New Era Name 'Reiwa' Defines Japan As Emperor Akihito Prepares To Abdicate
Japan has revealed the name of its next imperial era to be "Reiwa," set to begin May 1 as Crown Prince Naruhito is expected to take the throne.
Yoshihide Suga, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, announced the name at a press conference Monday morning local time, unveiling a board with the two kanji characters written on it. While there was some deliberation over the exact meaning, the two characters that make up the new name, or the "gengo," translate roughly to "good fortune" and "peace" or "harmony," according to The Japan Times.
"We hope [the era name] will be widely accepted by the people and deeply rooted as part of their daily lives," Suga told reporters.
The announcement comes as the current "Heisei" era draws to a close after three decades, with Emperor Akihito set to step down on April 30 in the first abdication of the throne in over 200 years.
[...]Announcing the name one month in advance gives companies and government entities time to incorporate the name into paperwork and computer systems, The Guardian reports. Even as the Western calendar has become more widespread in Japan, the era name is still used frequently, including on newspapers, coins and official documents like driving licenses. Under the system, 2019 is known as Heisei 31, or the 31st year of Akihito's reign.
Also at BBC.
See also: Japan's New Era Gets a Name, but No One Can Agree What It Means
Previously: MonarchyNews: The King is My Co-Pilot and Japanese Succession "Crisis"
Japan Clears Way for Emperor to Step Down in 1st Abdication in 200 Years
Big Tech Warns of 'Japan's Millennium Bug' Ahead of Akihito's Abdication
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Japan's Princess Mako will reportedly lose royal status due to marrying a commoner, as Japan's current imperial law requires. The move is "expected to reignite debate" over the nation's imperial succession law and is "raising fresh questions about the status of women in the imperial family". Emperor Akihito, who is 83, has recently hinted that he wants to step down, which would require a legislative change or a one-time exemption. [This bill is expected to be introduced on Friday.] Only males can currently become Emperor, and there are only four heirs left to the Chrysanthemum Throne. However, the restriction on female succession dates back to an 1889 Meiji government law, and was retained in the 1947 postwar Constitution. Japan has had six Empress regnants in the past, the most recent reigning from 1762 to 1771. The sons of female royal family members are also not currently in the line of succession, as only the male offspring of the male line can succeed the throne.
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Japan has passed legislation paving the way for 83-year-old Emperor Akihito to abdicate. The law sets the stage for the first abdication of a reigning monarch in two centuries, in a royal family which has a history stretching back 2,600 years.
[...] According to the 1947 Imperial House Law that regulates the line of imperial succession, the emperor cannot step down. The last Japanese monarch to abdicate was Emperor Kokaku, who left in favor of his son back in 1817.
Another issue the Japanese government will discuss is the continuity of the heirs, as women are not allowed to inherit the throne. Additionally, a woman from the imperial family who marries outside the family is then excluded. Akihito has another son, Prince Akishino, and a grandson, Hisahito, aged just 10. All the other members of the royal family are female.
Source: RT
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Emperor's 2019 exit will be first era change of information age, and switchover could be as big as Y2K say industry figures
[...] On 30 April 2019, Emperor Akihito of Japan is expected to abdicate the chrysanthemum throne. The decision was announced in December 2017 so as to ensure an orderly transition to Akihito's son, Naruhito, but the coronation could cause concerns in an unlikely place: the technology sector.
The Japanese calendar counts up from the coronation of a new emperor, using not the name of the emperor, but the name of the era they herald. Akihito's coronation in January 1989 marked the beginning of the Heisei era, and the end of the Shōwa era that preceded him; and Naruhito's coronation will itself mark another new era.
But that brings problems. For one, Akihito has been on the throne for almost the entirety of the information age, meaning that many systems have never had to deal with a switchover in era. For another, the official name of Naruhito's era has yet to be announced, causing concern for diary publishers, calendar printers and international standards bodies.
It's why some are calling it "Japan's Y2K problem".
"The magnitude of this event on computing systems using the Japanese Calendar may be similar to the Y2K event with the Gregorian Calendar," said Microsoft's Shawn Steele. "For the Y2K event, there was world-wide recognition of the upcoming change, resulting in governments and software vendors beginning to work on solutions for that problem several years before 1 Jan 2000. Even with that preparation many organisations encountered problems due to the millennial transition.
[...] A much harder problem faces Unicode, the international standards organisation which most famously controls the introduction of new emojis to the world. Since Japanese computers use one character to represent the entire era name (compressing Heisei into ㍻ rather than 平成, for instance), Unicode needs to set the standard for that new character. But it can't do that until it knows what it's called, and it won't know that until late February at best. Unfortunately, version 12 of Unicode is due to come out in early March, which means it needs to be finished before then, and can't be delayed.
Japan grants half a million pardons to mark enthronement of emperor Naruhito
Japan has pardoned more than half a million people found guilty of petty crimes such as traffic violations to mark the formal ascension of Naruhito to the Chrysanthemum throne.
Naruhito proclaimed himself Japan's new emperor and vowed to "stand with the people" after performing a series of ancient rituals on Tuesday that culminated in his appearance on the imperial throne alongside his wife, Empress Masako.
The 59-year-old, who ascended the throne in May following the abdication of his father, Akihito, marked his official enthronement in front of around 2,000 guests, including heads of state and other royals from more than 180 countries.
[...] To mark the occasion on Tuesday, Abe's ultra-conservative government granted pardons to about 550,000 eligible applicants. The decision was not publicly debated.
The pre-war custom of clemency by the emperor, who was revered as a god in those days, has triggered criticism as being undemocratic and politically motivated. At the time of former Akihito's enthronement, 2.5 million people were given amnesty.
Also at CNN, Asahi Shimbun, and Japan Times.
Previously: MonarchyNews: The King is My Co-Pilot and Japanese Succession "Crisis"
Japan Clears Way for Emperor to Step Down in 1st Abdication in 200 Years
Big Tech Warns of 'Japan's Millennium Bug' Ahead of Akihito's Abdication
Japan's Next Era to be Called "Reiwa"
(Score: 5, Informative) by stormwyrm on Wednesday April 03 2019, @09:49AM (7 children)
This is an odd choice to say the least. The two characters have these individual meanings:
So there's kind of a double meaning here. It could mean an order to peace, or to command Japan. The latter possibility has some implications which countries like China just might take the wrong way...
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @10:26AM (1 child)
Taking a tech angle: On the plus side, they're using existing kanji for this era, instead of making new characters up which they've done for previous eras, so no need to worry about a rush to update unicode and font files and all sorts to be able to render the name. I'm not sure how software which can handle this old calender system works though. I expect they'd need an update? Would be nice to hear from anyone who knows better than me if this is the case, and how such changes are accomodated for or implemented.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by stormwyrm on Wednesday April 03 2019, @11:00AM
Since the fall of the Shogunate in 1868 there have been the following eras:
All of the kanji used are standard ones that have been in use in China and Japan for centuries. The only way in which they make up new characters for era names is to create monograms of the characters, e.g. ㍻ (Heisei), ㍼ (Shōwa), ㍽ (Taishō), and ㍾ (Meiji). A Unicode code point (U+32FF) is already reserved for Reiwa, and it will certainly look just like a monogram of 令 and 和, just as with all the other single characters for era names. You don't have to use the monogram character for the era, the digraph is just as acceptable, and is in fact far more common. You sometimes even see era names abbreviated by using only the first character of the name (e.g. 平22 for Heisei 22, or 2010 in the Western calendar)
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Wednesday April 03 2019, @12:17PM (1 child)
My AI also notes:
元危 = Linux's current era.
it's pronounced "systemd"
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @01:25PM
So that is how to write "awful trash inflected on the user base with violence resulting in Hell on *nix"
I have wondered! Thanks!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday April 03 2019, @01:09PM (2 children)
If they want to. That's the problem with diplomatic games. It's very easy to find things to be offended by.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @01:31PM (1 child)
China is so easy to offend these days. Just stepping foot on an island in the middle of international waters is enough for them to declare war. Heck, just talking about one of the countries they have invaded or taken control of will piss them off.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday April 03 2019, @04:38PM
When the ultimate insult is Winnie The Pooh ...
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday April 03 2019, @02:53PM (4 children)
I remember reading years ago that the current lines of succession in Japan are male heirs only, but the diet had been considering letting the emperor's daughter become the next empress.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @06:18PM (2 children)
They were discussing that, yes, because at the time everyone in the line of succession was only having daughters. But when Prince Hisahito was finally born, 12 years ago, they quietly dropped the idea. Prince Hisahito is currently third in line for the throne, after his uncle (who will be Emperor next month) and his father.
(Score: 3, Touché) by ikanreed on Wednesday April 03 2019, @06:29PM (1 child)
I mean, I guess if you're gonna have something as stupid and regressive as a literal hereditary monarchy, a little sexism is a small thing to overlook anyways.
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Thursday April 04 2019, @07:41AM
Even though Japanese Emperors don't have any actual political powers anymore their very existence still gives everyone wrong ideas.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @05:56AM
The diet wouldn't consider her as she wouldn't diet.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @06:29PM (3 children)
Just like kings... Abolish such outdated stupidities, please.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @07:56PM (1 child)
Expand your cultural horizons, Bask in these these imperial era lyrics
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HK3ZN5bpr-M&list=RDHK3ZN5bpr-M&start_radio=1 [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @06:35PM
Finally some metal that sucks differently from the rest.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 04 2019, @06:33PM
Friendly reminder that a medieval servant would look at the average amazon guy with heartfelt pity.