令和
Imperial Palace, Tokyo
Saturday, May 5th, 2019
As of May 1st, Japan has a new emperor. It’s an event that, ideally, happens only once or twice a lifetime. The last change was 1989, and the one before that was all the way back in 1926. The change of emperor also brings a change of era, making this Reiwa (trans: beautiful harmony) Year One. Banks and many businesses actually use this method of dating alongside the international Gregorian Calendar, much to the confusion of everyone, native and foreigner alike. For instance, was born in 1985, but on official documents I often have to write that as Showa 60. However, as one of the lone proponents of keeping the US on the imperial measurement system for purely cultural reasons, I have no room to gripe.
So a few days after Prince Naruhito ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, a limited area of the Imperial Gardens was opened to the public to hear his inaugural address. And by “opened,” I mean that the whole city ward was on complete lock down, closed to all traffic, with scores of police, multiple security checkpoints, and a fleet of helicopters circling overhead. But you know me and crowd photography—I couldn’t pass up this chance, even when included a three-hour wait in the early morning sun.
Oh look! There he is!
The crowd, of course, was enormous. The public was ushered into this huge amphitheater 50,000 at a time, where every hour on the hour from 9:00AM until 3:00PM, the emperor came out for a roughly two-minute address. Peace, prosperity, good health for all. I should have been listening more closely, but I was busy trying to take his photo—not an easy task over all the little paper flags the boy scouts handed out.
A new era usually begins somberly as the country mourns the death of the previous emperor. This time, however, it followed Akihito’s abdication in good health, so for anyone alive today, it was the first time the event could be outright celebrated. Coinciding with an extended Golden Week national holiday, there were pretty positive vibes going around this city, reminiscent of the New Year 2000 atmosphere.
