I did a doubletake when I read the headline -- I thought for a sec that it was a reference to Madeline Albright. Yikes!
Reforms are always needed, in all nations, to keep governments current and this is most easily and peacefully accomplished in a constitutional monarchy which has written gurantees of the rights of the people, the power of elected officials and the ability of the emperor to act as a safeguard against ambitious politicians. As a symbolic monarch, the emperor may not rule as in the past, but the presence of the monarch on the throne can stop any oppressive regimes from rising in the future. In a constitutional monarchy, it is not important how little power the monarch has, but how much power he denies to others.