Curious events are taking place around the Chrysanthemum Throne, the Imperial family of Japan. There is speculation of the Emperor abdicating from the throne and the youth leaving the palace to the city. Our special correspondent in Tokyo Sergei Mingazhev will talk about situations when the "Ten Thousand Years" cry causes curiosity.
Like this, on the palace porch behind the bulletproof glass and only twice a year. People can see the Emperor of Japan and his family only on his birthday and on January 2. The rest of the days the Palace is closed for public visits. Stone walls and a moat with water, which were left by military rulers, shoguns, and behind which the Japanese monarch lives, are a good symbol of how inaccessible and closed off for ordinary people the Emperor's family is, and, on the other hand, how distant it is from the life of ordinary people.
The privilege to be behind these walls includes so many obligations and restrictions that no one in Japan has. When 10 months ago Akihito made a televised speech and let people know that he wanted to abdicate, fearing that his age, he is already 83 years old, and his health wouldn't allow him to fully exercise his functions, many refused to believe that it was possible at all. The status of the monarch is specified in the Constitution. The symbol of the state and unity of the nation. The law doesn’t say a word about the fact that he can voluntarily retire.
In a conversation with us, Tadahiro Shimazu, the grand-nephew of the Emperor and the head of one of the oldest princely families, tried to explain what role the monarch plays for the Japanese people. The Japanese have so much respect for their Emperor that it can’t be described in simple words. The Emperor prays every day, and the meaning of this is that he must feel all the sorrows of the Japanese people. Only because there is such a person, we feel as one nation.
If Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hadn’t openly supported the head of the Chrysanthemum Dynasty, then, perhaps, a separate act on the order of abdication wouldn’t have been adopted. The law is written personally for Akihito and can’t be applied to subsequent Emperors. The Parliament plans to approve it in June.
After that, there will be a whole series of ceremonies. To do this, they will study the experience of the Samurai era. There hasn't been an abdication in Japan in the last 200 years. The approved law refers to the "understanding and sympathy" that the people show about all the troubles of Emperor Akihito. The exact date of abdication hasn’t yet been determined, but it’s most likely to happen in December 2018, when Akihito turns 85. His eldest son, Prince Naruhito, is the next to accede to the throne. Akihito will be given a certain status, which is called "joko."
This is something like an "Emperor in retirement." He will have to leave the Palace and settle in the neighboring residence. However, the Japanese are much more interested in the fate of the Emperor's granddaughter, who is going to get married, and because of this, even before grandfather's abdication, will most likely be deprived of the monarch's title, and expelled from the official membership of the Imperial family.
After receiving the news of the prompt engagement of Japan's Emperor's granddaughter, journalists have been spending night and day in front of the gates of her residence. Members of the august family can communicate with the press only after approval by the Imperial Court, so the maximum that the paparazzi can count on is a fleeting smile of Princess Mako from the window of the departing car. Her chosen one is her former classmate, now a practicing lawyer.
The groom has already been presented to the journalists, but apparently, before communicating with the press, the Management Service of the Imperial Court worked well on him. He had one answer to all the questions. Are you happy when you spend time with the Princess? I'm sorry, I'll be ready to talk about this only when the time comes. According to the law, if the princess marries a commoner, she also becomes a commoner. Since 2005, the royal family has thus lost two princesses. After Mako's marriage, 18 people will remain in the Imperial family.
Taking into account the forthcoming Akihito's abdication, people are already talking about the coming crisis of the survival of the Japanese dynasty. The Chrysanthemum Throne is passed over only through the paternal line. Now, Prince Hisano is Japan’s only hope. He is only ten years old. That is, if within the next 20-30 years, the number of boys in the family of the Emperor doesn’t increase, then they will have to pass a new law on the possibility of transferring the throne to a woman if, of course, by that time, all princesses don’t marry commoners.
