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Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

nytimes.com

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Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#31

Post by gozur88 »

oldbuzzard wrote: post #17
systemtest wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing wrong with a constitutional monarchy. You get all the benefits from democratically chosen representatives without the downside of the 4-year moodswings. The monarch will always choose what is best for the country instead of what is best for the currently ruling party. It looks at long-term vision instead of just the 4-year term. It takes care of continuity instead of the "this will not be my problem in 6 mont…

How so? Most of these are explicitly apolitical The monarchy didn't help with Brexit. I suppose it could help broker coalition governments in a parlimentary systems... though Thailand certainly shows how overly broad lese majeste laws and and strong military can have the opposite effect at least with regards to national unity.

What do you mean "help with Brexit"? Is there a reason to believe she should have come down on one side or another?

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#32

Post by mehwoot »

moogly wrote: post #16
twblalock wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with replacing constitutional monarchs is that they know their place, but the heads of state who would replace them might not. After all, they are likely to be elected, and could therefore have a viable claim to legitimacy in the exercise of their prerogatives. The Japanese emperor has no political power, and really doesn't cost the country that much to keep around. Remember that in parliamentary systems,…

Plenty of nations have successfully abolished constitutional monarchy in the past couple of hundred years. The role and political power of the head of state (be it Prime Minister/Chancellor or President, or a combination — doesn't matter) should be well-defined in the constutition (which of course needs changing). I don't really see any loopholes here... I find that argument to be a red herring. As you say, in some c…

Australia voted against the chance to replace its constitutional monarchy because of ambiguities and uncertainties about these questions. People know what they are getting with the existing systems and the constitutional monarchs have no real power. If you're changing that you have to be very careful.

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#34

Post by keerthiko »

moogly wrote: post #4

I propose a deal: Let the man rest in exchange for the abolishment of the constitutional monarchy. Symbolic or not, it's outmoded and incongruent with modern egalitarian society. The list of constitutional monarchies is rather embarrassingly long (37 countries).

Are you operating from the premise that a non-monarchy is strictly and uniformly superior? Or that figurehead monarchs are bad? With the former I beg to differ, having lived in the Middle East for a significant portion of my life. With the latter, well, maybe, it's a marginal cost to keep many traditionalists and culturally conservative members of a very proud people sated.

Strangely (to me) people sing the praises of democracy and disparage their existing democratically elected government with the same breath. And most citizens of countries led by monarchs have far less to complain about governance (and not, as many keyboard pundits may guess, because of something crass like they'd get executed for voicing dissent).

I'm not going to claim either system is superior to the other, but I think it's a stretch to call the existence of monarchies "embarrassing"

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#35

Post by dmichulke »

My take - the emperor is well educated and knows what's coming. Continuous tensions with China, printing money for some 35 years now (correct me if I'm wrong), a demography that's unsustainable, a treasury and stock market controlled by the central bank, ...

1920s/30s all over again with first a collapse of the yen and later on a war to distract the blame from the failed monetary policy and funnel the anger into some nationalist ideology.

I certainly can't blame him for not wanting to take part in that.

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#36

Post by InclinedPlane »

stuaxo wrote: post #33

Then maybe Britains Queen could resign, she looks like she's eaten a wasp whenever she appears in public or on TV.

Have you been following what's been happening in British politics lately? Eating a wasp would be a step up.

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#37

Post by kogepathic »

gfodor wrote: post #21

I find it bizarre that Japan is having an contentious debate about if it's appropriate for a woman to ascend to a completely powerless role while the US just nominated its first (viable) female candidate for president. edit: Wow, apparently this is an offensive comment. I'm having a hard time twisting my brain to see how, but my point was simply that the it seems odd that there would be contention over a powerless ro…

> while the US just nominated its first (viable) female candidate for president.

And as someone who isn't from the US, I find it incredibly bizarre that you haven't had a female leader yet.

The UK has had 2 female Prime Ministers (1979-1990, 2016-), Canada has had 1 (1993), and Germany (2005-) to name a few.

> I find it bizarre that Japan is having an contentious debate about if it's appropriate for a woman to ascend to a completely powerless role

Considering your country is just getting to the point where it's socially acceptable for a woman to run for the position of President, maybe you will consider that your country also looks comical from an outside perspective, instead of just taking a negative tone toward Japan for not already having gender equality in their monarchy.

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#38

Post by CamperBob2 »

sspiff wrote: post #23
gfodor wrote: post #21

I find it bizarre that Japan is having an contentious debate about if it's appropriate for a woman to ascend to a completely powerless role while the US just nominated its first (viable) female candidate for president. edit: Wow, apparently this is an offensive comment. I'm having a hard time twisting my brain to see how, but my point was simply that the it seems odd that there would be contention over a powerless ro…

The president of the united states is arguably also a powerless, symbolic role.

Really? Let's hear that "argument."

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#39

Post by OedipusRex »

dmichulke wrote: post #35

My take - the emperor is well educated and knows what's coming. Continuous tensions with China, printing money for some 35 years now (correct me if I'm wrong), a demography that's unsustainable, a treasury and stock market controlled by the central bank, ... 1920s/30s all over again with first a collapse of the yen and later on a war to distract the blame from the failed monetary policy and funnel the anger into some…

A war with who?

Re: Emperor Akihito of Japan Raises Possibility of Leaving Throne

#40

Post by ordinary »

Jach wrote: post #19
oldbuzzard wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so? Most of these are explicitly apolitical The monarchy didn't help with Brexit. I suppose it could help broker coalition governments in a parlimentary systems... though Thailand certainly shows how overly broad lese majeste laws and and strong military can have the opposite effect at least with regards to national unity.

Has the Queen even spoken about whether she approves of Brexit or not?

No, but it is rumoured she is not a Europhile.
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