Top Japanese school faces backlash over Palestinian poetry in entrance exam

During an entrance exam for a top middle school in Japan in January, students were asked to read two poems depicting life in Palestine and write responses to key passages. Controversy soon followed on Japanese social media over the use of the material related to war and displacement. Some criticised the test section as politically one-sided for lacking Israeli views, while others praised the school for choosing a subject that, despite its complexities, has galvanised the world after much devastation in the Gaza Strip. The two poets – Gaza-born Mosab Abu Toha and Palestinian American Zeina Azzam – welcomed the inclusion of their translated works in the exam, but also expressed concern about the ensuing controversy. Nada Junior High School is a private all-boys school in Kobe whose graduates often go on to top universities in Japan. Every winter, hundreds of sixth grade students take the admissions test. Abu Toha’s poem “What is Home?” – published in his 2022 book Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear – was used alongside Azzam’s “Write My Name” in the reading comprehension portion of the exam. In Abu Toha’s piece, a parent describes to their child everyday details from home as it once existed, such as the shade of trees on the way to school and a black-and-white wedding photo. Azzam’s “Write My Name,” in the voice of a Palestinian child in Gaza insisting on having their name written on their leg in anticipation of air strikes, was penned in response to large-scale Israeli assaults on Gaza after the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a surprise attack on Israel in October 2023. “Rather than just prepare for entrance exams, students should also take an interest in society around them. That was our intention,” said Masafumi Kuge, the school’s vice principal. Abu Toha was surprised to see social media referencing his poem being used in the exam, but did not know of the online debate. “I don’t know why there would be any debate even,” the 33-year-old poet said in a Zoom interview. “If there is any debate, it would be coming from people who do not support the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-determination, for freedom from the Israeli occupation.” Early trauma Like his father, Abu Toha was born in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the enclave. His grandparents had been expelled from the ancient city of Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv, during the 1948 Nakba – “catastrophe” in Arabic – in which over 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homeland for the creation of the state of Israel. He wrote “What is Home?” in 2021, after surviving an Israeli air strike, the first such attack he experienced as a father of three. Abu Toha also draws on earlier traumas in his work, including a 2009 air strike in Beit Lahia, a Gaza town where he once lived. The attack left visible scars on the then 16-year-old’s neck and face. “My poetry comes directly from my lived experience,” he said, adding: “I don’t think there is any political dimension to my writing.” After obtaining a master’s degree from Syracuse University, Abu Toha returned from the United States to Gaza in May 2023 to teach English for UNRWA, a UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Months later, his home was reduced to rubble by an air strike during Israel’s military campaign and hostage-rescue efforts after Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and took hundreds hostage. Although a ceasefire took effect last October, Israeli attacks on Gaza continue, with over 72,000 Palestinians having been killed to date, according to Palestinian health authorities. The United Nations Children’s Fund says more than 64,000 Palestinian children have reportedly been killed or injured. Abu Toha and his family fled Gaza into Egypt in December 2023, able to cross the border because their youngest son, five, is an American citizen. They now live in Syracuse, New York, where the poet is a visiting scholar at his alma mater. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary last year for his essays on Gaza. Like many Palestinians, Abu Toha believes in his people’s right of return as outlined in UN resolutions and under international law, which Israel disputes. “What I want the Japanese people to learn is that there is something that is called home for the Palestinian people, but unfortunately, this home is being taken away from them on a daily basis,” he said. “Palestine is my home,” the poet said. “Home for me is not only what is being taken away from me, but it’s also where my loved ones walked. It is also where my loved ones were buried.” Naming of parts Azzam’s “Write My Name” was inspired by news reports she heard on the radio that Palestinian parents were writing their children’s names on their bodies so they could be identified in case they were killed in an Israeli air strike. After checking the news with other sources like CNN, she composed the poem over a few days and published it on the Vox Populi online forum for poetry and commentary. Japanese translator Shohei Haraguchi asked for her permission to translate the poem in December 2023, she said. It was published in the May 2024 issue of the Japanese poetry journal Gendaishitecho, along with other Palestinian poems including Abu Toha’s. Upon reading her piece, pupils taking the entry exam were asked to describe the feelings behind the line “I have a name and I am not a number” and explain the phrase “our legs will tell our story”. Kuge, the vice principal, said the school used the poems in the exam as part of a “regular reading comprehension question”, never intending to make a political statement. While conceding that most things about Palestine are being made political, Azzam said the social media debate missed the point. “My intent was really to explore about the children and to give the children some kind of voice,” said Azzam, 69, who lives in Alexandria, Virginia, and served as its poet laureate from 2022 to 2025. Born in Syria to Palestinian refugees who had fled during the 1948 Nakba, Azzam also lived in Beirut, Lebanon, before her family immigrated to the United States when she was 10. “I consider myself a Palestinian. I consider Palestine my home and my homeland,” she said. Regarding the use of her poem in the Japanese school’s exam, Azzam said, “Palestinians have been dehumanised in history, so if a Japanese 12-year-old can look at a Palestinian 12-year-old and think of them as a human being just like themselves, then that’s really wonderful.” Among the posts on social media praising the school, some noted that past entrance exams were often used as study material, meaning the poems were likely to reach many more students for years to come.

Top Japanese school faces backlash over Palestinian poetry in entrance exam

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Poets Mosab Abu Toha and Zeina Azzam welcomed the inclusion of their works in the exam, but were concerned about the ensuing controversy

Poets Mosab Abu Toha and Zeina Azzam welcomed the inclusion of their works in the exam, but were concerned about the ensuing controversy