Saturday, February 18, 2006
Women Monarchs in Japan - Right or Wrong?
An expert on Japan's royal family and distant relative of the emperor said Friday that the world's oldest monarchy should not allow a woman to sit on the throne, as a reigning empress did not fit the nation's traditions and social norms.
Tsuneyasu Takeda, great-great grandson of Emperor Meiji, current Emperor Akihito's grandfather, also said it is outrageous for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to try to end the royal family's millennia-long male blood line without exhausting other options.
"Japan's royal family is the oldest family in the world that has preserved its patriarchic blood line to date ... It is absolutely unacceptable to let it end now," Takeda said. "The prime minister should abstain from such an attempt."
"A reigning empress in a matriarchic succession is not a true emperor," he added.
Japan's royal family, which has produced no male heir to the throne since 1965, faces a serious succession crisis.
Koizumi had planned to submit a bill allowing women and their descendants on the throne, in line with a recommendation last year by a special panel appointed by the prime minister. The move received broad public support.
The plan, however, is now on hold after Princess Kiko announced she was pregnant, raising the possibility of a male heir.
Traditionalists have stepped up their campaign to squash the move — going so far as to propose bringing back concubines to give birth to male descendants as was done until early last century. Others, including Takeda, argue the aristocracy banned after World War II should be reinstated as a way of broadening the pool of candidates for the throne.
"Aristocracy families have existed as a backup in case of succession crisis," Takeda said. "We should study the past precedence and seek that possibility."
According to Japanese myth, the imperial line is directly descended from the sun goddess Amateratsu, beginning the Japanese race. While this is recognized as legend, the perceived ethnic purity of the emperor still resonates deeply with conservatives.
Some anti-reformists argue that the essence of the imperial line is the passing down of the royal Y-chromosome — meaning every emperor should be the direct offspring of a former emperor. The son of a daughter of an emperor, according to this reasoning, should not be eligible, since he would have received his Y-chromosome from a non-imperial father.
Princess Kiko is married to Prince Akishino, the emperor's second son and second in line to the throne.
Takeda, who has authored a book on the the subject, also said today's gender equality issues did not fit the Japanese royal tradition. Women are disqualified as monarchs because menstruation is considered impure under the imperial family religion of Shinto, making it impossible for them to carry out crucial religious rites at the palace.
"We admire the emperor not because of his looks or brains. He is noble because of his uninterrupted blood link from the very first emperor," Takeda said.
said: Basic history:
Japan`s current system of succession is based on strict Agnatic promigeniture:
Agnatic (or patrilineal) descent is established by tracing descent exclusively through males from a founding male ancestor.
Primogeniture is the common tradition of inheritance by the first-born of the entirety of a parent's wealth, estate or office; or in the absence of children, by collateral relatives, in order of seniority of the collateral line.
Viewing the current dilemma using these parameters one can understand the reasoning behind the adoption of new legislation allowing a female to hold the throne...I disagree, however, that the political powers should even be concerning themselves with this debate.
(Not because I dont want a women in power in Japan but because there are many more important issues for this country than whether or not a women succeeds the Chrysanthemum Throne. One could argue that the larger issue of equality for women is at stake, especially in Japan where there is growing discord regarding whats expected of women in society and what these same women want.)
Japans role in current global conflicts be they economic, political or farcical all need more attention than the state of affairs of an out-of-date, powerless monarchy. Domestically there are more pressing matters: building contractors designing faulty apartment complexes, arcane investment and tax laws that hinder efficient domestic and international investment and any associated oversight and the frightening possibility of the Japanese government implementing American style counter-crime (not everything is terrorism) measures such as fingerprinting every foreign traveler in Japan...
Enough ranting...back to the originial topic...oddly enough, of the more than 100 emperors to hold the throne...8 have already been women. Discussion finished.
on 20/2/06 10:30 AM
Isn't it time yet for the leading nations of the world to abandon altogether the useless remains of feudalism? Why do taxpayers, in Japan and England, tolerate supporting the estates of effectually powerless figure heads?
The article in contention is interesting and valuable for the gender debate it poses however, this being the time of rocket ships, satellites and Pokemon the very idea of an "Emperor", let alone the reinstatement of an aristocracy, seems laughable.
I'm very well aware that Japan is a nation that clings tenaciously to its cultural heritage while zipping headlong into a Jetson-ian future and that it is as adept as any devout Christian at explaining away the inconsistencies of its beliefs, and yet it is still difficult for me to fathom how one of the most literate and wealthy nations on the planet can be debating the succession to the Imperial Throne or that one should exist at all. Especially puzzling is why any nation should want to burden itself with supporting a monarchy which it apparently doesn't admire for either its "looks or brains", but instead for nothing other than magic blood, supposedly unbroken since the foundation of the Japanese "race" from the motherfucking sun-GODDESS.
I hope to soon see an article about the succession to Chief Executive Officer of Toyota being a woman. Oma Matt.
I completely agree that debate is necessary in this country...as you stated
"Rarely can the flaccidly appoplectic Japanese media passionately report both sides of anything of merit, let alone something that could put an official conservative stamp on a matriarch.
I think it is vitally important that Japan becomes more open to debate, any debate of merit- whether more or less important than others."...
But, is it vital that the government, when pressed with more relevant issues for the people it governs, engage in debate that will not really have any actual benefit to the Japanese people?
