Anger, confusion over revival of edict

Japan government's bid to bring back tradition branded 'clumsy' and 'archaic'

TOKYO - Japan's century-old imperial proclamation urging people to be willing to die for the emperor was consigned to history books until video surfaced showing children in an Osaka kindergarten enthusiastically reciting it.

A cabinet decision allowing schools to teach the long-banished edict, which was used to promote militarism in the 1930s and 1940s, has delighted hard-core nationalists but left many Japanese scratching their heads.