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Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

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Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#41

Post by basetop »

js2 wrote: post #34
yingw787 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taiwan: watching the sun set over Kaohsiung Harbor from this old fort on a mountain. Pretty magical. South Korea: Climbing Hallasan volcano on Jeju Island. Really neat. China: Exploring Suzhou/Hangzhou old towns. Suzhou is like the Venice of China. All these places warrant a trip in and of themselves; but they didn’t feel holy to me if that makes any sense. Imperial Gardens felt different, like one thread of contiguo…

Thank you. I've not yet been to that part of the world. I've been to the Western Wall, but for me, sadly, it was just a wall.

Well at least you can't accuse them of false advertising. Israel seems like one of those places where it's either a magical place or a complete disappointment. I've heard some say it's the best place they've ever visited and others say it is a complete letdown. I suppose it depends on how religious you are.

Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#42

Post by jcranmer »

baud147258 wrote: post #28
sdegutis wrote: post #19

That's sad. In my observation of governments, if they do not have a single strong leader at the very top who answers to no one but serves everyone, then those who do govern will be so scattered in their plans and opinions that the government will be rendered almost completely ineffective at fulfilling its primary duties. A single strong leader at the top is needed, someone with courage and a strong resolve, and a cle…

> King Louis of France Which one? Because there's 17 of them. (I count 17 kings of France named Louis, since Louis 17 never reigned or anything)

Probably Louis XIV, who was infamous for his role in the centralization of power in France. It's he to whom the statement "L'etat, c'est moi" is attributed.

Side note for all the "Louis" of France: Louis XIV was succeeded by his great-grandson Louis XV, having outlived both his son Louis and his grandson Louis. It seems Henry IV's descendants had a penchant for naming everybody in line to the throne as Louis.

Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#43

Post by kamarg »

tclancy wrote: post #30
rubiquity wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey thanks for your interest but right now we're looking for people with 800+ years in lineage and 8 years of WebAssembly experience.

How am I going to get to be a senior-level monarch if I can't get some experience?

Fake it till you make it obviously.

Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#44

Post by basetop »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #25

Truly the end of an era. Akihito became emperor in 1989. At that time it seemed humanity was finally ready to put great power conflicts in the past. Akihito represented a generation that had experienced the horrors of WWII as children and saw the need to make sure that never happened again. Now as Akihito abdicates, the whispers of great power conflicts are starting again. Old alliances and coalitions that have kept…

I think Fukuyama's "End of History..." died a while ago. Actually, it probably never existed and was simply idealized wishful thinking. As they say, there can be no peace without war.

What's strange is that we know peace eventually ends. But I also can't see how we can have a war amongst nuclear powers. Could we have a peaceful war? Is it possible? Is that what the cold war was?

With the creation of the EU, rising china, resurgence russia, india, ASEAN, africa ( eventually ), the geopolitical landscape is going to change. From a historical, economical and demographic perspective, the geopolitical center should move somewhere in europe or asia from the US eventually. There are 1 billion more chinese. One billion more indians. 500 million more europeans. It is a strange quirk of history that the US is the leader of the world.

Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#45

Post by js2 »

basetop wrote: post #41
js2 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I've not yet been to that part of the world. I've been to the Western Wall, but for me, sadly, it was just a wall.

Well at least you can't accuse them of false advertising. Israel seems like one of those places where it's either a magical place or a complete disappointment. I've heard some say it's the best place they've ever visited and others say it is a complete letdown. I suppose it depends on how religious you are.

I identify strongly as a Jew, but I'm not very religious. I've visited Israel three times and enjoyed every visit. Jerusalem is an amazing city. I just had trouble finding holiness at the Western Wall. I think, for myself, I either need more quiet and solitude, or conversely, to be involved in group prayer. But I don't pray much and I'm not very practiced at it. I'm also an atheist, so prayer for me is a bit hard to explain.

Anyway, for me, the wall itself didn't evoke anything. I think there was just too much commotion with everyone doing mostly their own thing. I did enjoy watching everyone else experiencing the place, though.

If nothing else, there's a few thousand years of history there to see.

Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#46

Post by pwinnski »

bovermyer wrote: post #35
sdegutis wrote: post #19

That's sad. In my observation of governments, if they do not have a single strong leader at the very top who answers to no one but serves everyone, then those who do govern will be so scattered in their plans and opinions that the government will be rendered almost completely ineffective at fulfilling its primary duties. A single strong leader at the top is needed, someone with courage and a strong resolve, and a cle…

I'm very curious to hear what country you hail from and what system of government you currently live under.

His GitHub account suggests he hails from the Chicago suburbs.

Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#47

Post by dang »

sdegutis wrote: post #19

That's sad. In my observation of governments, if they do not have a single strong leader at the very top who answers to no one but serves everyone, then those who do govern will be so scattered in their plans and opinions that the government will be rendered almost completely ineffective at fulfilling its primary duties. A single strong leader at the top is needed, someone with courage and a strong resolve, and a cle…

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19789052 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#48

Post by protomyth »

tclancy wrote: post #30
rubiquity wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey thanks for your interest but right now we're looking for people with 800+ years in lineage and 8 years of WebAssembly experience.

How am I going to get to be a senior-level monarch if I can't get some experience?

The traditional methods of becoming a monarch have become quite limited in the modern world.

Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#49

Post by AnimalMuppet »

jcranmer wrote: post #42
baud147258 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> King Louis of France Which one? Because there's 17 of them. (I count 17 kings of France named Louis, since Louis 17 never reigned or anything)

Probably Louis XIV, who was infamous for his role in the centralization of power in France. It's he to whom the statement "L'etat, c'est moi" is attributed. Side note for all the "Louis" of France: Louis XIV was succeeded by his great-grandson Louis XV, having outlived both his son Louis and his grandson Louis. It seems Henry IV's descendants had a penchant for naming everybody in line to the throne as Louis.

That's his shining example? The believer in "divine right", who led France into a bunch of wars for his own glory and thereby got a bunch of his people killed? That's his example of a leader following "absolute truth"? Sheesh.

For his own sake, I sure hope he was trolling.

Re: Emperor Akihito: Japanese monarch declares historic abdication

#50

Post by baybal2 »

jcranmer wrote: post #29
nihonde wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean he basically begged to be fired, so it’s probably not all that much fun. They sacrifice any semblance of normalcy and have an endless calendar of ceremonies and events. Emperor Akihito acquitted himself pretty well in the job, and most people in Japan seem to be either indifferent to the royals or appreciate their focus on peace and calm and continuity. They’re a pretty boring royal family, which means they’re…

One of the particular difficulties of the Japanese royal family is you have the ultra-nationalists who never really got over Japan's loss in WW2 and the resulting changes to the Japanese royal nature, but the royalty has. You end up with a situation where the emperor indicates that he wants the nature of the royal family to change slightly, but the biggest supporters of royalty don't want to listen to him. This is ra…

Reminds me of situation during golden age in Brazil
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