I guess there are good reasons for keeping women off Japan’s Chrysanthemum throne after all:
“Did the panel consider if Princess Aiko married a man with blue eyes after falling in love when studying abroad and the possibility that their first child would become emperor?” Takeo Hiranuma, a former economy and industry minister, told the rally. “This has to be prevented by any means.”
The humanity. Interesting reasoning, though. As if there were no chance a male child would fall in love with a woman with blue eyes while abroad studying. Which is pretty much happened to Korea’s former royal family, with the late Imperial Prince Yi Gu marrying American Julia Mullock, albeit while he was working rather than studying in New York. Of course, being half-Japanese himself, there probably wouldn’t have been much point in “keeping the bloodlines pure” at that point.
23 Comments
Why stop at the “studying abroad” bit? If she could slip away from the palace to Motown 2 in Ropponggi she could just as easily fall in love with a gaijin.
LOL, given that most of the imperial family look, a would-be empress might have trouble snagging a blue-eyed Appolo. I think that he was stating the obvious anyway - for example, non-whites wouldnt have a chance at marrying into the English Monarchy. A half white emperor might be good for the imperial family, by increasing their poor genetic diversity that has produced cripples and morons.
That should be, “given the way that most of the imperial family look”.
Royal family should be abolished everywhere. They are the last remnant of emperialism and racism.
People should read things like “bloodline”,”royal heritage”,”blood purity”,”your highness” and “blue blood” with utmost disgust and feeling of abomination.
“All men are created equal”!
Don’t blame the Japanese, though. They have not killed anyone yet, like the British did.
I am talking about Princess Di.
Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Wait a minute…when Her Imperial Highness Princess Sayako, daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko married Yoshiki Kuroda, a commoner, last year, she forfeited her royal status in doing so.
So if Princess Aiko, daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, marries a blue-eyed foreigner, be he a Jet Program Engrish teacher, a career student of history/sociology/linguistics, a failed journalist turned blogger (no one in particular), or some other variety of expat, then by definition he would be a commoner, and therefore she would be ineligible to become Empress anyway, so the original premise is a moot point.
I had a college class once with an Korean prof in the US whose name most of you would recognize.
One day, when discussing Syngman Rhee, he told us over an extended 5 to 10 mintue talking point — how Rhee is considered an ultra-patriot and that was how he won support in South Korean society early on, but it made no sense because he had married a non-Korean. He went on and on about how dissappointed the Korean-Americans who had saved up what little money they had to support Rhee when he was in exile, but then he turned around and betrayed them by marrying a white woman. The prof said that was fine for average people, but the 1st lady was supposed to represent the ideal of the females of the nation. How could a president be in office who had married outside the Korean race.
Seeing as how the few non-Koreans in the class were married to Koreans……it didn’t go over very well with us….
Racism is never pretty, no matter what country.
it’s not just racism though, there’s alot of sexist thinking in this.
even though this is the leading opponent of the PM’s bill who is saying this junk (and not representative of the majority of japanese who actually do support a female empress) who is to say that a male heir would not do the exact same thing…marry a foreign woman?
let’s remember, this is a whole new generation we’re talking about here…
also, given the fact that the girl is only 4 years old and given the fact that marriage in japan in on the decline anyway, this is assuming way too much over the fate of Princess Aiko so early on in the game.
i’m surprised robert/marmot (as well as the post he linked to) did not emphasize the fact that the man who said these words — Takeo Hiranuma — does not represent the majority of japanese people and is just one individual who has said such things to support his own agenda.
if you want to talk about true injustice, why not mention the fact that the real issue that has divided japan is not whether or not to let a female succeed to the throne (for most people support this move the PM’s bill will probably pass without problems), but whether to allow maternal succession to throne and to allow it regularily.
that really is the dividing issue in japan.
let’s give credit to japan where credit is due. the fact that the majority of ppl support a female taking the throne is one huge step in the right direction. the racist remarks came from one individual with an agenda to push and he does not represent the majority.
if we are to complain about injustice, let’s not focus on this one man’s words but on the fact that japanese ppl are on the fence as to whether or not to let maternal succession become a regular, accepted thing. that’s more alarming than one man’s shocking, (but unrepresentative of the whole’s) words.
UsinKorea,
I don’t think we were in that same class, but we got the same lines.
You talk big for a City College of New York grad. Listening to you, all white people are junk. But what are you really?
Well, dda, I wouldn’t want to insult graduates of the CUNY system, which I’m sure if a perfectly adequate university system, and I’m certain Bluejives is very successful in whatever he is doing now and a fine, upstanding member of society. If he wants to make backhanded comments about the “quality,” so to speak, of the people who post here, including me, that’s fine. Many of us probably “deserve” it, and it’s not like nasty comments about the locals and gyopos don’t get made in my comments section. All I ask is that if you’re going to poke fun at me, you get your facts straight. I’m not a “failed journalist.” Prior to taking my current job, I’ve never been employed as a writer, journalistic or otherwise. A failed translator? Perhaps. A failed graduate student? Perhaps. A failed English teacher? Perhaps. But a failed journalist? Sorry, but no–I’ve still got a couple of months left before I qualify for that one.
Jodi — You’re perfectly correct.? Frankly, I haven’t been following the issue very closely.? I just found the comment funny, especially since it was coming from a former minister and in light of the history of Korea’s own royal family.
I apologize if you thought I was specifically refering to you in some way. I wasnt refering to you, backhandedly or not. Personally, I think you run an excellent, quality blog.
That particular phrase of mine is actually just some personal twist on a H L Mencken quote where he says that a historian is really an unsuccessful novelist. Just a silly remark, nothing to get worked up about by anyone. I run a blog too and oftentimes I feel I’m being a journalist wannabee.
My bad, then. Sorry for the comment–it was uncalled for.
And thanks for that little bit at the end.
Meh…he looks like Stephen Hawking and works for Bloomberg. Big success.
Anyway, Koreans and Japanese remain blatantly and unapologetically racist. Here’s where I have to agree with nulji that it’s pointless for us white folk to take sides between them.
Hey, don’t knock CUNY. I have graduated from the Brooklyn College, Magna cum laude. A good school. My writing is poor because I spent the college days struggling with physics, chemistry and high level mathmatics. Not much writing.
And, dogbertt. As I wrote so many times, everyone is a racist to a degree. It comes from the herd instinct, a basic human nature. No human being has truly overcome this base urge yet. You have it too. You are just good at hiding it.
White people belong to the white advocacy group and the blacks the black group. There are, however, some blacks who were treated nicely by some whites and they think the average whites have no racism. So, he joins the white group.
I stay up at nights thinking about where white people are, in the US and in Europe. Do they have overcome racism as they say that they have? I wonder.
One thing is clear, though. It is definitely getting better. There is a movie out titled “Something New” and it is about the black female - white male relationship. A movie like this could have been the headline even ten years ago, but now almost normal. And, I found several black actresses in the movie are attractive. This is coming from a guy who has never been attracted to a black female.
Things are definitely getting better in racism arena. Internet and movies are bringing people together, educating them about the similarities between different groups and that we are basically made from the same dough.
I could not help but think of donuts and that mysterious hole . . .
Dogbertt agreeing with Nulji on something? What? Is this the Marmot’s Hole? …Oh wait, no, it’s not, it’s ????????????????…. Which brings up the other curious fact that I find myself agreeing with something Shakuhachi wrote:
“A half white emperor might be good for the imperial family, by increasing their poor genetic diversity….”
It would also be good politics, given the demographic mix of the UK these days—especially of London. The House of Windsor just doesn’t seem to have any relevance or hold on the popular imagination any more, either in the UK, the Commonwealth, or abroad (e.g., the US). Introducing genuinely new blood—someone from one of the larger visible minorities in the country—into the household might increase the Royal Family’s popularity. (Of course, for the Windsors to maintain any credibility in the long term, it would have to be a genuine relationship between a royal and a “commoner,” not a faux one a la C & D.)
Could the same thing work in Japan? Well, actually, I don’t know that much about how the Imperial Family is seen in Japan, so this is really just a terribly off-topic post….
Sorry, I was really elaborating upon Shak’s previous sentence: “for example, non-whites wouldnt have a chance at marrying into the English Monarchy.”
And would they really not have a chance? I just don’t see a British MP getting up in the House of Commons and decrying the possibility, in the way that Takeo Hiranuma did. Of course, some people of influence might feel that way in private, but they would never be able to say any such thing in public.
As for the British Royal Family’s personal attitudes towards such things, I have no illusions that it might be unpopular in some quarters within the family as well….
Okay, I’ve gone on long enough here.
I’d just like to agree wholeheartedly with Sewing. A couple of commenters on this blog recently seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that the average person in the UK gives a shit about the royal family. Personally, I quite like them. I think they’re a good tourist draw, and the queen is an inoffensive (for the most part), politically neutral head of state. Anyway, like I said, most British people don’t care much about the royals, and a good few really hate them. It is only in times of adversity, like when the queen mum died, that pro-Royal sentiment rallies. For this reason, I am sure that no-one but the most dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist would care much if Prince William, say, married a foreigner. In fact, something like that might be one of the few things that could generate enthusiasm for the royals among the more left leaning/liberal strands of society. In any case, it would be extremely risky politically for any mainstream politician to voice opposition to such a union based solely on the bride-to-be’s nationality or race.
Fair enough, baduk. I’m just curious what the Korean (or Japanese) basis for thinking themselves absolutely superior to every other race is. Prattle about 5000 years of history and court aesthetics just doesn’t do it for me.
This discussion about a female being allowed to rise to the throne may be for nothing, since Naruhito’s brother’s wife is pregnant, and there’s a 50-50 chance she’s with a male heir.