Should Japan abandon the "16-rays rising sun flag" ?

No.


Here is information about the naval flag:

The naval flag was introduced in 1889 and that has 16 rays extending from the Sun "Mon" to the edge of the flag. The flag was "banned" by the Treaty of San Francisco which prevent Japan from having her own armed forces, but in 1952 she started to build up "self-defence" forces. The naval forces readopted the naval ensign in 1954.

I believe, but may be mistaken, that the naval flag was also the war flag in the Second World War, in which case it would have been used by Japanese soldiers and bases. This may be why you think they removed the rays from the flag, but in fact both flags existed at the same time. The modern land "self-defence" force uses a flag with 8 rays with a gold edge (made of two shallow triangles on each edge).
Graham Bartram, 9 November 1998

http://www.flag.de/FOTW/flags/jp^.html


This is just the flag of the Japanese Navy. It has been the flag of the Japanese navy since 1889. That is a couple of years before the first Sino-Japanese war (1894-95).