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Apr 25, 2024 19:54:20 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2006 2:18:06 GMT -4
What nasties the IHA are!
In a culture that reveres children and makes raising them a top national priority, to criticize a mother for attending to her child first, is a very odd way to undercut that mother, Princess Masako. When I lived in Japan, several Japanese complained to me about Americans abandoning small children in a playpen. I was told that Americans did not make very good mothers because they put children in playpens while the mother attended to other chores.
The IHA is just being absurd in their criticisms of Princess Masako and her attendance on her child, Princess Aiko, even by Japanese standards.
It is ironic that Japan is becoming more nationalistic (and racist) as its own cultural and racial purity is coming under strains. The Japanese have one of the lowest birth rates in the world. The age of their population is increasing and they don't have the youth to support that aging poplulation and its economic and social expectations.
Other countries solve the problem of low birth rates with immigration; but Japan has never been kind to immigrants of any kind. The occasional "blue-eyed" gaijinn is tolerated for his/her entertainment value only.
All this "Purity of Essence" (watch Dr. Strangelove) nationalistic crap is just going to bite Japan in the butt. The Chinese are not fooled or amused by any of this; and China is the coming economic and military giant in the region. Europe has equivalent problems, nationalistic and racial and religious, with Muslim immigrants. And the U.S. has an echo of this with Hispanic immigration. People always frantically and irrationally try to protect and enforce what is vanishing before them (except the for the environment and Africa).
Anyway, Free the Captive Princesses Masako and Aiko! The IHA needs to visit the Post Office, if you know what I mean, and get some stamps.
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Post by Brookie on Feb 6, 2006 16:05:01 GMT -4
Methinks the IHA is sounding rather Hitler-esque, n'est ce pas? That, and I'm a blue-eyed foreigner.
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kafka
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Apr 25, 2024 19:54:20 GMT -4
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Post by kafka on Feb 6, 2006 22:31:15 GMT -4
Methinks the IHA is sounding rather Hitler-esque, n'est ce pas? That, and I'm a blue-eyed foreigner. I think Hitler-esque is a perfect way to describe them. There may not be similarities in terms of exact philosophies, but damn, they're good in terms of execution. They also follow Goebbel's Big Lie theory rather well. The way some of you get upset about Tom Cruise is how I react to news about the IHA. IMO, they make Scientologists look like complete amateurs and wanna-bes. And their forte? Breaking down and driving women mad. They did it with Empress Michiko years ago and they actually tried with the Dowager dragon, Nagako, decades ago. Everything down to the concubine suggestion, only she didn't take it lying down. But, like a typical abuser, carried out the experience on the next person under her. All of which is a big segue to news that the stress of the situation is getting to the Empress. Oh, in further news, the Conservatives' campaign seems to have been successful: opposition to a Japanese empress is up more than 20 pts. If this is the result after only a few weeks of vociferous campaigning, the majority will be AGAINST an Empress Aiko in a few months. The Creepy Imperial Prince is also at it again. Now he's talking about how one must ignore Masako's woes (and Aiko) because it's totally irrelevent. I can understand his point, because it's essentially a call for people to look at the larger picture, but given everything else he's said in the past, the man is just a lizard with an agenda. I wonder how many concubines HE has? Rat bastard.
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foxfair
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Apr 25, 2024 19:54:20 GMT -4
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Post by foxfair on Feb 6, 2006 22:57:10 GMT -4
This is great background, Kafka, thanks for posting. I have a Japanese-Canadian friend (born in Japan, raised in both countries) and he often talks about the underlying currents of misogyny and racism in Japanese society, and says many north Americans would be shocked by how overt it is in many ways there, especially amongst the older/power generation.
What's going on with regards to this situation makes the English royal fam and the Diana* situation look positively harmless and benign, even though both institution's basically see individuals as pawns in service of the institutions continued popularity/endurance/power.
*I'm not a straight-up Diana sympathist, but I do think she was far too young/naive at the time of her marriage to understand what she was getting herself into.
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Deleted
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Apr 25, 2024 19:54:20 GMT -4
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2006 4:17:06 GMT -4
Wife of 2nd Imperial Prince (Prince Naruhito's brother) is officially pregnant with 3rd child. She already had 2 daughters. Hmm. If it's a boy, I fear the worst for Princess Masako.
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kafka
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Apr 25, 2024 19:54:20 GMT -4
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Post by kafka on Feb 7, 2006 11:12:38 GMT -4
I read that story a few hours ago and I'm STILL upset. Bloody F***** IHA. They work with the creepy prince to derail female succession, behind the scenes, while simpering in public that they are Oh So Offended he's talking; they build up the momentum to have Masako divorced and leak stories about how she's doing everything wrong from motherhood to protocol (and I firmly believe that divorce story also comes from them), and now this.
Masako's collapse can be dated to exactly 10 days after the then-IHA Chief publicly demanded Prince Akishino to get busy and procreate, so there would be the chance of a male heir. It was the last straw and humiliation for her. Now Akishino --- who has publicly badmouthed his older brother and taken the IHA side against him --- has finally managed.
Sheesh, no wonder CP Naruhito hasn't spoken to him in over a year! And now I understand why the Empress is starting to crack up from the strain. The pregnancy must have been known within the family.
I'm bitter about this pregnancy on so many levels. Regardless of whether it's a boy or a girl, Masako's in deep trouble. And I think the IHA will continue their efforts to get her divorced out of the family.
The only good (good?) aspect to all this is that Akishino's swimmers don't seem to produce boys. (Good? Can one use that word about any part of the Japanese situation?)
Is there an emoticon to show the poster's head imploding from rage?
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Post by Aspasia on Feb 7, 2006 13:28:59 GMT -4
Might they already know what sex it is and announce this so that they don't have to vote on an Empress?
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kafka
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Apr 25, 2024 19:54:20 GMT -4
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Post by kafka on Feb 7, 2006 14:10:27 GMT -4
To the best of my knowledge, they've never pre-announced the sex of the child before but it wouldn't surprise me if they did this time. A friend of mine is willing to bet big money that the IHA will go so far as to switch babies at birth, just to make sure it's a boy. I wouldn't put it passed them.
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kafka
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Apr 25, 2024 19:54:20 GMT -4
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Post by kafka on Feb 7, 2006 17:54:39 GMT -4
I'm trying to work on my endless, painfully terrible wordiness when it comes to the JIF but I'll see if I can come up with something coherent.
There are various different reasons but, imo, one of the most significant ones is the cultural ethos of the bureaucracy. After WWII, the Allied Occupation powers purified many branches of the ultra-right wing loonies, from the military to the govt. to others. But not the govt. bureaucrats. The same people who worked in the Tojo govt. as bureaucrats continued on, including in the IHA. If you've ever seen shows like "Yes, Minister," you will know how much power these small people have. Ministers come and go, but the ones who make the govt. run on a daily basis stayed the same.
As in China, the bureaucracy was the haven for people of a certain background, political perspective and family type. Sons followed fathers who had followed their fathers before them. The pre-WWII nationalistic, rightwing, Emperor-worshipping conservatives burrowed deep into the bureaucracy and their similarly-minded sons followed them. Few places landed more conservatively minded people than the IHA.
When you combine all that with senior govt. leaders who are sons of Tojo bigwigs, and who are committed to protecting the IHA's ethos/philosophy for the Imperial Family, you get a situation where the IHA and govt. leaders are co-conspirators. You get someone like Aso, one of the chaps singled out to be Koizumi's successor, who is from the bluest of political (read ultranationalist) backgrounds, a son of one of the most imp. Tojo cabinet ministers, AND a son-in-law to the Creepy Imperial Prince.
In short, the government will never intervene to do anything against the IHA. At the lower level, the govt. is made up of bureaucrats who are closely associated with the IHA or are drawn from the same pool; at the higher levels, the ministers are either actively working to finalise a joint vision or are using the IHA to ensure their plans for the monarchy are not derailed.
As for the issue of the press, I've actually written about that in detail and the bottom line is that the Japanese people don't know anything about the Imperial Family unless it's fed to them. The IHA has a complete control over the press and nothing --- I repeat, NOTHING --- gets out unless the IHA wants it to. When I was doing research on the issue, I found one article by Japanese journalists on the issue of the IHA. They wrote under condition of anonymity and were presented simply as "Journalist A," "Journalist B" and so on. They gave quite a few details, like how they knew about Naruhito's courtship of Masako and the ensuing relationship but had been ordered to sit on the story by the IHA. It was only after the Washington Post or some such paper broke the story that they could comment. Even then, they spent most of the time talking about what the Washington Post said, not what was actually happening.
In all other aspects, the IHA controls the public's access to information about the Imperial Family. They choreograph press conferences: Several weeks before the conference, the group of hand-selected journalists submit a list of the questions they'd like to ask to the IHA. The IHA vets it and if they approve of the questions, gives the royal in question canned detailed answers to spout out. The Imperial Family rarely speaks to reporters, except on their birthday in one of those news conferences so the event is a big deal. But nothing is said unless the IHA approves.
If anyone risks asking something inappropriate (read, anything the IHA won't like), the IHA tosses that journalist out of the Imperial Pool and they're blackballed. The IHA scripts those news conferences down to the smallest detail, including the sort of clothing which the cameramen can wear while standing at the back of the room.
If an editor goes further and prints a story the IHA doesn't like, they face serious consequences. And not only from them. If it impugns the Imperial Family in even the smallest way, the publisher/editor/journalist will have to deal with the rightwing ultranationalist crazies.
The latter are a real problem because they drive around Tokyo in black vans blaring out rightwing rhetoric on loud speakers. They also killed a politician back in the '60s who questioned Emperor Hirohito. Just 8 months ago, they broke into the house of a Shinto head priest and beat him up just because he accidentally called the Emperor and Empress "their royal highnesses" instead of "their imperial majesties."
The IHA is also vindictive if the press disregards them. There is the example of what happened at Prss Kiko's wedding when a photog. took a picture of the bride gently touching her new husband's cheek. Or maybe it was his hair, I can't remember which. Anyway, the IHA was so outraged that there was this candid photo of one of the royals, they called up his paper. Chap was fired. Immediately.
The public ends up knowing very little of what's really going on. One of my best friends is half-Japanese and he told me that none of his extended family in Tokyo has any idea of what the IHA is really like. He sent them some stuff I'd written as well as various news paper articles from Western papers and they couldn't believe it. They seriously could NOT and would NOT believe it. So, he kept sending them stuff I dug up and finally, they started to question all the things they'd been fed in their domestic papers. One of the more liberal Japanese papers occasionally prints stuff in support of opening up the Imperial Family (and that's as far as they dare go) but my friend's family just thought they were being "troublemakers." Their words, not mine. They really thought that Masako was just being lazy and not following her duty because that was the gist they had gotten from a famous royal observer/journalist (who is the IHA's pet and favorite source to leak to.)
I'm sorry if that was dreadfully long. I simply don't know how to convey the enormity of their power, the role of the govt. ministers, or the reasons for the public's sheeplike attitude in a few sentences.
I'm telling you, Scientologists are pure amateurs as compared to the IHA. And Katie Holmes has nothing on Masako. The former chose to be in that position and subject to a bunch of loonies; Masako is in a hell which is a thousand times worse and, if the rumours about her father selling her in exchange for a promotion are true, she had no choice whatsoever.
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iClaudia
Sloane Ranger
"When love and duty are one, grace is within you."
Posts: 2,215
Mar 13, 2005 14:33:41 GMT -4
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Post by iClaudia on Feb 8, 2006 5:46:19 GMT -4
So, how will this work exactly? If it's boy, then what happens with regards to succession based on current law? I'm assuming he would be third in line and without a male heir via Masako and Naruhito, the future Emperor? I would think that would ease the pressure on Masako since a male heir would have been born but I guess it would just inflame the current debate over male vs. female succession and leave Masako and Aiko still stuck in the middle?
What would happen if she did want to wash her hands of the mess and get a divorce? If Aiko were to become a future Empress, a divorce would leave her cut out of her daughter's life I'm sure but if Kiko has a boy, and he becomes the future Emperor, what then?
The IHA is just shocking to me. Very Mafia-like. It's a wonder Masako and Aiko have an support at all given how controlled the press is.
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