The Emperor without an Empire

On the face of it Japan is lacking the key element of being a nation state with an Emperor ie there is no Empire. It would seem more straightforward to have a King when there is only a single country to be the monarch of. And yet old habits die hard and on January 1st 2015 we entered the twenty sixth year of the reign of "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor Akihito". 

The Japanese empire was born with the Meiji Constitution enacted in 1868 following the brief civil war at the twilight of the Tokugawa Shogunate. At this time the country that is now considered Japan was effectively a set of autonomous republics plus the Bakufu regions administered directly from Edo (today's Tokyo). The title "Emperor", used throughout this new constitution, reflected the need for an overarching authority and brought agreement between the separate domains to centralise the creation of laws as well provide an overall control structure for the armed forces.

Following the creation of this crypto-empire, Japan set about creating a real one with the annexations of Korea and Taiwan (Formosa) followed by the invasion and creation of a puppet government in Manchuria. Then there came the relatively brief occupation of quite a large area of South East Asia stretching as far south as northern Papua New Guinea, west to Myanmar and east to the islands of the Pacific. 

And then it all ended in tears. The Empire of Japan was formally put to the sword with a new MacArthur led constitution in 1947. And then it was a question of holding Japan together. Changing the title of "Emperor" was simply a fight not worth fighting. And so today Japan is a single country empire and a living God officially became a mere mortal at the simple stroke of a pen.

A relaxed MacArthur greets Emperor Hirohito;
the image causing something of a scandal for its informality

Karuizawa, tennis courts and cool times

Today I arrived in Karuizawa for a few days rest. The international schools (at least some of them) are off and I'm taking the opportunity while I can. Tomorrow I'll explain the title but today I'm sitting rather confused. I've been driving to the same place for nearly ten years now. It's relaxing and cooler (temperature wise) than Tokyo, so great in summer. In winter it's seriously cool but again, that's a different story.

Today's problem happened somewhere between start of journey and destination. For ten years it's taken me 178km to arrive here. And today it took 173km. What happened to the extra five? Same route, only third car but somehow I saved those five kilometres. And they've got to be somewhere.

Japan uses kilometres rather than miles and had switched to litres before the first gulf war that encouraged all of the UK to switch so that no one really understood now much petrol (gasoline if you're still in miles) they were buying. But somehow, today, I saved 5k's. And maybe a little bit of global warming with it.

December 23, the national holiday with a secret

December 23 is a national holiday in Japan. The timing is completely unrelated to Christmas, something essentially uncelebrated here, but is a celebration of the Emperor's birthday. For some holidays throughout the year, had they fallen on a Sunday they would have, by law, been moved to Monday to ensure everyone has the day to relax. Not in this case though. This is known as the "Happy Monday" law which in it's own right is also unrelated to the 1980s English indie rock band.

December 23 also stands out for one other reason. In 1948, after a series of trials in Tokyo, the seven remaining key protagonists of the Pacific war were finally executed having been sentenced the previous November. The date was no coincidence. December 23 was chosen specifically because it was the then Emperor Hirohito's son's birthday. The allies knew that no one would celebrate martyrdom for these individuals on the Emperor's birthday in the years to come. And 65 years later they were right.