
Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication - codezero
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48020703
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RcouF1uZ4gsC
Truly the end of an era. Akihito became emperor in 1989. At that time it
seemed humanity was finally ready to put great power conflicts in the past.
Akihito represented a generation that had experienced the horrors of WWII as
children and saw the need to make sure that never happened again.

Now as Akihito abdicates, the whispers of great power conflicts are starting
again. Old alliances and coalitions that have kept the peace for 70 years are
being questioned. Nationalism is rising throughout the world. I hope the new
Emperor’s reign will be just as peaceful as his father’s, but I am
pessimistic.

~~~
basetop
I think Fukuyama's "End of History..." died a while ago. Actually, it probably
never existed and was simply idealized wishful thinking. As they say, there
can be no peace without war.

What's strange is that we know peace eventually ends. But I also can't see how
we can have a war amongst nuclear powers. Could we have a peaceful war? Is it
possible? Is that what the cold war was?

With the creation of the EU, rising china, resurgence russia, india, ASEAN,
africa ( eventually ), the geopolitical landscape is going to change. From a
historical, economical and demographic perspective, the geopolitical center
should move somewhere in europe or asia from the US eventually. There are 1
billion more chinese. One billion more indians. 500 million more europeans. It
is a strange quirk of history that the US is the leader of the world.

~~~
Ntrails
> I also can't see how we can have a war amongst nuclear powers. Could we have
> a peaceful war? Is it possible? Is that what the cold war was?

I'd say the answer is "Look at Syria", proxy wars etc are the current best
method for engaging without actually having to fight directly (which just ends
super badly as it almost inevitably escalates)

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yingw787
If you haven't been already, the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo are very much worth
a visit. I don't think I've ever been in an area that just felt so sacred. If
mahogany green was ever a thing, that's what the colors of those trees were.
And bonsais that were several hundred years old. Personally, I don't even
think Kyoto gives the same vibe. It's amazing.

~~~
js2
Out of curiosity, what other places have you visited that you’re comparing it
to?

~~~
yingw787
Taiwan: watching the sun set over Kaohsiung Harbor from this old fort on a
mountain. Pretty magical.

South Korea: Climbing Hallasan volcano on Jeju Island. Really neat.

China: Exploring Suzhou/Hangzhou old towns. Suzhou is like the Venice of
China.

All these places warrant a trip in and of themselves; but they didn’t feel
holy to me if that makes any sense. Imperial Gardens felt different, like one
thread of contiguous history, unrent by tragedy and upheaval, touching you on
the face.

~~~
js2
Thank you. I've not yet been to that part of the world. I've been to the
Western Wall, but for me, sadly, it was just a wall.

~~~
basetop
Well at least you can't accuse them of false advertising. Israel seems like
one of those places where it's either a magical place or a complete
disappointment. I've heard some say it's the best place they've ever visited
and others say it is a complete letdown. I suppose it depends on how religious
you are.

~~~
js2
I identify strongly as a Jew, but I'm not very religious. I've visited Israel
three times and enjoyed every visit. Jerusalem is an amazing city. I just had
trouble finding holiness at the Western Wall. I think, for myself, I either
need more quiet and solitude, or conversely, to be involved in group prayer.
But I don't pray much and I'm not very practiced at it. I'm also an atheist,
so prayer for me is a bit hard to explain.

Anyway, for me, the wall itself didn't evoke anything. I think there was just
too much commotion with everyone doing mostly their own thing. I did enjoy
watching everyone else experiencing the place, though.

If nothing else, there's a few thousand years of history there to see.

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tombert
I'll admit a lot of ignorance on this; what does the Emperor of Japan actually
do now? Japan has a prime minister position, doesn't it? Is the Emperor a
figurehead or do they have power?

~~~
3JPLW
In the first section of the article:

> While the emperor holds no political power, he serves as a national
> figurehead.

~~~
utexaspunk
Sounds like a pretty good gig. How do I apply?

~~~
nihonde
I mean he basically begged to be fired, so it’s probably not all that much
fun. They sacrifice any semblance of normalcy and have an endless calendar of
ceremonies and events. Emperor Akihito acquitted himself pretty well in the
job, and most people in Japan seem to be either indifferent to the royals or
appreciate their focus on peace and calm and continuity. They’re a pretty
boring royal family, which means they’re doing a good job I think.

~~~
jcranmer
One of the particular difficulties of the Japanese royal family is you have
the ultra-nationalists who never really got over Japan's loss in WW2 and the
resulting changes to the Japanese royal nature, but the royalty has. You end
up with a situation where the emperor indicates that he wants the nature of
the royal family to change slightly, but the biggest supporters of royalty
don't want to listen to him.

This is rather different compared to the constitutional monarchies that are
common in Europe: it's hard to imagine any major political party (even the
hard-right parties) arguing against the monarch if the monarch is suggesting a
more liberal position.

~~~
nihonde
Well, Abe and LDP are generally all the way in on Nippon Kaigi and they
supported his abdication. The first news I heard of it was Abe’s appeal to the
nation to allow the Emperor to step down.

~~~
mikekchar
They had no choice but to support it. The emperor is _incredibly_ popular in
Japan. In fact, the abdication threw a spanner in the works for Abe and the
LDP wrt the constitutional changes hey wanted for allowing Japan to get
involved in external conflicts if its allies are involved.

For some history, this is the second time Abe has been prime minister. The
first time he had to resign. This was directly after proposing the
constitutional change. Now, Wikipedia (and the western media it seems)
reported that Abe resigned due to the poor performance of his economic
policies. However, at the time my impression was that he resigned over the
backlash to the constitutional proposals. At the time my Japanese wasn't very
good, so I could definitely have gotten it wrong, but that was certainly what
I understood.

Fast forward to a few years ago. Abe got back into power, instituted his
Abenomics and then re-proposed the constitutional changes. It seemed like it
was inevitable because they had enough time to push through the changes and
write the constitutional law before the next general election. And then out of
the blue the emperor announced, "I want to retire. Please implement the
constitutional changes that would allow me to do so". These changes, perhaps
not incidentally, meant that Abe could not draft his changes until after the
next general election.

It has been suggested (by the NHK no less -- unfortunately you'll have to take
my word for it, but that's where I heard of the notion) that this was an
intentional move by the emperor. Who knows... However it is true that he has
been suffering from poor health and has not been able to perform all of his
duties.

Anyway, the general election was held and Abe and the LDP survived, so
presumably they will go ahead with their plans. However, the latest I've seen
is that there is still considerable opposition in the populace (with over 50%
of the population opposing any changes to the constitution). The last I heard
Abe has said that he might not go forward with it.

They are under increasing pressure from the US, though. Also, Japan has wanted
the US out of Okinawa for a _long_ time, with the US always promising that
they will leave as soon as their base in Guam is complete (which never seems
to happen). I don't think the US will ever leave Okinawa without Japan being
able to take military action the in the sea of Japan because otherwise China
will pretty much have free reign there. At the moment, all Japan can do is
show up with the coast guard and say "Please leave. Pretty please".

~~~
nihonde
My maybe-controversial view is that peace and the removal of the US protection
racket are consistent aims, and the constitutional changes are not necessarily
a precursor to Japanese aggression. Still, regular people in Japan seem to be
mostly completely checked out of their own politics, so this is a game played
among professional politicians and some business leaders.

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jon-wood
I seem to remember there was something a while back about what the next
Japanese era would be named. Is it normal for them to prepare for that so that
they're not scrabbling to find a new one when the emperor dies, or was there a
general awareness that Akihito would be abdicating in the near future?

~~~
cubecul
Akihito had announced in 2016 that he wanted to abdicate[1] so I think that's
how they put together that process to name the new era.

[1] [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-
asia-36784045](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36784045)

