan's traditional culture."

It's hard to argue with "traditional culture" as a fit subject for education, but to the extent that Japan's traditional culture is belligerently martial, how relevant is it to the Japan today's children will grow up to lead? Is the samurai "way of the warrior" an appropriate guide to moral conduct in the commercialized, globalized 21st century?