The Second View：

The Perfect Storm to exploit everything in the Japanese Social System

 
When one person happens to express the unreasonable desires while the systems were unable to say “No, YOU CAN’T,” the perfect storms have started, are engulfing today and will continue to impact everyone’s life in Japan until someone, a brave, but socially unfit, raise his/her voice loudly and then the status quo will no longer be able to accept the unreasonable desires because the truths come out and the pressure from the people explode.

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Ace Card #1: “Spare” Blood

More specifically, a Younger Brother of the Emperor of Japan, the “presumptive” Heir in the primogeniture in the male line, is the case. He happened to be a “spare blood” in the Imperial Court. However, while his brother was raised to be the Emperor of Japan, this prince was allowed to pursue the life of the “Self-Centered without any Accountability” by rejecting his duty to be trained as the “Second-in-line” successor.  He said several times “I don’t want to accept the role, even if it becomes necessary for me to do so.”  While he grew up in the life of the privileges with the long and old traditions, he further disappointed the Japanese Commoners in September 1989, when he ignored one of the critical traditions: One Year Mourning Protocol for his late grandfather, Emperor Showa, who passed away in January 1989, by announcing his engagement to a Commoners, in the mourning color, Black.  He didn’t want to wait for the announcement until the end of the mourning period, just 4 more months. All inquiry was unanswered and ignored. Moreover, it was reported that the Emperor’s Brother insisted the exception by saying “I will leave the Imperial Court unless everyone accepts my wish to announce the engagement now.” In addition, a Princess from Thailand was invited to walk on the procession, as if she were his family member, to his wedding ceremony in 1990. (Note: Please confirm these in YouTube.) The wedding ceremony is very private with the historical traditions for the Japanese Imperial family. The officials declined all the requests from the dignities in the world to attend the ceremony. So, no Japanese Commoner knows the reasons why only the Princess from Thailand was allowed to participate.  Everyone got a message: “He is using an Ace Card #1: Veto Power as Unfair Manipulation to get whatever he wants to get and do”

This may happen in other royal court as the personal wish vs. tradition. However, this case is very different as the Emperor’s Brother could get everything he wanted without Accountability. He acted in the “My way or The Highway” by finding every story and excuses to force everyone and rules to fit into his desire. Through the crafted statements from the officials and media, he avoided his responsibility to offer any explanation on the timing of the engagement: Why they couldn’t wait the announcement until the end of the mourning period along with no response on the Princess of Thailand at his wedding.  This has been his style until now.

Through shifting the blame to his elder brother, the then-Crown Prince of Japan, the Emperor’s Brother also stated “The Crown Prince will not find anyone to marry for the long time,” “So, why do I need to wait the announcement and wedding until my elder brother gets married.” It was also the traditions in Japan that the younger sibling would wait or at least act with respect for the older sibling in the important events such as wedding, etc. The then-Crown Prince married three years later, in 1993, to a perfect lady, beautiful, intelligent and well educated, with a degree from Harvard University, which was earned rightfully as a Commoners before starting her carrier as a young diplomat of Ministry of Japan in Foreign Affairs. The Japanese Commoners passionately loved and wholeheartedly accepted them as the next generation of the symbol of Japan.  However, the Emperor’s Brother and his wife may not have joined the Japanese Commoners as the comparison between the two couples were getting heat up unfavorable to them. So, he and his wife acted in the “My way or The Highway” by finding every story and excuses to force everyone and rules to fit into the desire.

Ace Card #2: An Only Male Baby, for the Next Generation of Imperial Court

Traditionally, the number one duty for the royal wife had been, for the long time in the world, to give birth to the male children as successors to keep in the primogeniture in the male line. So, in 1889, the Japanese Government created the Chapter 1 in the Original Imperial Household Law, as independent law outside the Constitution of Japan to limit the eligibilities of assuming the position of the Emperor of Japan, only to the ones in the primogeniture in the male line. However, the historical studies clearly contradict with the reasoning to justify the statement, such as “All of the emperors, 126 to be exact, was the male,” as the eight females became the Emperor of Japan, some of them ruled and were respected for the long time, which the spinners and some government officials completely ignore. The Chapter 1 was kept in the succession qualifications, even in the New Law, enacted in 1946, under the current Japanese Constitution. So, this became the hot topic, between the two couples for the media, officials and the Japanese Commoners, as the “Race for a baby boy.”

It turned out that the then-Crown Prince and Princess had no male child while they have a young Princess, Aiko, well-groomed as the next “Heir” by her parents and other respected officials. She is passionately welcomed by most of the Japanese Commoners and the foreign dignitaries who probably understood the issue very clearly as the part of the Noblesse Oblige. Accordingly, these Japanese Commoners’ position is to push the amendment in the Chapter 1: Article 1 of the Imperial Household Law, clearly to adopt the absolute primogeniture.

Meanwhile, some unusual remarks were made in 2003 by a high-ranking government official. It said “The People of Japan are wholeheartedly requesting both the then-Crown Prince and Princess and the Emperor’s Brother and his wife to try their second and third child, respectively, to try for a baby,’ (implying the baby as the male as there are less possibility in his opinion to see the male baby from the then-Crown Prince and Princess.)”  Another official even stated that the Princess’s number one duty is to produce a successor, male babies, (implying that the then-Crown Prince and Princess were doing other works. So, she needs to shift her priority from the Imperial Diplomacy to concentrate in the child bearing.) In the Japanese Commoners’ view, the statements could not had been made unless the officials were either instructed or authorized implicitly or specifically, by the “group with absolute power” in the highest ranks over the then-Crown Prince and Princess, to issue the statements such as these. The Japanese Commoners, more specifically female, instinctively became aware of who the “group with absolute power” were, and strongly protested to these insensitive comments from the high-ranking officials, because these statements humiliated to limit the female’s role as the baby machine only, while the officials were talking about the empowering women and the discussion to adopt the absolute the primogeniture were advancing in the national legislative branches of the National Diet.

On September 6, 2006, a baby was born as the first Son for the Emperor’s Brother and his wife, 40 years old then after two daughters, last one in 12 years before. For the most of Japanese female, this is well past the child bearing age. Then, some are even questioning on the timing of the announcement, “It will be a Baby Boy!” as the news was announced just for the conception. With little explanation, the legislators cancelled, not even put the topic hold on the legislation discussion to adopt the absolute the primogeniture. The new attempt to adopt the absolute the primogeniture was suppressed. Some release even blamed that the 12 years gap between the male baby at 40 years old and the second daughter at 28 years old was forced by the then-Crown Princess’ failure of producing the second baby in male. While this insensitive media release was accepted by the Japanese Commoners at the time. However, they discovered and believe, now, that this was a part of the negative campaigns by the officials under the approval or instructions by the “group with absolute power” in aiming to justify the shift of the succession line to Emperor’s Brother and his Son.

Japanese Commoners felt that the Emperor’s Brother got the second Ace Card as the father of the ”Presumptive” Heir in male baby by keeping the current succession rule.  According to the current law: No Change in the Chapter 1: Article 1 of the Imperial Household Law, it is the Emperor Brother’s game to lose because he got a Son, until the changes were adopted.

Ace Card #3: Mother of the Emperor’s Brother

No one knows clearly what is going on in the Imperial Court. So, after reviewing the leaked information vs. official messages, events and the developments for the long time, the wide spread feeling among the Japanese Commoners on the topic: “Who is the Person with the absolute power,” letting the prefect storms had happened, are happening and will probably continue to do, is that the person is most likely the Mother of Emperor and his brother.

Historically, she was the first lady to start the new tradition in 1959 for the Imperial family as a Commoners to marry the then-Crown Prince, now The Emperor of Japan, Emeritus while she was called The Empress of Japan, Emerita. However, the tittle, “Emerita, 上皇后” never existed before and specifically was created for her retirement in 2019 through The Law for Special Exception of the Imperial House Law concerning Abdication, etc. of Emperor (天皇の退位等に関する皇室典範特例法). She was credited as a reformer to bring fresh air to the Imperial Traditions. So, until the retirement as the Emperor and Emperess of Japan, the couple were well protected by the business and political networks with the establishments and new rules which her people crafted over the years, 30+ years, through official, business connection and old media. The “Unspoken” rules were believed to be “Don’t mess with her” while she did not have any other governing tittle beyond the “Spouse of the Emperor of Japan, then and Mother of two Princes in male line for succession along with a princess.”   The followings are the feeling among the Japanese Commoners at this point about her.

• A Great Actor with the façade, meaning that the creation and maintaining the image is critical for her
• A very opiniated persona as the Noblesse Oblige with little compassion and humility beyond the word as she came from the life of the wealth without real life experience
• A Mother with the favoritism among the three children, regardless the expectations from the Japanese Commoners on the children as the next generation of the Imperial Family.

It was her who started a new tradition to raise three children under her love and care rather than the separate but superior people in the traditional noble family. However, her uneven favoritism on three children raised some concern over the years. The first Son wasn’t her favorite, seemingly, being raised jointly both in tradition and private family values to be then-Crown Prince, eventually the Emperor of Japan. The third child, daughter was also viewed as shadow as she was always wearing similar clothes in plain style and color, despite the privileges for being princess while the Mother had been spending the large sum of the tax funds for her elaborate coordination of the clothes, hat and shoes for the very long period. While the real story of her excess interest in keeping the “Noblesse” image had been well hidden or justified for the long time, some truths revealed now that the size of the spending and how they were hidden by manipulating the media access permit. In short, the Mother needed to be the center of the attention all the time to keep the perfect facade.

However, no one understood why the Mother raised the Emperor’s Brother being spoiled as the “Self-Centered without little Accountability” while trying to control or attack others, especially who are superior or potentially becoming challenges to her image, in the credential and capabilities in the Imperial Expectations.  It is also well reported that the strange adjectives and discrepancy in the official releases, foreign vs. domestic were micromanaged through her awareness. Those are injected into the standard Japanese releases in the grammatically incorrect or sound strange, so the Japanese Commoners are wondering why those are necessary as they look very unbalanced. The examples of the strange adjectives are like (1) “…Communicated without interpreter’s assistance,” “…. Raised in true multi-culture environment,” “Super achiever” which are exclusively reserved for the family of The Emperor’s Brother. Now, everyone knew that these adjectives were not true indication of being the multilingual and super performer as they can confirm the truth in the official video coverages from the foreign origins.

Now, with the linguistic abilities with the intelligence, actual experience and the academic accomplishments in the top institutions, just by seeing the unedited flows and the visual confirmation of the reactions from the other sides in the media releases, anyone can tell who is communicating with the foreign dignities in the Noblesse English and who is trying to speak the simple phrase phonetically. The duty for the royal is to build the good communication with the VIPs. In the Japanese Commoners’ view, the Mother’s ability forcefully to manipulate the communication with the foreign VIPs are outdated without actual deep-rooted experience.

However, more critical or potential “Gross Challenges” on the position of the Emperor in the Japanese Constitutions, as the Imperial Household Law is a part of the law’s structures under the Japanese Constitution, were forced by the then-Emperor and Empress of Japan in 2017, which entailed as follows

• The Law for Special Exception of the Imperial House Law concerning Abdication, etc. of Emperor( 天皇の退位等に関する皇室典範特例法), for the abdication of Akihito, the 125th Emperor of Japan, fully in effect on May 1^st, 2019 after the accession and enthronement of the new emperor, Naruhito. The Imperial Household Law clearly defines that the Emperor is “on throne until death” while the Abdication Law was also explained on April 30, 2019 by  the Chief Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Yoshihide Suga as “setting up precedents for the future“
• Meanwhile, the Mother, as Empress, Emerita, remains at the age of 90 to be a regent in the third line (摂政継承順位3位) in the core segment of the Imperial Court, while tapping significant allocation away in the Imperial budget for the Emperor’s family, along to keep her own staffs and a facility in the same size, with the often-reported active comments to impact the business for the next generation of the Imperial Family. This means that the Mother hasn’t retired and still hold significant power at the age of being 90+year old, despite the Law for Special Exception, above
• Her preference and favorite position on the Emperor’s Brother may lead easily to the second abdication of Naruhito, based on the Abdication Law. While the law like this is supposed to be the Special Exception, it is also true that these kinds of legal maneuvers were frequently used to manipulate the law, which the Japanese Commoners believe unacceptable to abuse to choose the Emperor of Japan as the symbol of the nation with the full support from the people.

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The society standard, ethics, rules and laws in Japan have been built historically with the strong emphasis on the honesty and fairness with even higher expectation on the Imperial Family and the rulers. So, the system isn’t working right if the people in the privilege are ignoring the expectation for the selfish gains. For the Japanese Commoners and even officials, these three Ace Cards: #1,2,3 are very difficult to deal with when the Emperor’s Brother plays them unethically to achieve the personal desires while everyone is aware that they aren’t the right thing to do. So, over the time, the huge façade was built for the perfect storm to change the succession of the Emperor of Japan, possibly to the current “Presumptive” Heirs.

If you are interested in further learning about the dynamics and current situation on how the Ace Card #1,2,3 impacted, please check The Third View: Crumbling the Façade with the Self-Centered without Accountability.

（HR, California）

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