"There is a bed, there is a coverlet, and the Emperor keeps his distance from it," said John Breen of Kyoto's International Research Center for Japanese Studies, adding that de-mystifying the ceremony could be a government defence. "Kingmaking is a sacred business, it's transforming a man or a woman into something other than a man or a woman," he said, pointing to mystical elements in Britain's coronation functions. "So the Japanese government's denial that there's anything mystical to it is bizarre, but the purpose is pretty clear - it's to fend off accusations there's something unconstitutional going on." Although believed to have initially been one of the less important enthronement rites, the ceremony gained status and its current form from 1868, as Japan began to turn itself into a modern nation-state, unified under the emperor. At a news conference, the Emperor's younger brother, Crown Prince Akishino, wondered if it was "appropriate" to use public money, suggesting instead the private funds of the imperial family, which would necessitate a far smaller ceremony.

Source: International New York Times November 10, 2019 23:35 UTC