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Internetの威力をまざまざと見せつけられる瞬間があり、この記事もそのひとつ。York大学でクラスメイトだった、南スダーンから来たでっかい、優しい男Anthonyが、未だに紛争まっただ中の南スダーンで元気に笑っている（少なくとも今年の7月は！）

英国北部の寒さに震えながら、愛する祖国の平和のためと、その博識を武器に明るくクラスのみんなを勇気づけていた。

教室での発言ではいつも、どんな短い発言でも必ず「In my country South Sudan」と枕詞のように、しかも話題を変えるたびにこのフレーズを入れるので、クラスメイトは、「わかったよ、そンだけ南スダーンを愛してるんだね」と、みんな笑いながら受けいれ（我慢し?）たものだ。Anthonyには、皆にそれを受け入れさせるほどの根拠、情熱と祖国への愛があった。

 THURSDAY 28 JULY 2016I

SPLM nominates former minister Makana parliamentary speaker

anthony

July 27, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudan ruling SPLM party has nominated former transport minister Anthony Lino Makana as speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), breaking an impasse that has delayed reconstituting the oversight監視, 監督body of the government.

The meeting at SPLM House in Juba on Wednesday was chaired by President Salva Kiir who also chairs the ruling party, and comes a day after the replacement of the former First Vice President Riek Machar by Taban Deng Gai

President Kiir, who made the announcement, said today decision is a new page for the fractured party.

“You now voted and four candidates from Equatoria were brought to the SPLM leadership. The leadership of the SPLM has selected honorable Anthony Lino Makana,” said Kiir, referring to his SPLM faction.

The party split into three factions at the onset of December 2013 conflict: SPLM In Government led by Kiir, SPLM In Opposition of Riek Machar and SPLM former detainees led by former Secretary General Pagan Amum.

Kiir said the SPLM factions has no choice but to remain united.

“If you are not united in this (SPLM) house, you will not be united in the (parliament) bigger house,” he further said, warning that “measures will be taken against dissent members of parliament” who vote against SPLM policies.

Sources in the meeting said the First Vice President Taban Deng Gai has accepted to nominate deputy speaker.

Oliver Benjamin, the head of information in the national parliament, said a special session to formally select the speaker in parliament will be convened on Monday.

“All members of parliament have been recalled to Juba to be able to attend on Monday August 1, 2016,” he said by phone on Wednesday.

According to the August 2015 Agreement for Resolution of Conflict in the Republic, the current parliament with 332 MPs will be expanded to 400. The SPLM IO nominated new 50 legislators, 1 from former detainees and 17 from other political parties.

Disagreement over which party to nominate the speaker stalled expansion of the parliament and commencing始める the TNLA.

(ST)

AnthonyはKirr政府の議会議長だ。

 

10/14現在、マーケットも開いたらしい。

FRIDAY 14 OCTOBER 2016

South Sudan markets in Juba reopen after abrupt closure

October 13, 2016 (JUBA) – Shop owners in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, have resumed work following an abrupt closure on Wednesday, following false reports of Salva Kiir’s death on the social media.

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People walk through a market in the southern Sudanese city of Juba January 7, 2011 in Juba – (File photo AFP/Getty)

Interior Minister Michael Chienyjiek issued a statement dismissing the allegation, describing them as rumours circulated by “criminals to use it as the opportunity to loot.

“Stay calm, and carry on normally. There should no fear. The president had already come out yesterday and you saw him touring the whole town yesterday. This was to confirm to the public that he is alive. What happened was another social media hoax”, said Chienyjiek

He commended various markets in Juba which resumed activities on Wednesday evening after few hours of abrupt closure. Traders and hawkers who had run away from custom market have resumed since 5.00 PM local time yesterday and were selling their goods normally.

Several markets such as Konyokonyo, Jebel and Juba markets have also resumed operation according to sources. Many residents claimed the run from market on Wednesday after some running without asking the cause. Others attributed the cause to a crackdown on money exchangers by the police.

“I have resumed work normally today. Yesterday my shop was closed because there was confusion allover. Some people were running unnecessarily. If you ask, no one would give a definite answer, Deng Mawien, a trader in Malakia market told Sudan Tribune on Thursday.

But while others were running due to fear stemming from rumours about the death of the president, others were running away from police measures banning money changers on the street in fulfillment of municipality order.

Police force launched an operation to crack down on U.S. dollar hawkers, causing them to flee the market. No gun shot was fired by the police when the police carried out the operation.

Earlier this year, Mayor of Juba City banned selling of U.S. dollars on the street of Juba, and ordered the police to crackdown on those selling dollars. Armed robbers attacked Konyokonyo market

SPLA Spokesperson Brig. Gen Lul Ruai Koang told journalists that people in Konyokonyo market fled when armed robbers attacked and robbed at gun point leading to the closure of the market yesterday,

He said that 3 robbers entered the market and started terrorizing people using pistols. Two of the robbers were apprehended and 1 is still at large. The two robbers, he said were later found to be foreign nationals.

(ST)

 

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この2～3年、YCUエクステンション講座で「ドイツ語で学ぶ音楽（だったかな？）」を楽しく聴講している。その中で改めて知ったのがシューベルトの（シラーやゲーテなどの）詩の解釈の深さ、時代とともに生きた当時の音楽家の生涯、楽曲そのもの美しさ・豊かさ、それを演奏する演奏家の個性など。　興味は尽きない。

The Guardianの10/7記事には私の好きなSchubert, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore, Ian Bostridge, David Bowie, Winterreise,  Die Schöne Müllerinなどの言葉がちりばめられている。読むしかない！

 

From Schubert to Sinatra: why the song cycle speaks to the heart

A new English version of Die Schöne Müllerin offers a reminder as to why it’s Sinatra – not his classical contemporaries – that matches Schubert in ambition

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Romantic journeys … Franz Schubert (1820). Photograph: Rischgitz/Getty Images

 

 Christopher Fox

Friday 7 October 201615.00 BSTLast modified on Saturday 8 October 201600.00 BST

It’s an everyday story of country folk. You’re walking beside a stream when you come across a water mill. It’s a family-run business and the miller’s daughter is a lovely girl. You fall in love with her, and perhaps she does with you. But a huntsman turns up, steals her heart and breaks yours. The End.

With an update or two – the mill becomes an organic farm perhaps, the huntsman a gamekeeper – it could almost be an Archers plot, but in 1823 the Viennese composer Franz Schubert made it the subject of a set of 20 songs, Die Schöne Müllerin (The Lovely Miller-Girl). Schubert had found the poems the previous year, part of a newly published volume of poetry by his near-contemporaryWilhelm Müller, and he immediately started to compose settings for them; they were published in 1824. Three years later, Schubert wrote a second set of songs to Müller’s poetry, Winterreise (Winter Journey), and with these two works he launched a new genre, the song cycle.

winter-journeys-010

 

Ian Bostridge on singing Schubert’s Winterreise – an indispensable work of art

Read more

Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise quickly found admirers. In 1829, the year after Schubert’s untimely death (he was only 31), Josef von Spaun wrote that “whatever filled the poet’s breast Schubert faithfully represented and transfigured in each of his songs, as none has done before him”. For nearly 200 years, these song cycles have fascinated musicians and audiences alike, inspiring countless performances and hundreds of recordings, as well as a vast repertoire of songs that try to match the clarity of Schubert’s word setting. Like Wordsworth and Coleridge in their Lyrical Ballads, Schubert was on a Romantic quest in search of a more informal mode of expression; instead of the elaborate diction of 18th‑century verse and music, this new voice could speak directly to the heart. The short stanzas and simple rhyme-schemes of Müller’s poems have this folk-like quality, and Schubert’s settings allow us to hear every word.

Or rather, they allow German-speaking audiences to hear every word. One of the problems confronting any singer of this music is a decision about how to communicate it: if your listeners don’t understand the language, how can you share the meaning of the words? You might print them on a screen or in a programme book, but then you lose part of your audience’s attention. Or you might sing a version of the music in which the words have been translated. This used to be the way it was done in England. Foreign music, whether Bach cantatas, Mozart operas or Schubert songs, was sung to words that the locals could understand.

2382 German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau with pianist Gerald Moore. Photograph: Erich Auerbach/Getty Images

 

But in Die Schöne Müllerin the songs are born out of a uniquely intimate connection between language and music: to translate them is surely to lose an essential part of the work’s identity. To hear Schubert properly, convention dictates, we must hear it in German. Why then is the Wigmore Hall – the London headquarters of classical song – presenting the song cycle in English, as The Beautiful Maid of the Mill? The pianist Christopher Glynn, who commissioned this new translation from Jeremy Sams for the Ryedale festival, explains: “There were three motivations. First, I think the songs are stories and should be experienced as such – and a foreign language can be a barrier to singers and audience alike. t saddens me that song is on the margins of even the classical music world – a niche within a niche – and I wanted to do something to bring these cycles to a wider audience.Thirdly, I came across the wonderful YouTube clip of Harry Plunkett Greene singing “Der Leiermann”, the last song from Winterreise. It’s a haunting performance – all the more so for being in English. I was interested to look back to a time where the importance of communicating directly and clearly with your audience was more important for a singer than the notion of being absolutely faithful to the original version of a work (authenticity instead of Authenticity)”.

Fischer-Dieskau’s 1951 recording of Die Schöne Müllerin with Moore remains one of the finest ever made of this cycle

Sams is the ideal choice. Not only is he a composer and writer, he is also the son of Eric Sams, the great scholar of the German lieder tradition that grew out of Schubert’s work. As he told the Ryedale festival audience, his father had warned him, “Never translate lieder. Opera is fine – those are stories. But lieder are poetry and should not be touched.” Perhaps with this parental guidance in mind, Sams’ translations are freer than any of their predecessors. Rather than making a word for word substitution, he has created a new poetry that matches idiomatic English to the sense of Müller’s words and the rhythms of Schubert’s music.

Listeners familiar with Die Schöne Müllerin will notice this from the very beginning. In the first poem Müller repeats a key word in each of the five stanzas: “wandern” (wandering) in the first and last, other words in the intervening stanzas. But in Sams, just one word, “somewhere”, recurs in each stanza, pulling the song together even more tightly. It’s bold – more Sondheim than Müller perhaps – but that’s how Sams sees Müller anyway. For him, these poems are “bold, intense, driven. Very modern in their depictions of mental disturbance. InDie Schöne Müllerin the protagonist is a restless dreamer, maybe a fantasist (how real is his relationship with the Miller’s daughter?). He veers between self-doubt and excessive outbursts of self-justification.”

That modernity is there throughout Die Schöne Müllerin. An everyday story may gradually emerge as song follows song, but it’s a peculiar kind of story-telling. Because the narrator is also a protagonist, we see everything through his eyes, aPeep Show view of the world. It’s also because of this intensely subjective perspective that it’s impossible to dramatise Schubert’s song cycles – there’s not enough action to fill a stage or screen. Instead the cues provided by the shifts in tone and mood in his music enable our imaginations to jump the gaps from scene to scene.

 

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  Frank Sinatra at the new Capitol Records studio B, in Hollywood, 1956. Photograph: Frank Sinatra Enterprises

Perhaps it’s because of these peculiarities – a tale told in a series of fleeting vignettes by a narrator who, as Sams suggests, may be a fantasist – that there are so few successors to Die Schöne Müllerin. The other great song cycle composer of the 19th century was Robert Schumann, whose Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und Leben follow the Schubertian model, but after Schumann most composers have been less ambitious. There are wonderful sets of songs by Brahms, Mendelssohn and Wolf, but none is bound to a single narrative. Their ambition may also have been tempered by their publishers’ sense of the market: singers want to be able to make their own selections, programming songs to show off their particular vocal qualities, and even Die Schöne Müllerin had to wait until 1856 for a first complete public performance.

In the 1950s the invention of the long-playing record format created new possibilities. Die Schöne Müllerin fits perfectly on the two sides of an LP and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s 1951 recording with the pianist Gerald Moore remains one of the finest ever made. But the new medium inspired few song cycles from classical composers that have anything like the ambition of Schubert; instead it is the series of LPs that Frank Sinatra made for Capitol Records in the 1950s that comes closest. Nelson Riddle’s arrangements give each album a composerly coherence and the selection of songs allows Sinatra to inhabit a different character for each record: the upbeat charmer of Songs for Swingin’ Lovers!, the world-weary romantic of Only the Lonely.

 

3259 David Bowie on his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane tour in London, 1973. Photograph: Michael Putland/Getty Images

 

In 1967 the Times music critic William Mann wrote of the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band that it had “a certain shape and integrity new to pop song LPs, which are usually unconnected anthologies. Sooner or later some group will take the next logical step and produce an LP that is a pop song cycle, a Tin Pan Alley Dichterliebe.” Five decades later, Mann’s prediction is still unfulfilled. In pop songs the singer may, like the singer of Die Schöne Müllerin, be cast as the principal character in a brief drama, but it’s their drama. Pop musicians rarely inhabit other personae – why should they when it’s their own persona that fascinates their fans? – and even the extraordinary David Bowie was only briefly able to sustain the alter egos who observe the dystopian landscapes of Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs.

So perhaps the legacy of Die Schöne Müllerin, composed when Schubert had been diagnosed with syphilis, lies only in the songs themselves and the fragmentary story they tell. In 1824 he wrote to a friend: “imagine a man whose health will never be right again; Imagine a man, I say, whose most brilliant hopes have come to nothing, to whom the joy of love and friendship have nothing to offer but pain. I may well sing every day now, for each night, I go to bed hoping never to wake again, and each morning only tells me of yesterday’s grief.” As Sams says, Müller’s poetry “spoke directly to a great composer’s broken heart and became his voice”; it’s a voice that speaks as directly as ever.

  • The song cycle series begins at the Wigmore Hall, London W1U, on 12 October. Toby Spence and Christopher Glynn performThe Beautiful Maid of the Mill on 23 October. wigmore-hall.org.uk

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/07/from-schubert-to-sinatra-why-the-song-cycle-speaks-to-the-heart?CMP=share_btn_tw#img-4　　The Guardian

 

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英語の発音の勉強のため、この美しい発音の新しい英国首相のメッセージをふたつ。

%e3%82%84%e3%81%be%e3%82%86%e3%82%8a

 

Rosh Hashanah 2016: Theresa May’s message

From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street　and The Rt Hon Theresa May MP　2 October 2016

The Prime Minister sends her best wishes to everyone in Britain and around the world to mark this Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

It gives me great pleasure to wish the Jewish community in Britain and around the world a very happy and peaceful New Year.

This is a special time, when Jewish families join together in celebration and prayer. It is also a time of remembrance and renewal.

We remember the tremendous contribution made by Britain’s Jewish community to this country, from those who have served in our armed forces to those leading in fields such as business, science and the arts. You have given so much over the years, while at the same time maintaining a sense of identity, religion and culture.

And in the spirit of renewal we think of the opportunities ahead not only for ourselves, but for our country: opportunities to forge a bold and positive new role for Britain in the world, to build a better, fairer society, and to bring people closer together.

I have seen for myself the inspirational work carried out by many Jewish charities and organisations in Britain: helping and supporting others and reaching out to people of different backgrounds and faiths.

I want to ensure that Britain is a place where all our communities can flourish, and that means stamping out sickening and shameful hatred, including anti-Semitism the like of which I never thought we would see again.

I am clear that such hatred has absolutely no place in our society. So,as the Jewish New Year begins, I want to renew my unshakeable vow to stand by our Jewish community now and for the years to come. And as Prime Minister, and working in partnership with you, I will do everything in my power to protect your community, and indeed all communities in Britain.

I am also proud to support the new National Holocaust Memorial which will be built at the heart of our democracy, next to Parliament, along with an associated learning centre. We owe it to everyone who endured the horrors of the Holocaust to remind future generations of the depths into which humanity can sink, so it is never repeated again.

So once again I want to wish the Jewish community all the very best this Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

tokeijiryuhoji2016_36

 

 

 

***********************************************************************

Eid al-Adha 2016: Theresa May’s message

12 September 2016

“To all Muslims, in this country and around the world, I want to say Eid Mubarak. I wish you a happy and peaceful Eid.” Prime Minister Theresa May.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

To all Muslims in Britain and around the world I wish you a blessed Eid al-Adha. I know this festival means a great deal to communities, a time when families and friends are brought together to pray and feast, and Muslims across different continents are brought together in faith.

And as you share in that spirit of togetherness, I think proudly of the many ways people in this country connect with each other and enrich our nation’s life.

I see this in politics where British Muslims are making a real difference, in enterprise and the running of multi-million pound businesses, and in the courage and dedication of those who safeguard our streets and serve in our armed forces.

I see this in the charity and compassion of our Muslim communities, whose members give so generously to those less fortunate.

And I also see this in the way people are brought together with those around the world through the strong bonds of shared history, family relationships, and concern for those suffering and in pain. I think particularly of the ongoing conflict in Syria and Iraq. Our more than £2 billion contribution, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis, is helping people caught up in that appalling conflict and I am pleased that we will be continuing to provide support to those in need.

As Prime Minister, I want to see our communities go from strength to strength. Bringing people together and ensuring that everyone is able to make the most of the opportunities Britain has to offer, no matter what their background, and no matter where they are from, is central to my government’s mission. As I said when I stood on the steps of Downing Street, I want to make this a country that works for everyone.

I am proud of the contribution British Muslims make to this country, and proud that Britain is home to people from vibrant and diverse backgrounds.

So to all Muslims, in this country and around the world, I want to say Eid Mubarak. I wish you a happy and peaceful Eid.

 

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フランスのコントラルト、ナタリー・シュトッツマンさん。豊かな美声、そう美声としか言いようがない。CD, YouTubeでしか、まだ聞いていない。一度横須賀芸術劇場で小沢征爾さんの演奏会でベートーベン弦楽四重奏曲（だったかな？）の指揮をされるのを聴いた。

次回来日の時は絶対コンサートに行きたい人のNO.!の人です。今はほかの媒体で楽しんでいる。

FaceBookにアップされたこの曲はご自分の指揮のあとのアンコール曲だったとか。

nathalie-stutzmann

Nathalie Stutzmann added a new video.

26 September at 21:07 ·

Yesterday morning at Sala São Paulo ! Right after she finished to conduct the all morning concert, Nathalie jumped from the podium to offer a very surprising “encore” singing with Arthur Nestrovski at the guitar, Caldara’s aria “Sebben Crudele” 😉

Sebben, crudele たとえ、つれない人よ　（イタリアの古謡）
Antonio Caldara(1670頃～1736)Sebben crudele,
mi fai languir
sempre fedele
ti voglio amar.Con la lunghezza
del mio servir
la tua fierezza
sapro stancar.たとえ、つれない人よ
どんなに私を悩ませても、
いつも変わらず誠実に
あなたを愛していたい。

私が長く
あなたに仕えていれば、
あなたのつてなさも
和らげることができるだろう。
———————————-

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Japan’s emperor wants to retire. Is he allowed to?

By Anna Fifield August 6  NYT

TOKYO — For 28 years, Emperor Akihito has been a steady and reassuring presence in Japan, a fact that many people here are reminded of on a daily basis. After all, 2016 is officially known as “Heisei 28,” marking Akihito’s time on the Chrysanthemum Throne.

But now, the 82-year-old “emperor for life” is laying the groundwork to relinquish his role and pass it on to his oldest son, Naruhito. That will be tricky. Not only is there no legal provision for him to abdicate, but even raising the prospect could be unconstitutional.

“Under the current law, he can’t abdicate, even if he wants to. There is no option but to carry on,” said Yasushi Kuno, a veteran journalist who for years covered the imperial family for the Nippon television network.

Akihito is scheduled to make a pre-recorded video statement to the Japanese people Monday afternoon, during which he probably will say that he is having difficulty carrying out his official duties.

He has had health issues — prostate cancer and heart problems — and, marking his birthday in December, he said there had been times when he had felt his age.

“Even if he tries really hard, he can’t deny that his body is deteriorating,” which means he can no longer carry out all his official duties, Kuno said.

[Sporting silver heels, Michelle Obama greets Japanese emperor]

Surviving through samurais and shoguns and wars, an unbroken male line of emperors has endured in Japan for almost 3,000 years. They are said to be direct descendants of Amaterasu, the Shinto goddess of the sun.

Abdication was relatively common until 1817, when Kokaku became the last emperor to resign his post.

But the imperial system underwent a huge upheaval at the end of World War II, when the U.S. occupying forces allowed Hirohito, the current emperor’s father, to remain in his position but stripped him of his powers.

The emperor was reduced to being a ceremonial figurehead who would serve as a “symbol of the state and of the unity of the people,” according to the U.S.-written constitution. As such, he does “not have powers related to government,” meaning that he cannot say anything even remotely political.

That will cause some issues for Akihito, the only emperor to have begun his reign under the postwar constitution. Because there is no provision in the Imperial House Law for him to abdicate, even raising the idea would be considered political because it would require a parliamentary amendment.

“So he will be ambiguous, unclear,” said Takeshi Hara, a professor of politics who has written several books on the imperial system. “I think he will just express his feelings.”

[With WWII statement, Japan’s Abe tried to offer something for everyone]

Signs of the emperor’s wish to step down emerged last month when NHK, the public broadcaster, which has close ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government, reported that it was under discussion.

The public has been supportive of the idea, with polls showing that between 77 percent and 90 percent of respondents say the government should create a system to allow the emperor to abdicate.

“If he feels old and tired, it’s okay for him to retire,” said Yukiko Sakurai, one of a group of four gray-haired women sitting in a Tokyo cafe last week. “He’s old. Maybe they should set an age limit on being emperor?”

Hirohito died at age 87; Akihito was 55 when he succeeded his father. His oldest son, Naruhito, is 56.

The Japanese public has warm feelings toward the current emperor. His father was considered to be “above the clouds,” so revered that Japanese people weren’t even allowed to look straight at him during the war.

“But the current emperor has a different style and talks directly to the people,” said Kuno, the journalist. This was particularly evident after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, when Akihito for the first time recorded a video message to the Japanese people, and then visited the disaster zone.

Any legal changes will take time, probably years, to usher through. But in the meantime, the emperor’s intentions probably will create headaches for Abe, whose top — and controversial — priority is revising the constitution to loosen the pacifism imposed on Japan after the war.

Abe’s government last month succeeded in winning the two-thirds majorityneeded in the upper house to try to make changes to the constitution.

[Japan’s emperor appears to part ways with Abe on pacifism debate]

The emperor has obliquely signaled that he disagrees with attempts to revise the constitution and has made efforts to atone for Japan’s wartime brutality.

“I hear the emperor feels a sense of crisis over the current political situation,” said Jiro Yamaguchi, a political scientist at Hosei University. “Abe’s position on constitutional revision is completely different from the emperor’s position of protecting the constitution.”

Akihito’s coming statement, he said, could trigger a drive among the public to keep the constitution as it is.

Talk of legal changes could put the brakes on efforts to revise the constitution, said Mari Miura, a political scientist at Sophia University. But it also could inject momentum into the efforts. “This could give a push to those on the revision side if all the changes could be reviewed together,” she said.

Abe has other reasons to be resistant to change in the royal status. He lobbied against efforts a decade ago, when the emperor had only granddaughters, to allow women to inherit the title.

Thorny legal questions aside, there are lots of logistical considerations, much like the Vatican had to grapple with when Pope Benedict XVI wanted to step aside. Where would Akihito live? What would he be called? “Retired emperor?”

Yuki Oda contributed to this report.

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At 82, Emperor Akihito of Japan Wants to Retire. Will Japan Let Him?

By JONATHAN SOBLEAUG. 7, 2016  Washington Post

 

TOKYO — The Japanese have acknowledged that their emperor is not a god and he has been stripped of all political power, but the nation still views its monarch as so central to the sense of identity that he is not permitted to resign.

Now, Emperor Akihito is suggesting that his people let him retire.

He is 82 years old. He has had cancer. He has had surgery.

So, in a uniquely Japanese moment on Monday, he went on television to hint at his desire for Parliament to change the law so he can give the job to his son.

But it is freighted. The emperor represents a postwar Japan that is committed to pacifism. The current government wants to loosen the reins on the military, and the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is politically powerful. If Emperor Akihito steps down, will Japan lose a check on the government’s drive to rewrite the past, to discard its lessons and taboos?

Will his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, also a pacifist, have the standing of his father?

Japan is a constitutional monarchy. It is a liberal democracy. It is, in many ways, a deeply conservative country that clings to tradition. Its monarchy — the Chrysanthemum Throne — is the oldest in the world, stretching back to antiquity. Emperor Akihito’s family has held it almost 2,700 years, according to the customary, if semi-legendary genealogy. If he resigns, it would be the biggest transformation of the monarchy since World War II.

Change does not come easily in Japan, and now the government faces a conundrum: It will be criticized if it allows the transition, or blocks it.

Crown Prince Naruhito, 56, shares his father’s quiet demeanor and, by all accounts, his commitment to keeping the monarchy apolitical. The prince has repeatedly commended the pacifist Constitution, written by the American occupiers in 1947.

5 Things to Know About Japan’s Emperor and Imperial Family

 

It is a delicate moment. If the government amends the law governing imperial succession in Parliament, concern may grow about its influence over the imperial household, analysts said.

“People both on the right and left would be cautious about making sure this process doesn’t weaken the institution and therefore open up the succession to political influence,” said Sheila A. Smith, a Japan expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

But dragging its feet on the emperor’s wishes would anger many Japanese.

“This is an aging country, and there are going to be a lot of people sympathetic to the emperor’s wanting a comfortable retirement,” said Tobias Harris of Teneo Intelligence, a political risk consulting firm.

Opinion surveys conducted by the Japanese news media suggest that the public overwhelmingly supports Emperor Akihito’s wishes to step down. As many as 85 percent of respondents say they favor amending the Imperial Household Law to allow it.

“We speak respectfully about the emperor, but arguably we use him like a slave,” said Daisuke Kodaka, 34, an employee at a cosmetics company in Tokyo. “He’s our symbol, but as a person he doesn’t have human rights. We should recognize his rights.”

Amending the law could also revive a contentious issue: the debate over allowing a woman to be the monarch. Only men can inherit the throne, a provision that is increasingly in dispute. A decade ago, during a debate about whether the law should be changed to open the way for female monarchs, conservatives in Mr. Abe’s right-leaning Liberal Democratic Party were firmly opposed.

Prince Naruhito has a daughter, and his younger brother has two daughters and a son, Prince Hisahito, the only male in the youngest royal generation. Prince Hisahito’s birth, in 2006, quieted the debate about female monarchs, at least for the time being. But with so few males in the family, experts say the succession is far from secure for the future.

Mr. Abe’s government has embraced the idea of female empowerment in other areas, notably the workplace, but few think it is ready to extend the concept to the monarchy.

THE EMPEROR RARELY SPEAKS

  • Except for diplomatic functions, his birthday and an annual speech to open Parliament, Emperor Akihito of Japan rarely speaks in public. He addressed the country on television only once, in 2011, rekindling memories of his father’s fateful broadcast in 1945.

·        WWII Surrender

In his first radio broadcast, Emperor Hirohito, the father of the current emperor,announced that Japan had been defeated in World War II. Many Japanese bowed or kneeled as they heard the monarch’s voice for the first time.

·        Fukushima

An earthquake and tsunami devastated the northeast coast of Japan in 2011, causing the world’s second-worst nuclear disaster after Chernobyl. Emperor Akihito took the unprecedented step of trying to reassure the nation in a televised address.
“This opens other cans of worms,” said Kenneth Ruoff, the director of the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University and the author of “The People’s Emperor,” a history of the postwar Japanese monarchy.

Though his words were characteristically vague — he discussed his age, his rigorous daily schedule and what he called his increasing physical limitations — the message was unmistakable.

“When I consider that my fitness level is gradually declining, I am worried that it may become difficult for me to carry out my duties as the symbol of the state with my whole being as I have done until now,” Emperor Akihito said in a prerecorded address that lasted about 10 minutes and was broadcast on Japanese television networks.

Mr. Abe, in a short response, suggested that his government was open to changing the law, though he stopped short of making a specific commitment to do so. “Considering His Majesty’s age, the burden of his official duties and his anxieties, we must think carefully about what can be done,” Mr. Abe said.

Japanese emperors define eras in the country. Its unique calendar is based on their reigns: 2016 is expressed as Emperor Akihito’s 28th year on the throne, and when his successor takes over, the date will reset to Year One.

Emperor Akihito’s father, Hirohito, died in 1989 — Year 64 of his reign — as both the Cold War and Japan’s economic boom years were drawing to a close, intensifying the sense of a historical shift.

After World War II, Hirohito stunned his subjects by declaring thathe was not a god, overturning decades of government propaganda and centuries of loosely held tradition. The new Constitution relegated the monarchy to a purely ceremonial role.

“Historically, it was extremely common for emperors to abdicate,” said Takeshi Hara, an authority on the imperial family at the Open University of Japan. More than half of Japan’s monarchs have vacated the throne, often for quiet retirement at Buddhist monasteries. Only in the 19th century, when Japan’s leaders created the cult of emperor worship, did stepping down become impossible.

Emperor Akihito maintains an often punishing schedule, despite treatment for prostate cancer in 2003and heart surgery in 2012. He and his wife, Empress Michiko — the first commoner to marry into the imperial family — have become consolers in chief for victims of natural disasters, like theearthquake and tsunamithat devastated parts of northern Japan in 2011.

In his address, Emperor Akihito referred several times to the postwar Constitution and the symbolic nature of the modern monarchy. He said he wanted to secure that monarchy for the future “in the midst of a rapidly aging society” and “in a nation and in a world which are constantly changing.”

Though he did not use the word “abdication,” he made specific arguments for allowing it. Under existing law, the crown prince could serve as regent if his father became too ill, standing in for the emperor in all but name. But Emperor Akihito indicated he did not wish to be a monarch who “continues to be the emperor till the end of his life, even though he is unable to fully carry out his duties.”

He alluded to the last imperial transition nearly three decades ago. His father had intestinal cancer during the final years of his life, and his slow, painful decline was a focus of intense attention from the public and the news media.

Emperor Akihito said he wanted to avoid a situation in which “society comes to a standstill” before his death, and the elaborate funeral rites distract from the enthronement of his heir.

Prince Naruhito “represents continuity” with Emperor Akihito in terms of personality and priorities, Professor Ruoff said. As his father did, he has taken up social causes, notably access to clean water in poor countries.

Professor Ruoff said Emperor Akihito’s biggest achievement had been to focus attention on social welfare causes. When Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964, Emperor Akihito became the patron of the then-obscure Paralympics. At the time, people with disabilities were often shunned and stigmatized in Japan.

“Akihito and Michiko have spent a tremendous amount of time leveraging their prestige on behalf of the least privileged members of Japanese society,” Professor Ruoff said. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say they are the conscience of the nation, but they do draw attention to these issues.”

Follow Jonathan Soble on Twitter @jonathan_soble.

Makiko Inoue, Hisako Ueno and Becky Zhuang contributed reporting from Tokyo, and Motoko Rich from New York.

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In: Constitutionalism, things

Can Japan’s Emperor Akihito retire?

USA TODAY NETWORKEditors, USA TODAY NETWORK2:05 p.m. EDT August 8, 2016

Japan’s Emperor Akihito  said Monday that the he worries his health will prevent him from fulfilling his duties as the head of state.

The 82-year-old has been in poor health in recent years and has cut back on a busy schedule that includes public appearances and goodwill missions across Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.

While it may not seem like a big deal that Akihito is hinting that he may want to retire, stepping down is not as simple as you’d think.

Here’s why Akihito signaling he may step down is a big deal:

People retire all the time, so why can’t Emperor Akihito? 

It’s complicated. While Emperor Akihito never said he would “abdicate,” or step down during his Monday address, he did make it clear that his declining health has made it difficult for him to continue in his official capacity.

Stepping down may not be easy, however. No Japanese monarch has abdicated in nearly 200 years, no law governs such cases, and the popular 82-year-old monarch’s retirement could raise delicate questions about a ban on female succession and the imperial family’s place in society.

How much power does the emperor have?

Under Japan’s post-World War II constitution, the emperor is “the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people,” but he has no governmental authority and is not permitted to take part in political activity.

But despite a lack of government authority, Akihito and Empress Michiko are venerated by the Japanese, and the imperial family remains a popular institution. The emperor’s birthday — Dec. 23 — is a national holiday, when tens of thousands of well-wishers gather outside the Imperial Palace to greet the royal couple.

Who would succeed him? 

Akihito is the 125th emperor of Japan. He acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne in January 1989, at age 55, following the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito, who led Japan during the country’s harsh colonial era and the world war that followed.

Akihito would like to abdicate in favor of his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 56, according to scores of news reports.

Japan’s long-reigning emperor addresses the nation

Japan’s long-reigning emperor addresses the nation

Could a woman become emperor? 

The imperial family traces an unbroken male line dating back at least 1,500 years. The government briefly discussed revising the law in 2005 to permit women to succeed to the throne if there were no male successors, but the effort was strongly opposed by traditionalists and the matter was dropped.

Some have hinted that if Akihito abdicates, it may open the door for more discussion about permitting women to succeed to the throne.

Crown Prince Naruhito has one daughter, so the crown would pass from his family to his brother, Crown Prince Akishino, followed by Akishino’s son, Prince Hisahito.

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In: Constitutionalism, things

Only a cruel despot would stop Japan’s emperor retiring

Jake Adelstein

Akihito has devoted his life to the happiness of his people. In return, he deserves to be allowed to retire in peace

Emperor Akihito. ‘In his highly unusual speech to the Japanese people, he obliquely indicated both his desire to relinquish the throne while still alive and referred to himself as ‘a symbol of the state’ no fewer than seven times.’ Photograph: Koji Sasahara/AP

Thursday 11 August 201618.07 BSTLast modified on Friday 12 August 201612.31 BST The Guardian

What happens when God wants to retire? Although the emperor of Japan is no longer a deity, there was a time, not so long ago, when the country’s imperial rulers were believed to govern earthly affairs and those of heaven. The current emperor, Akihito, is very much human and has no desire to be a god – although Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic party, led by prime minister Shinzo Abe, would like to restore Japan’s pre-war constitution and to return the emperor to god-like status.

That is not something the 82-year-old emperor desires either for himself or his successors. In his highly unusual speech to the Japanese people, he obliquely indicated his desire to relinquish the throne while still alive and referred to himself as “a symbol of the state” no fewer than seven times.

A pacifist who opposes the return to a pre-war militaristic nation, Akihito, who came to the throne in 1989, believes firmly in the war-renouncing constitution imposed by the allies in 1947, as does his beloved wife, empress Michiko. His 2013 birthday press conference spelled it out quite clearly. “After the war, Japan was occupied by the allied forces, and based on peace and democracy as values to be upheld, established the constitution of Japan, undertook various reforms and built the foundation of Japan that we know today. I have profound gratitude for the efforts made by the Japanese people at the time who helped reconstruct and improve the country devastated by the war. I also feel that we must not forget the help extended to us in those days by Americans with an understanding of Japan and Japanese culture.” It’s a message that the ascending right wing in Japan finds unpleasant.

Akihito has a clear disdain for the reinstatement of state shinto. The official religion until 1945 was used by the Japanese government to promote belief in the divinity of the emperor and became the justification for conducting Japan’s imperial expansion in the 1930s. The emperor’s words were infallible; the Yamato race was superior. During the second world war millions of Japanese soldiers died and killed in the name of emperor Hirohito.

But the son of Hirohito has no truck with forced patriotism. Mark Austin, a Scottish journalist in Tokyo who was employed by the Yomiuri, a rightwing newspaper that is also the biggest in Japan, wrote in a post on social media: “At a press conference on his 68th birthday in 2001, [Akihito] referred to his Korean ancestry, shattering a long taboo, and at a spring garden party three years later, he mildly, but to devastating effect, admonished a functionary of the Tokyo municipal board of education who informed him he’d been touring schools to make sure all teachers were standing up for the national anthem, and singing it.

 The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe: ‘Abdication and the debate and legal revision it would require stands in the way of Abe’s burning desire to make state shinto a centrepiece of civil society again.

“‘It is not good if it is forced,’ he said.

“The lickspittle functionary bowed deeply.

“The encounter created a stir.”

His compassionate work for social causes and his hands-on approach to comforting survivors of disasters, meanwhile, have endeared him to the people. After the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster, he visited survivors who were temporarily housed in a gym. He got down on his knees on the floor of the gym to speak with them as equals. He later gave an official address to Japan, calling on the people to work together to overcome the tragedy. The only other time an emperor had made an official address to the nation was on 15 August 1945, when Hirohito told his subjects that Japan was going to surrender.

The emperor and his wife have also made a point of looking after poor people, disabled people and even the Korean-Japanese or Zainichi – many of whom arrived in Japan as slave labour and are routinely blamed for economic woes and openly harassed. The new governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, along with several other cabinet ministers handpicked by Abe, have been associated with Zaitokukai, a political group accused of inciting hostility towards all foreigners, and Korean-Japanese in particular.

Akihito’s compassion and humility are, by contrast, much appreciated by the people, with most polls showing that 80% or more believe he should be allowed to abdicate the throne.

Public support for his desire to abdicate may, as Devin Stewart – an expert on modern Japan at theCarnegie Council – has noted, reflect much broader social changes. “Japan is gradually becoming a more flexible and individualistic, less traditional society. Paradoxically, that also means that people feel they should be able to spend more time with their families (a traditional value) as well as more time pursuing hobbies and being rested and healthy.”

Under the current law Akihito has to carry on until he dies, and constitutional constraints mean that he can’t ask directly for changes in the law, he can only hint.

After a lifetime of selfless service and of battling illness and frailty, the emperor is, in effect, asking for some mercy and compassion for himself and his family. What cruel despot could possibly deny him the rest and retirement he deserves? The current prime minister might. Abdication and the debate and legal revision it would require stands in the way of Abe’s burning desire to alter the constitution, limit civil liberties and make state shinto a centrepiece of civil society again.

Akihito’s words about the duty of being a good emperor are, in my opinion, his own way of reminding Japan’s leaders to think less about themselves – and more about the welfare of the people. It’s a lesson the prime minister could certainly learn.

“I ascended to the throne approximately 28 years ago,” Akihito eloquently explained, “and during these years, I have spent my days together with the people of Japan, sharing much of the joys as well as the sorrows that have happened in our country. I have considered that the first and foremost duty of the emperor is to pray for peace and happiness of all the people. At the same time, I also believe that in some cases it is essential to stand by the people, listen to their voices, and be close to them in their thoughts.”

If prime minister Abe really cares about the peace and happiness of the Japanese people, he might actually listen to the will of the people and the wishes of the man he worships as a god.