Japanese emperor signals abdication
In an extraordinary televised address, Emperor Akihito tells the Japanese people that he wants to step down from the throne, which his family has held for almost 2,700 years.
TOKYO — In an extraordinary televised address on Monday, Emperor Akihito told the Japanese people that he wants to step down from the Chrysanthemum Throne, which his family has held for almost 2,700 years.
If Parliament grants the emperor’s wish, it would be the biggest transformation of the Japanese monarchy since World War II and could have implications for Japan’s postwar pacifist identity.
Many Japanese view Akihito as a quiet but powerful guardian of that identity, even as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conservative government has sought to loosen decades-old legal restrictions on the military and to revise the pacifist clause in the country’s constitution, written by U.S. occupiers in 1947.
Political influence
Akihito, 82, who has been treated for cancer and heart problems, wants to pass the title to his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 56. The prince shares his father’s quiet demeanor and, by all accounts, his commitment to keeping the monarchy apolitical. But some analysts fear that if the emperor abdicates, his role as a symbolic counterweight to the Abe government’s increased militarism could be lost.
Japanese law, which says an emperor serves until death, makes no provision for abdication. That puts Abe’s government in a bind: It will draw criticism if it backs the abdication or tries to stop it.
If the government amends the law governing imperial succession in Parliament, concern may grow about its influence over the imperial household, analysts said.
“People both on the right and left would be cautious about making sure this process doesn’t weaken the institution and therefore open up the succession to political influence,” said Sheila A. Smith, a Japan expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Opinion surveys conducted by the Japanese media suggest that the public overwhelmingly supports the emperor’s wishes to step down. As many as 85 percent of respondents say they favor amending the Imperial Household Law to allow it.
Amending the law also could revive a contentious issue: the debate over allowing a woman to be the monarch. Only men can inherit the throne, a provision that is increasingly in dispute. A decade ago, during a debate about whether the law should be changed to open the way for female monarchs, conservatives in Abe’s right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party were firmly opposed.
‘Cans of worms’
Abe’s government has embraced the idea of female empowerment in other areas, notably the workplace, but few think it is ready to extend the concept to the monarchy.
“This opens other cans of worms,” said Kenneth Ruoff, director of the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University and author of “The People’s Emperor,” a history of the postwar Japanese monarchy.
In his address Monday, the emperor spoke publicly about the issue of retiring for the first time, though his wishes have been an open secret for several months.
Though his words were characteristically vague — he discussed his age, his rigorous daily schedule and what he called his increasing physical limitations — the message was unmistakable.
“When I consider that my fitness level is gradually declining, I am worried that it may become difficult for me to carry out my duties as the symbol of the state with my whole being as I have done until now,” Akihito said in a prerecorded address that lasted about 10 minutes and was broadcast on Japanese television networks.