When Emperor Naruhito attended a nationally televised ceremony this past weekend to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, it was practically his first major public appearance in six months — and possibly his last this year.
The pandemic has forced the cancellation of ceremonies, parties and international trips that otherwise would have raised the profile of the nation’s emperor, who took the helm of the world’s oldest continuous monarchy last year. Instead, his absence from the public spotlight has created an impression of him fading from view, prompting many to wonder, “Where is the emperor?”
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“It must be very frustrating for him,” said Kenneth Ruoff, a professor of modern Japanese history at Portland State University and author of the book “Japan’s Imperial House in the Postwar Era, 1945-2019.”
“He was planning on continuing the same style of his parents: getting out there and mixing in a very as-equal-as-possible way with his countrymen. And then the pandemic comes along, and they can’t really do that for all sorts of reasons.”
Becoming invisible?
[...] Apparently alarmed by his dwindling presence, the agency has taken the highly rare step of uploading the full text of a short speech made by the emperor in April, when he and Empress Masako were briefed by Shigeru Omi, head of a government panel of experts dealing with the pandemic, on the latest situation regarding the coronavirus.
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Such briefings are typically private in nature and it is “unheard of” for the agency to fully disclose the emperor’s remarks on these occasions, said Shinji Yamashita, a former Imperial Household Agency official turned freelance journalist who extensively covers the imperial family.
Behind this break with tradition was the agency’s desire to quell growing frustration from the public and media over the lack of an address by Emperor Naruhito to his people at a time when Japan is grappling with what some say is a national crisis, Yamashita suggested.
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Oblique communication
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His reticence has contrasted sharply with the great lengths to which kings and queens overseas, especially those in Europe, went in the early days of the pandemic to communicate with the public, issuing an array of video messages seeking to allay their fears.
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The difference in attitudes partly stems from the unique role and authority assigned to emperors, who are stripped of political power under the postwar Constitution as the antithesis of their godlike status during the war, which symbolized Imperial Japan’s militarism. As such, they cannot say anything that is even remotely political in public today, with their words often strictly vetted and scripted in advance.
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Only twice during his 30-year reign did Akihito, for example, broadcast video messages — first in the aftermath of the March 2011 triple disasters that decimated the Tohoku region, and then in August 2016 when he made nuanced explanations about why he wanted to abdicate instead of reigning until death.
Although COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on the lives of many in Japan, the situation here is nowhere near as catastrophic as in some of the world’s biggest virus hot spots, with a death toll totaling a bit over 1,000 as of Tuesday.
“If Japan ever gets as bad as, say, New York, then I think it’s certainly possible that the emperor would make a video speech,” Yamashita said. “But right now, with the nation still persevering and succeeding at containing the crisis under government policies, I would find the release of a video message a little premature,” he added.
That view is echoed by Ruoff, who said the fact that Emperor Naruhito had so far steered clear of making any special announcement doesn’t make him any more aloof than his father.
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“So I think he’s been less active compared to other monarchs, but he hasn’t been less active than you would have expected his father to be in similar circumstances.”
According to Ruoff, the Imperial Household Agency did consider having the emperor make a televised statement in April when it looked like Japan was tipping toward a full-blown crisis, with the number of cases spiking. But momentum for such an arrangement fizzled out after the nation gradually flattened the curve in the weeks that followed, he said.
‘Now or never’
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Naotaka Kimizuka, a professor at Kanto Gakuin University who is well-versed in royal families around the world, has said such an open embrace of internet culture by the monarchy still remains implausible in Japan, describing a cadre of conservative forces in the Imperial Household Agency reluctant to experiment with anything unprecedented.
Kimizuka said royal families overseas have utilized platforms such as Twitter and YouTube to roll out aggressive public-relations campaigns to “make the people understand their kings and queens are working hard” to get their nations through the pandemic.
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While officials around him may balk at the notion of the emperor making forays into social media, there is a good chance that Emperor Naruhito himself is more open-minded.
During his trip to Denmark as prince in 2017, he surprised his entourage by agreeing with a smile to taking a selfie with a local resident who had asked for a photo. That was only a few months after former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak proudly uploaded on Twitter and Facebook a blurry, apparently spur-of-the-moment selfie he took with the emperor during lunch at his official residence.
“Given his personality and ways of thinking, I do believe the emperor himself is of the opinion that social media should be utilized,” Yamashita said.
The journalist said that before the pandemic, he would have thought it would take Japan another five to 10 years before the imperial family started to use social media.
“But with the use of the internet rapidly spreading due to the coronavirus crisis, and the emperor increasingly seen as invisible and disengaged from the public, I think a social media debut is now or never,” he said.
While conceding its positive aspects, Ruoff, meanwhile, cautions that the internet can be a double-edged sword that, if mismanaged, could have dire consequences.
“All sorts of things can happen with social media. … You want the emperor to tweet, and do you want them being retweeted?” he asked.
“You don’t want the throne caught up in social media in a way that harms its dignity.”
[...] Whatever message the monarchy wishes to communicate will in all likelihood be tightly scrutinized, controlled and scripted by the Imperial Household Agency. [...]
I wish him a fast recovery.
