On July 27, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit to compel the government to provide Chosen schools in the city of Hiroshima with subsidies for tuition. Chosen schools offer basic education to Japan-resident ethnic Koreans.
Since 2010, all public high schools in Japan have been tuition-free and all other high schools have received subsidies from the government to facilitate tuition, except for Chosen schools. The Supreme Court said the government can refuse giving subsidies to Chosen schools, a decision that effectively covered five similar lawsuits.
Reporting of the verdict in newspapers was limited to what are commonly called “beta kiji,” brief articles used to fill out a page. There were no detailed explanations of why only Chosen schools are denied public funds or anything that might illuminate the situation. Given the Olympics and the sudden surge in COVID-19 infections at the time, it’s understandable that the media perhaps had more pressing things to cover.
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