Banzais for the Chrysanthemum Throne

When the somber young prince with the wistful eyes behind thick spectacles ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, Japan was a rising Pacific power that worshiped both the Emperor's divinity and the potentials of military strength in a world sick of war and attempting unsuccessfully to disarm. That was on Christmas Day, 1926. Last week, with three rousing shouts of "Banzai!" followed by a loud brass fanfare, government and diplomatic notables marked the 50th anniversary of Emperor Hirohito's accession.

The 75-year-old Emperor and Empress Nagako, 73, were lauded by a select audience of 7,500 in an hour-long ceremony at Tokyo's flower-bedecked Nihon Budokan (Martial Arts) Hall. In the half-century since the accession, Japan had been atom-bombed into defeat and had risen again to become one of the world's proud industrial powers. Hirohito, who renounced his divinity in the wake of Japan's World War II loss, is now the world's second-longest-reigning monarch. Swaziland's King Sobhuza II, who became King in 1921, has ruled longer (though only since 1967 as the head of an independent state).

Enlightened Peace. There were other ceremonies in honor of the event across Japan, but none were without political shadows. Socialist leaders boycotted the Tokyo ceremonies to protest the continuing Lockheed scandal; so did the Japanese Communists, who oppose the "Emperor system" itself. More than 30,000 police were on duty in Tokyo alone to control isolated leftist demonstrators, some of whom denounced Hirohito as a "war criminal."

The majority of Japanese, though, joined Premier Takeo Miki in offering gokurosama (special thanks) to the shy, scholarly Emperor for his long reign. In Tokyo, Hirohito responded by recalling the pleasant and sad memories of 50 years, mentioning especially his grief for "the great number of victims of the last war and their families."

According to Japanese tradition, Hirohito's reign has been given its own descriptive name--showa, or enlightened peace. The Emperor predicted a bountiful future for his subjects if Japan continues to cooperate in establishing world peace. To judge by a recent survey, the Emperor system is likely to be part of that future for a long, long time. Fully 80% of the Japanese questioned approved of it; 10% of them even thought the imperial prerogatives should be increased.

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