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What a great article. One point missed here is the hereditary link of Shinzo Abe to his grandfather, Kishi, who was a war criminal. It is amazing and absurd tha
by westcort 5y ago
What a great article. One point missed here is the hereditary link of Shinzo Abe to his grandfather, Kishi, who was a war criminal. It is amazing and absurd that the supposed patrilineal links to the sun god remain today. Perhaps the very power of such ideas are their obvious fallacy that is asserted as a show of power.
- csa 5y ago> It is amazing and absurd that the supposed patrilineal links to the sun god remain today The current emperor is (it seems) the last one in the patrilineal lineage. I expect strangeness when succession becomes a legit topic. Will adopting his daughter’s spouse be enough? Will they move to just blood line rather than only patrilineal blood line? Will they breed an extramarital son somehow? It will be an interesting time.
- dustintrex 5y agoNot really? Crown Prince Fumihito is the current emperor's brother, and he has a son, Hisahito. Hisahito's birth was not expected, and there was serious consideration for amending the rules to allow (restore) female succession, but as things stand there's little pressure to change anything.
- csa 5y agoSerious question… do you think Hisahito is the crown prince? While possible, I bet the don’t on Hisahto becoming emperor.
- mistrial9 5y agoit is more amazing and absurd that casual observers across the globe know more about how another society should be run, their values and their cultural history
- MomoXenosaga 5y agoWhich leads to the imperialism that they claim to hate. Ironic isn't it?
- westcort 5y agoHow?
- disneygibson 5y agoYeah I really did not like this article. How about the West lets Japan figure out its own proper government and role for the emperor, rather than continuing to insist that our ways are unquestionably superior? The entire mood of this piece is dismissive and arrogant. Poor journalism.
- westcort 5y agoJournalists can draw contrasts. We are all humans and just drawing comparisons across monarchies, which until recently existed in every culture and country. In an age of global pandemics, the world is a single neighborhood. Drawing contrasts does not suggest any course of action.
- dustintrex 5y agoAre we reading the same article? The West already dictated Japan's form of government, including the role of the Imperial family, after WW2.
- disneygibson 5y agoThe article is quite negative and assumes that Western ideas are inherently superior, all monarchies are bad, etc. To be expected for a left-wing literature journal, obviously, but that doesn’t make it any less culturally imperialistic.
- westcort 5y ago
- westcort 5y agoAmazing how this comment was downvoted so much. Sorry, no divinities or demigods actually exist. Is that really controversial? I guess most of humanity is still amusing themselves with elaborate lore.