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New Japanese Era Name is 'Reiwa'


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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5521
PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 11:13 pm Reply with quote
This is very exciting. Cheers to the new era
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crosswithyou



Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Posts: 2892
Location: California
PostPosted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 11:36 pm Reply with quote
Very mixed reactions here in the office...
"Reiwa Rider" is going to become a tongue twister. Laughing
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Zeino



Joined: 19 May 2017
Posts: 1098
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 3:27 am Reply with quote
The command/order meaning of the title sounds a bit ominous given that the current Prime Minister is only a sightly less of a right-wing nationalist than certain current leaders here in the west and often makes moves about changing the constitution.

Still I'm sure Emperor Reiwa will be as nice as a constitutional monarch can possibly be. Why about the worse thing you can say about the Emperor Heisei was that his dad was a war criminal who was pals with Hitler and Mussolini.


Last edited by Zeino on Mon Apr 01, 2019 4:29 am; edited 2 times in total
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Yu Ominae



Joined: 21 Sep 2008
Posts: 71
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 3:56 am Reply with quote
As bad that sounds, the committee that chose it passed the official meaning of “Ordering Harmony”.

It’s the first era name to be based from the Manyoshu, in reference to the use flower.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 4:27 am Reply with quote
So long Heisei era Anime 1989-2019.
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Cloudywind



Joined: 14 Jan 2018
Posts: 53
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 6:36 am Reply with quote
Zeino wrote:
The command/order meaning of the title sounds a bit ominous given that the current Prime Minister is only a sightly less of a right-wing nationalist than certain current leaders here in the west and often makes moves about changing the constitution.

Still I'm sure Emperor Reiwa will be as nice as a constitutional monarch can possibly be. Why about the worse thing you can say about the Emperor Heisei was that his dad was a war criminal who was pals with Hitler and Mussolini.

Abe's ties to Nippon Kaigi are concerning, but unless he personally chose the new reign name of the Emperor then I doubt it's meant to mean anything like you're trying to extrapolate.

As to the Showa Emperor's culpability for the war crimes of the Imperial Japanese military, that's an area of controversy among historians for political reasons. He was never in direct contact with Hitler and Mussolini or even ever met them, so you calling them pals is just plain dumb. But historians question how much control he really had over the IJA and IJN, who had by the time of the war completely suborned the civilian government by assassination and intimidation. Was he powerless to stop the army and the navy from carrying out their foreign misadventures until late in the war when they had expended most of their influence? Or was he secretly a prime mover and supporter of their actions as has been suggested after his death made it slightly less taboo to question the official story? Certainly the political convenience for the Americans and the postwar government of the idea that he was powerless to stop the out-of-control military in spite of being their supreme commander on paper, and the social taboo on involving the imperial household in politics, makes it difficult to talk about.

And the Heisei Emperor was a little kid during WW2. There's no need for his dad potentially being culpable for the IJA and IJN's war crimes to be any kind of "worse" thing you can say about him at all, unless you're just being snide.


Last edited by Cloudywind on Mon Apr 01, 2019 6:48 am; edited 1 time in total
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RegSuzaku



Joined: 08 Jul 2018
Posts: 267
Location: Ikebukuro
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 6:44 am Reply with quote
Zeino wrote:
The command/order meaning of the title sounds a bit ominous given that the current Prime Minister is only a sightly less of a right-wing nationalist than certain current leaders here in the west and often makes moves about changing the constitution.


Quote:
After the next era name was announced, Yamanaka told reporters he thinks of the new gengō as a combination of the new and old.

The first-ever use of the kanji “rei” and the nostalgic touch evoked by “wa” — the same character that was used in Showa — makes the forthcoming gengō “perfectly befitting today’s Japan, which both cherishes tradition and strives to try out new things,” he was quoted as telling reporters.

The Manyoshu passage that inspired Reiwa was written by poet Otomo no Tabito as an introduction to 32 ume-themed poems penned by his poet friends, according to officials. In the introduction, “rei” was used to refer to “reigetsu,” or “auspicious month,” while “wa” described the peaceful manner of an early spring breeze.

Having never been used before, the choice of “rei” came as a surprise for many.

Many Japanese people are not familiar with use of “rei” to mean “good fortune” or “auspicious.” For most, the first phrase that comes to mind is likely to be “meirei,” which literally means an order or command from a supervisor.

Some took to the Twitter to express their confusion over what they said was “meirei no rei” or “(‘rei‘ as in command)” — causing the keyword to briefly trend over social network services.

Masaharu Mizukami, a professor of Chinese and Japanese literature at Chuo University, said the choice of “rei” makes sense given positive phrases such as “reijō” and “reisoku” — a respectable way of referring to someone’s daughter or son, respectively.


Japan Times

Really, it can mean whatever you want it to mean, which... is sort of the point, and sort of true about a lot of things in Japan.

Another thing that trended... 18 years from now will be year R18. So, that'll be fun <3 .... except I'll be like... [redacted], but then again, they do say [redacted] is the new 25, probably even more so by then, so...

Oh also:
Quote:

but historians question how much control he really had over the IJA and IJN, who had by the time of the war completely suborned the civilian government by assassination and intimidation. Was he powerless to stop the army and the navy from carrying out their foreign misadventures until late in the war when they had expended most of their influence? Or was he secretly a prime mover and supporter of their actions as has been suggested after his death made it slightly less taboo to question the official story? Certainly the political convenience for the Americans and the postwar government of the idea that he was powerless to stop the out-of-control military in spite of being their supreme commander on paper, and the social taboo on involving the imperial household in politics, makes it difficult to talk about.


Another thing about Japan in general. The emperors never really had much power, they were always sort of figureheads for different groups at different times.

(Which... side note but anime related, the author of my favorite series uses as her penname the name of the family that was the real power behind the throne in the Heian era and I'l always really curious as to why she chose that, especially considering the series' interesting philosophy...)
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Lemonchest



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
Posts: 1771
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 7:03 am Reply with quote
Here's hoping he's a better emperor than husband.
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DirtyCircle



Joined: 06 Mar 2013
Posts: 127
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 7:03 am Reply with quote
At one point in his address, Minister Abe said, “Culture is born through the beauty of people caring for one another.”

I had to laugh. Japan is still notoriously conservative, right? I watched a video on YT recently about this gay couple in Japan (uploaded by Asian Boss) and felt that it was another reaffirmation about the problems there. While I would of appreciated more on their daily lives and not just their pasts, one of them was still very critical about how much can still be achieved because of how the Japanese are. Just in the last 10 years, great improvements have been made but much is still left to be done because of the thinking with individual responsibilities and concern. The problem with bullying, suicide and women’s right/place are other factors that has become a stereotype for Japanese society that flies in the face of Abe’s assertion. I know life there has too be much more complex than these simple summations but can current Japan be seen as overwhelmingly caring for one another? Surely, the stereotype of not becoming a burden on to others is hardly what he meant, right?
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sailorstarsun



Joined: 07 Apr 2006
Posts: 170
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 7:57 am Reply with quote
It's a beautiful name! I love it!
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Aca Vuksa



Joined: 22 Mar 2018
Posts: 643
Location: Nis, Serbia
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 8:37 am Reply with quote
Goodbye Heisei Era of the Pokemon (Pokemon started out in Heisei Period), and i hope Pokemon SM anime will have some Heisei references on the next episodes as an part of an tribute.

I am also making some video compliation about the Best J-Pop of the Heisei Period and vote on the best J-Pop from 1989 through 2019, it will be uploaded on my YT at Friday and i hope everyone enjoys it.

I would love to link to MY channel, but simply on PM though.
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 10:10 am Reply with quote
The greatest era of gaming is about to end, I wish I was back in 1995-98, where gaming is a lot better, Saturn was king, and F2P mobile wasn't even a thing.
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XerneasYveltal



Joined: 09 Jun 2015
Posts: 667
Location: Philippines
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 11:32 am Reply with quote
As someone who was born on the sixth year of the Heisei period (1994), I'm looking forward to witnessing a proper sendoff for it.
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AkaRed



Joined: 13 Jan 2016
Posts: 411
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 12:40 pm Reply with quote
Crazy to think that I lived through 3 Era, born in 1984 it was still Showa then Heisei and now Reiwa.
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jdnation



Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 1994
PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 1:01 pm Reply with quote
DirtyCircle wrote:
At one point in his address, Minister Abe said, “Culture is born through the beauty of people caring for one another.”

I had to laugh. Japan is still notoriously conservative, right? I watched a video on YT recently about this gay couple in Japan (uploaded by Asian Boss) and felt that it was another reaffirmation about the problems there. While I would of appreciated more on their daily lives and not just their pasts, one of them was still very critical about how much can still be achieved because of how the Japanese are. Just in the last 10 years, great improvements have been made but much is still left to be done because of the thinking with individual responsibilities and concern. The problem with bullying, suicide and women’s right/place are other factors that has become a stereotype for Japanese society that flies in the face of Abe’s assertion. I know life there has too be much more complex than these simple summations but can current Japan be seen as overwhelmingly caring for one another? Surely, the stereotype of not becoming a burden on to others is hardly what he meant, right?


This might be shocking for you to hear... But the majority of the world does not agree that 'liberalism' and 'leftism' are moral or virtuous principles. The progressive west has its own conundrums that are actually fostering suicide, hypocritical bullying and rights conflicts despite the supposed 'advancements' it trumpets. It is not uncommon in Asia to view the West as corrupt, immoral and in a state of self destruction, which is following the typical historic patterns of collapsing empires.
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