(Ілля)WILL THE EMPEROR STEP DOWN?
(Ілля)INNER COURT and OUTER COURT
Emperor Akihito was born in 1933, which makes him eighty-five now. It’s tiring
being an emperor and dynasties suffer when the hand-off of power is abrupt, and
so it is understandable that he might be making plans to leave the position before
he dies. In August of 2016, he aired a pre-recorded 10-minute speech on Japanese
TV where he hinted that he might step down. He didn’t use the word ‘abdicate,’
but he said that he wasn’t in great health and implied that he might like to hand the
job to Prince Naruhito.
You will note, however, that Emperor Akihito is still in power two years later. The
Imperial House Agency, the PR and managing agency for the family, said that they
were taking the comments into consideration. In response, the ruling body made a
one-off law that will allow Emperor Akihito to step down April 30, 2019.
(Юля)KEEPING UP WITH THE YAMATO DYNASTY
Imperial families need imperial digs. However, they don’t have many assets of
their own. The immediate family can’t have jobs and the constitution of 1949
stripped a lot of the wealth from the emperor.
Oh, but don’t feel too bad for them. They still have a lot of farm that provides
much of their personal food and they live in palaces that are paid for by the
Japanese taxpayers. They have enough personal wealth to cover a new wine cellar,
4 doctors that are on-call for the Emperor, 5 helpers for the Emperor’s wardrobe,
78 plumbers, 30 gardeners, and 1000’s of other servants. As a special touch, when
the Crown Princess Masako gave birth to Princess Aiko, the room where she gave
birth in was redecorated at the cost of a couple hundred thousand dollars. The
Imperial family has 160 servants to do the cleaning. To keep some of this spending
in check, they Imperial Family gets to stay at any hotel in Japan for only $110 a
night.
(Юля)THE OLD FASHIONED WAY ISN'T ALWAYS THE BEST
The point of a princess is pretty much to be a walking incubator for heirs. The
pressure to reproduce when you marry a prince is incredible, especially when
you're Crowned Princess Masako and you married the next heir to the Japanese
throne. Adding to this pressure is the fact that the couple married in 1993 and their
little princess Aiko was born in 2001, but they still did not produce an heir.
The actual family is divided into 6 members of the inner court, who are supported
by taxes and do the lion’s share of the royal duties, and an outer court consisting of
13 minor princes and princesses who are much further from the throne. That’s
where the brothers and sisters of the emperor are, along with their descendants.
This outer court also includes the emperor’s second son (Prince Akishino) and his
immediate family, along with the widows of princes and their children.
(Юля)YOU DON’T EVER WANT TO BE A PRINCESS
Little girls always seem to want to be a princess. They see the finery and servants
and think that this must be the best life ever. Once in a while, a ‘prince and the
pauper’ knock-off will come out, making the point that it isn’t all fun and games,
but it neatly skirts the main problem: the unrelenting pressure to perform perfectly
for the cameras while pumping out (preferably male) babies. These women can be
incredibly smart and tough, but they will have to train themselves to act demure.
The Crown Princess was aiming for a job as a diplomat before she got married, and
the current empress graduated summa cum laude from the University of the Sacred
Heart and speaks fluent English. Yet, they are now living in a very public golden
cage.
(Ілля)ASSASSIN!
Since the imperial family has 961 people specifically assigned to keep them safe,
they have generally been spared from people trying to kill them. The exception is
Emperor Hirohito, but given that he was the emperor during WWII when Japan
was turned into a military dictatorship and was fighting a war that did not go well
for them, you might expect people being extra-motivated to kill him.
What you might not anticipate is that he survived 3 attempts on his life. Either the
sun goddess was looking out for him, or he was just really lucky