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monde dane

~ My passport is American, my wife is Japanese and my thoughts are undocumented. If you read between the blog lines, who knows what you might learn.

monde dane

Tag Archives: Akihito

THE EMPEROR’S SPEECH – PART TWO

07 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by danedegenhardt in ALL THINGS JAPANESE

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Akihito, Hirohito, WWII

Imperial Conference of 9-10 August 1945  - by M. Terauchi

Imperial Conference of 9-10 August 1945 – by M. Terauchi

I was surprised to hear most of my students say they had never heard all of Emperor Hirohito’s speech that ended the war, only about one minute of it.  Even more surprising was that many of them have never read the transcript. The language and the Kanji characters in the one the Japanese media published are so archaic the document is unintelligible even to well educated Japanese.

I found the English version that was translated in 1945 by University of Washington alum Tadaichi Hirakawa.  Mr. Hirakawa’s effort to remain true to the spirit of the Japanese original resulted in a rather clumsy translation that is also hard for most Japanese to comprehend.

I took the liberty of paraphrasing Mr. Hirakawa’s translation so that my students would finally be able to digest this important prelude to Japan’s pacifist era.  The exercise was an eye-opener for me and I hope it will be for my non-Japanese readers, too.

Hirohito Speech Qs 2

THE EMPEROR’S SPEECH

06 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by danedegenhardt in ALL THINGS JAPANESE

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Akihito, Hirohito, WWII

n-emperor-a-20150807This is the dialog I wrote to help my students answer a foreigner who asks about the recent headline news from Japan. I wrote this based on answers I got from some of my more advanced students.  Only item No. 10 is my own opinion.

Hirohito Speech Qs

APRIL 29, SHOWA DAY IS EMPEROR HIROHITO’S BIRTHDAY

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by danedegenhardt in ALL THINGS JAPANESE, HOLIDAYS

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Akihito, Emperor Hirohito

The American School of Languages 29 Apr, 2015                   

Hirohito Protonova by Vanolffen Digital Art Mixed Media / Sci-Fi ©2009-2015 Vanolffen

Hirohito Protonova by Vanolffen Digital Art / Mixed Media / Sci-Fi ©2009-2015 Vanolffen

April 29th is Showa Day in Japan.  Until his death in 1989, the holiday celebrated the birth of Hirohito, the Showa emperor.  Surprisingly, when a foreigner says anything about Emperor Hirohito, he usually draws a blank stare.  Though the Japanese authorities introduced him to the world as Emperor Hirohito, his subjects never used his name.  Even when I make it clear just who I am talking about, they usually don’t seem to know much about him.

This year, on the day that celebrate Hirohito and his era, I tracked down a site that had a biography of the emperor written for American junior high school kids.  I re-wrote the piece to better suit the Japanese and prepared a follow up quiz dthat I hope will help prepare them for future inquisitive foreigners. Here is the result.

1 Hirohito was born on April 29th, 1901 at the royal palace in Tokyo. His grandfather was the emperor and his father was the crown prince.

2 When he was a child he was called Prince Michi.  Tradition said he could not live with his parents, and he had to be raised by another royal family. When he was 7, he was enrolled at Gakushuin, where he studied with other children of nobility.

3 When he was 11, his grandfather died, his father became the emperor and Hirohito the crown prince.

4 In 1921, Hirohito took a trip to Europe. He was the first crown prince to travel abroad. 5 When he came back from Europe his father was sick. Hirohito was made the prince regent and had to take over his father’s duties. When his father died four years later, in 1926, Hirohito became the emperor.

6 Once he became emperor, he was no longer called Hirohito. He was referred to as His Majesty the Emperor. His reign was called The Showa Era, which means “peace and enlightenment.” After his death he is called The Showa emperor.

7 The role of emperor is very complicated. He was a kind of god with total power. But actually, he was not supposed to manage the government or get involved in politics.

8 Many of his advisors were military men who wanted Japan to expand throughout East Asia just as England had spread its power across the globe. Historians still argue whether or not Hirohito agreed with their expansionist policies.

9 One of the first major events during his reign was the invasion of Manchuria in northeast China. Much like England, Japan was a powerful but small island nation. They needed land and natural resources.

10 As early as 1894, Japan started moving into neighboring countries economically and militarily. In 1937, they launched a full-scale invasion of China proper.

11 In 1940, Japan joined fascist Germany and Italy to form the Axis Powers. Their enemies, the U.S., the U.K., China, etc., were called the Allied Powers.

12 The Allied Powers said that if Japan didn’t pull out of China, they would stop all shipments to Japan of oil, food, everything. But, instead of leaving China, in December, 1941, Japan attacked Hawaii and several countries in South East Asia.

13 Japan’s invasions went well for the first six months. But by early 1945, Japanese forces had been pushed back to Japan. In March, 1945, American B-29 bombers destroyed most of Tokyo but Hirohito and his advisors refused to surrender.

14 In August the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese were killed in all three bombings.

15 Hirohito finally announced the surrender to the Japanese people over the radio on August 15th, 1945. It was the first time he had addressed the Japanese people and the first time the public had heard their leader’s voice.

16 Many Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes. Some were executed for their treatment and torture of prisoners and civilians.

17 Many Allied leaders wanted Hirohito punished, but U.S. General Douglas MacArthur convinced them to let Hirohito remain as a figurehead to help keep peace and allow Japan to recover.

18 Hirohito remained emperor for more than 43 years after the war. He was Japan’s longest reigning emperor. He saw Japan become the second richest country in the world before he died from cancer on January 7th, 1989.

Interesting Facts about Hirohito

• Legend says he was the 124th Emperor.

• He married Princess Nagako in 1924. They had five daughters and two sons.

• He studied marine biology and published several scientific papers on the subject.

• He rode a white horse named Shirayuki.

• His son Akihito is now the reigning emperor.

A JAPANESE VIEWPOINT

29 Monday Dec 2008

Posted by danedegenhardt in ALL THINGS JAPANESE

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Akihito, japanese emperor, Tenno Heika

Sumie Tsumatori is an old friend who has some strong ideas about a lot of things; a quality not often associated with Japanese people in general or Japanese women in particular. To show that such people do exist in Japan, I have rescued her latest remarks from the obscurity of the comment section to give her voice a more public forum.

Japan Troops

Dane sama,
I enjoyed the Christmas “poems” Christmas 1958 and 1968, just Dane Degenhardt World.

My comments on Tenno Heika, Banzai seem to have given you the impression I am crazy about the Emperor. Actually, I don’t think of myself as a strong supporter of the Imperial family. I do however, believe it is necessary to have the Emperor as an anchor for Japan and as a way for us to live peacefully in this world.

Have you ever watched a commonplace debate in the Diet? It seems like an unruly class of elementary school children. It’s crazy; the politicians, the bureaucrats and all public employees escape their responsibility, and the prime minister is constantly being replaced. The fact is, the government is dysfunctional and is only good for arguing over theories. Does anybody think about the nation and the people and how to lead them toward more peaceful and happy lives? I don’t think so. As for our foreign allies, most countries look to Japan only for money.

Because of the Emperor, not only the Japanese politicians but also politicians of other countries hesitate to take the final plunge toward their real objectives.

In this country, the rich are seen as the only worthy people and parents advise their children to do all they can to become rich; they see money as the only way to secure supremacy over others. The Imperial Family at least presents a more human ideal for the people to look to.

Because of all this, I worry that without the Emperor, Japan would return to militarism or succumb to yakuza-ism . Don’t you think that’s true?

Sumie

TENNO HEIKA, BANZAI!

24 Wednesday Dec 2008

Posted by danedegenhardt in ALL THINGS JAPANESE, Uncategorized

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Akihito, japanese emperor, Tenno Heika

akihito_birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AKIHITO!

Japan’s Emperor celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday today.
Every Japanese I asked said they would not give one thought to their monarch on this national holiday – more than a few didn’t even know they had the day off in his honor! So does that mean the Japanese public is in favor of turning the Royal Palace into a theme park? No way! In fact, unlike the irreverent Brits, there is virtually no republican movement here demanding the royals be thrown out.
My take on this typically Japanese contradiction was “wallpaper”.

Consider this conversation with Taro.

“So, Taro, you mean to say you never give a second thought to the emperor, and yet you like having an emperor?”

“Yes, of course.”

“So, he’s kind of like wallpaper, isn’t he?

“What the heck are you talking about?”

“Did you spend much to wallpaper your home?”

“Yes, quite a bit.”

“Do you sit around gazing at the subtle prints of textured Japanese fans?”

“No, except maybe on the morning after a year-end party.”

“Would you ever consider stripping the walls of their extravagant covering?”

“Never. I can’t imagine life without it.”

“Well, it sure sounds to me like your feelings for the emperor are about the same as your feelings about the wallpaper in your house.”

Conversations like this give me reason to believe that as long as Japanese homes have wallpaper, Japan will have an emperor.

I myself am quite a royal fan – since his birthday makes December 23rd, our wedding anniversary, a national holiday.

Long live the Emperor!

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© Dane Degenhardt, Monde Dane, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dane Degenhardt and Monde Dane with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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