Book Lifts Lid On Emperor's High Living (Japan)

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 9-7-2003 | Colin Joyce

[Solamente]

What? No one on the payroll to help guide "it" in?

[Fracas]

Intriguing look at a royal family usually shrouded in secrecy. Thanks for posting.

[Lizavetta]

Need I ask what the tax rates are in Japan that support this?

[Martin Tell]

what the tax rates are in Japan ...

Actually they are very low. In total, they are very close to the USA - one factor that is usually overlooked in Japan's economic success.

[muawiyah]

The royal family is the last remnant of a system with formal titles of nobility. This was abolished back in the 1920s.

Just over a decade ago, one of the last royal princesses of one of the royal lines passed away in Minneapolis. She had come to America as a picture bride earlier in the century. One of her sons won a Silver Star in France fighting for America. Another son was with the first American landing party after the surrender.

Just plain folks as far as I could ever tell but her brothers lineage was probably better than that of Hirohito.

[fishbabe]

gosh,how did the clintons miss doing this???????

[Trajan88]

I'm sure there are at least a few imperial "wipers" on the roll... ooops... payroll.

Trajan88

[petuniasevan]

Intriguing, to say the least.

rules like one that a maid who wipes a table cannot also wipe the floor

That actually makes a lot of sense. Ever been in a fast food emporium where the table wiper comes around with a gray (once white) rag and wipes the seats, THEN cleans the table? Ewwww.....

[Ronin]

What this article fails to mention is that the Japanese royal family is even more captive to tradition, protocol and ritual than any other royal family on Earth.

The real power rests with the Imperial Household Agency who sets the schedules, approves the visitors, decides the wardrobe, etc.

The Shinto rituals themselves come in all shapes and sizes and can last anywhere from minutes to days. None of which can be ignored, rescheduled or modified. The Emperor's diet is strictly controlled. He has no control over what he will be fed, or even how much he will eat.

And that does not even touch the time he spends on the diplomatic side of the house.

I feel more sympathy for them than anything else. Their lives are not their own -- and never will be.

[Diogenesis]

Like Leo Atriedes, they COULD take the "golden path".

[Consort]

It sounds like he's creating more jobs than the entire nation of France.

[Romulus]

Meanwhile the emperor and his family run up a monthly water bill of £50,000.

Cleanliness is next to godliness.

[TheSpottedOwl]

gosh,how did the clintons miss doing this???????

Royalty has it's priveleges, while trailer trash has to scavenge for what's left :)

[Mind-numbed Robot]

artly because of rules like one that a maid who wipes a table cannot also wipe the floor,

Wow! The labor unions are everywhere.

[xJones]

What's sad is that the Princess has not born a son, so far, to continue the line and the Imperial Household lets her know about it.

[Ronin]

The Imperial line runs very heavily towards daughters. Emperor Showa had six elder sisters by the time he came along.

There is a movement towards amending the Constitution so that an Empress can ascend the throne. The public is generally supportive, but as usual it's the IHA that is grumbling.

[FlyVet]

That's it, I want a piece of this action. I hereby declare myself Emperor of the United States! All you taxpayers, send me a stipend while I sit on my fat hedonistic butt and do nothing!

[knuthom]

what the tax rates are in Japan ...

Actually they are very low. In total, they are very close to the USA

How can that be? I would not call the tax rates here in the US "very low".

[Fracas]

A Japanese princess with two sons fighting for the US? Amazing how so few of these stories make it to the mainstream news; instead, Biography focuses on 20 year olds who aren't old enough to have a biography! LOL.