Japan has been an effective Constitutional Monarchy since 1947, but it remains the only country in the world with an Emperor. The Parliament and the Cabinet control politics, but the Emperor performs select actions at the invitation of the Cabinet.
The Council and other laws regarding the Emperor are governed by The Imperial Household Law, which came into effect the same day as Japan’s modern Constitution in 1947. The affairs of the Imperial Palace are run by the Imperial Household Council (çš”¡Ã¥Â®Â¤Ã¤Â¼Å¡Ã¨Â°ï¼”°, composed of ten members defined by law:
- Two members of the Imperial Family
- Chairman of the Lower House
- Vice Chairman of the Lower House
- Chairman of the Upper House
- Vice Chairman of the Upper House
- The Prime Minister
- The Head of the Imperial Household Agency
- The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
- A Judge of the Supreme Court
This council is the controlling body of the affairs of the Emperor and the Imperial Family, not subject to any outside review or appeal. It’s powers are broad: for example, the council chooses the spouse of the Emperor and the Crown Prince (or at least approves the Emperor or Crown Prince’s choice). It’s the last vestige of imperial government in Japan, and one that shows no signs of changing anytime in the near future.
AFTERTHOUGHT: Anyone have information on how the affairs of the British royal family are managed and governed?
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COMMENTS / 23 COMMENTS
Durf added these pithy words on 27 Feb 07 at 2:28 pmI believe Imperial House Law is the more commonly used English name of that legislation, despite what Wikipedia says.
Mutantfrog added these pithy words on 28 Feb 07 at 7:22 amWell, I have only seen the term “Imperial Household Ministry” in English, not “Imperial House” so I would think that “Imperial Household Law” is also standard.
Curzon added these pithy words on 28 Feb 07 at 9:30 amDurf: I’ve never see “Imperial House Law”, but I could be wrong.
MF: The “Imperial Household Agency” is a different body, the å®®å” ”¦Ã¥ÂºÂ?. That’s the bureaucratic arm related to the above council. The Imperial Household Ministry was abolished in 1949 and replaced with the aforementioned agency.
Curzon added these pithy words on 28 Feb 07 at 2:21 pmOne more thing: the other political/legal difference is that the Imperial Household Agency is under the jurisdiction of the cabinet and thus is accountable to a higher authority. The Council is not—which is what makes it so peculiar, and in many ways, extrajudicial.
Mutantfrog added these pithy words on 01 Mar 07 at 1:28 amRight, Agency. I’m obviously reading too much pre-war history lately. I kind of thought from your initial post that this Council was a body within the Agency, but the fact that it’s separate is very interesting.
The other day I was skimming a book about Emperor related issues that I picked up at book-off and saw an interesting discussion about whether or not the Emperor is legally considered a citizen, and whether or not he even has “human rights.”
Curzon added these pithy words on 01 Mar 07 at 5:11 amWhether or not the emperor is a citizen is a long story. I’ll put my notes in here and let someone else translate it if they have the time.
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Curzon added these pithy words on 01 Mar 07 at 5:45 amFor what it’s worth (and sorry to all you non-Japanese speakers out there), according to the most recent district court case, the Emperor is a citizen—with minimum necessary special treatment required by his position as the Emperor.
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Mutantfrog added these pithy words on 01 Mar 07 at 8:06 amCan you just imagine how weird the proceedings would be if the Emperor filed a lawsuit over violation of his privacy or likeness rights?
Curzon added these pithy words on 01 Mar 07 at 1:25 pmIt gets weirder: the Emperor has no right to file a civil suit in Japan, on the grounds that it violates Article 1 of the Constitution, which states his role as a symbol of the citizens; to sue a citizen would make him a symbol of less than all the citizenry. However, as in the case noted above, other government bodies have sued in his place.
Yago added these pithy words on 01 Mar 07 at 3:58 pmç´Â?税ãÂ?®ç¾©å”¹â„¢
seriously? He pays taxes?
Mutantfrog added these pithy words on 02 Mar 07 at 12:41 amBut does he have any income? All the Imperial Residences and so on are government property after all.
Aceface added these pithy words on 02 Mar 07 at 1:38 amHis daughter(Former princess Norinomiya) was working in Yamashina Institute of Ornithology as a secretary.But as I understand there were no payment for her labor.
Curzon added these pithy words on 02 Mar 07 at 1:39 amNot quite—the Emperor owns property (and his preservation of property rights are protected by the Constitution), but any transfer of any property is restricted under Articles 8 and 88 of the Constitution.
Joe added these pithy words on 02 Mar 07 at 5:02 amWell, it seems to me that the restrictions only apply to Imperial Household property, not to the property of its individual members. And even then, the only real restriction on the Household is that it has to follow the Diet’s budget, right?
Mutantfrog added these pithy words on 02 Mar 07 at 5:15 amWas that before she was a “former” princess?
Aceface added these pithy words on 02 Mar 07 at 8:46 amyep.
yellowpeep added these pithy words on 03 Mar 07 at 9:13 amCurzon,
It takes up three interpretations, affirmative, neutral and negative ones on the issue whether the Emperor can be defined as a citizen. I omit these reasonings described above.
The latter part lists up the rights the Emperor can hold:
Education, worship, privacy, communication, property, etc. are acknowledged as his rights.Living overseas, running for elections, choosing occupation is prohibited. I’m not sure they are clarified, but this is regarded natural among citizens.
I want to stress that a funny thing is happening: liberal people who keep demanding human rights are still content with restricting the Emperor’s rights. Opening up discussions on increase Emperor’s right is a taboo in Japan.
You are mean letting people translate it while you can read Japanese :-)
Curzon added these pithy words on 03 Mar 07 at 4:00 pmThanks YP, it’s all about time—now that it’s the weekend I could have done it, but you’ve beat me to it. Thank you!
Joe added these pithy words on 04 Mar 07 at 2:00 amThe taboos regarding the Japanese emperor are interesting. I wonder how many Japanese people even know his name (at an interscholastic “Japan Bowl” I went to a few years back, none of the Japanese teachers or exchange students present had any idea).
yellowpeep added these pithy words on 04 Mar 07 at 4:54 amThe family of Emperor used to have a family name, which they haven’t have, such as just with their given name like “Akihito”. Ordinary people have, of course, a family and given name such as “Koizumi Junichiro”.
But, I’ve heard the Emperor’s family have hidden their family name so they can conceal their origin. That way their origin is still successfully not known to everybody. BTW, my mother’s maiden name can be traced back to a very old era just because of her family name.
Aceface added these pithy words on 05 Mar 07 at 4:40 amThe usage of the last name is pretty new in the history of Japan.
Besides it was natural for royals to follow their family name because politics in those days were organized by kinship relation and political marriages.Kims and Parks started calling themselves when Korean started to convert heavyly to the chinese culture which is also relatively new phenomenon.Any Korean with in Japanese royals must have names something non chinese as “Kim”.
