Is the Emperor a Figure of Reverence—or an Idol? The Schoolgirls’ Cheers and the Imperial Image Created by Meiji Japan
The other day, I watched an interesting video on YouTube.
A group of high school girls were filming the Emperor on their smartphones and exclaiming, “This is unreal!” They were reacting as though they had just encountered a popular idol.
Apparently, some conservatives criticized them, calling their behavior “disrespectful” and saying, “That is no way to behave toward His Majesty the Emperor.”
My reaction, however, was exactly the opposite.
The sight of high school girls expressing their delight at seeing the Emperor may be closer to the traditional relationship between the Japanese people and the Emperor.
Was the Emperor Always an Unapproachable Deity?
Looking back through Japanese history, the Emperor remained removed from the exercise of political power for a long time.
From the Kamakura period, which began in the late 12th century, warrior governments held effective political power. The Emperor remained a source of traditional authority rather than the holder of political power.
Of course, ordinary people did not casually socialize with the Emperor. But respect for the Emperor was not always expressed with the same solemn formality seen today.
In Kyoto, there is even a tradition of affectionately referring to the Emperor as Tennō-san, or “Mr. Emperor.”
San is an ordinary honorific used for virtually anyone. The formal honorific for the Emperor is Heika, which corresponds to “Majesty” in English.
The expression Tennō-san conveys respect for someone distant while also suggesting a certain sense of familiarity.
Respect and affection for the Emperor are not inherently contradictory.
The Meiji Government Placed the Emperor at the Center of the State
The Meiji Restoration of 1868 dramatically changed this relationship.
The Meiji government sought to dismantle the old system of the shogunate and feudal domains and build a centralized modern state.
The Emperor was placed at the center of national unity.
The government needed to unite people across their former feudal domains and social classes into a single nation. To do so, it required an authority everyone would recognize.
Ideas such as modern democracy and popular sovereignty were not yet widespread in Japan at the time.
The Meiji government therefore made use of the authority of the Emperor, backed by his long historical lineage.
Through education and state ceremonies, it developed a system that demanded loyalty to the Emperor from the population.
The idea of the Emperor’s sacred status had existed since ancient times. But it was the state system established from the Meiji era onward that connected this idea to modern governance and national education and instilled it throughout the population.
The Ideology of “Die for the Emperor”
This system eventually became intertwined with militarism.
“Fight for the Emperor.” “Give your life for the Emperor.”
Loyalty to the state and loyalty to the Emperor became one and the same, and even dying in war came to be described as a virtue.
What matters here is that respecting the Emperor and treating him as an absolute authority are two entirely different things.
Respect is a personal feeling. Treating someone as absolute means demanding that everyone else adopt the same attitude.
And whenever absolute authority emerges, there will always be people who try to impose the “correct way to show respect” on others.
I sensed a remnant of that mindset in the people who condemned the high school girls’ cheers as disrespectful.
Were the High School Girls Not Far More Natural?
What, in the first place, is wrong with becoming excited and saying “Amazing!” when you see the Emperor?
The girls were not insulting him. On the contrary, they were genuinely excited to see a special person they would rarely have the opportunity to encounter.
Cheering for an idol and feeling respect for the Emperor are not necessarily incompatible.
If anything, the belief that people must look solemn when they see the Emperor and must not cheer too casually seems to carry forward the view of the Emperor institutionalized after the Meiji Restoration.
Under Japan’s current Constitution, the Emperor is defined as “the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people.”
There is no obligation for every citizen to display respect in the same way.
Some people may respect him. Some may feel affection toward him. Others may feel nothing special at all.
That is modern Japan.
High school girls see the Emperor and cry, “This is unreal!” Adults see the girls and shout, “Disrespectful!”
Which group is freer from prewar values?
At least the high school girls are happy because they have seen the Emperor.
The adults, meanwhile, have not seen the Emperor at all. They are simply monitoring how other people express their happiness and getting angry about it.
These are people more interested in policing how the Emperor should be respected than in respecting the Emperor themselves.
Apparently, what they truly want to protect is not the Emperor, but their own idea of the “correct image of the Emperor.”