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Newsletter Vol. 15 Spring 2019

On February 7th, a special lecture under thetheme, “The Imperial Era Name is Changing!
Uncovering Japanese Modern History andImperialism from Yase-no-doji to Mori Ogai” took
place for the 15th symposium of the Japanese
Civilization Institute. A heated discussion took
place between journalist and nonfiction writer
Satoru Ishido, NewsPicks CCO and NewsPicks
Studios CEO Norihiko Sasaki and Naoki Inose,
director of the Japanese Civilization Institute.
Following the announcement of the new gengo(Imperial era name) on April 1, a new era will starton May 1 followed by an enthronement ceremonyof the new Emperor. This symposium took place
immediately before these events, providing an
opportunity to think about the historical meaningof gengo and about Japan. Here is an extract of theevent.(Reprinted from “Shukan Dokushojin,” April
5, 2019, No. 8284 & Web Dokushojin)

A Report on Our 15th Symposium“The Imperial Era Name is Changing!
Uncovering Japanese Modern History andImperialism from Yase-no-doji to Mori Ogai”

Norihiko Sasaki vs.
Abdication of theEmperor and the
Olympics
Inose: It was in the summer of 2016that the Heisei Emperor indicatedto the public, that he had intentionsof abdicating. The main reason was
because he was over 80 and was
getting old, and having had twosurgeries, was finding it difficult toundergo heavy duties and serving as

About the groupJapanese Civilization InstituteEstablished in August 2015

Satoru Ishido

Naoki Inosevs.

a symbol. In his comment were thewords, “based on the rules of theImperial family, when an Emperor
passes away, heavy mourning services will take place every day overtwo months followed by events
related to funeral rites that lasts overa year.” I think that this is an important factor that is behind the reason as to why the Emperor is abdicating on this occasion. When we
look back at when the Showa era
ended, we were notified of Showa

Emperor’s sickness in September
1988. The Seoul Olympics were taking place at the time, but many TV
stations refrained from broadcasting
live.
When the Great East Japan Earthquake happened in 2011, no Hanami took place. It wasn’t surprisingconsidering nearly 20,000 people
lost their lives in that earthquake. I
was vice governor of Tokyo at thetime, but after a thorough discussion, we canceled the Sumida-gawa

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Naoki Inose

Fireworks Festival. 2011 was a year
in which the whole country mourned.
In 2020, Japan will be celebrating
an Olympic mood. I think the Emperor thought about the possibilitiesof public restraint if he were to passaway around this time, thus considered abdication. He wanted to avoid
the rituals that were to follow hisdeath, including the change of theera name and the enthronement of
the new Emperor, overlapping withthe ceremonial mood of the Olympics.
A funeral of the Emperor is called“go-taiso.” The Emperors of Meiji,
Taisho, and Showa were all coveredin vermillion. The color “shu” as of“shuniku (vermillion ink-pad).” The
Meiji Emperor was buried in
Fushimi-Momoyama-no-Misasagi(mausoleum), while the Emperors of
Taisho and Showa were buried inMusashino-no-Misasagi (mausoleum).
People of Yase village of Sakyo-ku,
Kyoto today, were the ones in chargeof carrying the Emperor’s coffin to
the Imperial mausoleums when amember of the Imperial family
passed away.
In 1981, I interviewed Yase
village, met the people who were
known as “Yase-no-doji” and wrote
the book “Tenno-no Kageboshi (ASilhouette of the Emperor).” Until
then, they were known as legendary
people, which Yanagida Kunio wrote
in his book, “these people were ‘de-2

scendants of oni (demons),’” whom
Buddhist monk Saicho —founder of
Tendai sect of Buddhism atop
Mount Hieizan—used for undertaking odd jobs at Enryakuji Temple.
Over 60 years have passed fromTaisho to when the Showa Emperor
passed away, and Imperial mourning
and Yase-no-doji were completely forgotten. However, people learned thepresence of these people who hadthese specialized roles through mybook, and traditional rituals took
place when the Showa Emperor
passed away. On the occasion, theImperial Guards dressed as Yase-nodoji carried the coffin and the chairman of the Yase-no-doji group conducted the ritual and walked by its
side with the other members.
There is a legend in Yase villagethat Yase-no-doji carried Godaigo
Emperor on a mikoshi (portableshrine) and carried him acrossMount Hieizan when Ashikaga
Takauji (first shogun of the Ashikaga
Shogunate) cornered him. Due tothis favor and service, Yase village
has been exempted from taxation fora long period of time.
People of Yase village sold
firewood for a living. There was very
little land for growing crop in Yase
village, so people went inside themountains near Mount Hieizan andgathered firewood and sold it on thestreets of Kyoto. If you walk about
10 kilometers from Yase, you reach
Demachi-yanagi located at the endof Sakyo-ku in Kyoto City. If you go
further from Yase, there’s Ohara.
Women of Yase and Ohara who carried firewood to sell them in Kyoto
were called Ohara-onnna or Koharame. In other words, Yase and Ohara
were both bases for fuel. At the sametime, people of Yase gained additional profit through carrying the Emperor’s coffin. Plus, they were exempted from taxation for the small
amount of land they had to growrice. This kind of exceptional village
truly existed.
The other day, Mr. Ishido was ac-

tually in Yase, so let’s have him givea report on what Yase is like today.

A report on Yase
Village
Ishido: I went to Yase on January
28th. There is a bus that takes you
there from Demachi-yanagi, butthere are only one or two buses running in an hour. It is about 20 minutes by subway from Kyoto Station
to Kokusai-Kaikan, the last stop.
From there, it’s about 20-30 minutesby taxi.
Inose: Yase Station was made in the
Taisho Era. Now it’s changed its
name to Yase Hieizan-guchi Station. It exists at the far end of Yase
Village. Also, a cable car that climbs
up Mount Hieizan was built in the
Taisho Era. It’s a kind of place where
you visit by car.
Ishido: The year’s first Buddhism
prayers were offered when I visitedthe village. By chanting prayers,
people offer a memorial service torepose the people who have passed
away. Who do the people of Yase
think of? The Emperors ranging
from Godaigo Emperor to Showa
Emperor, and other people belonging to the Imperial family whomthey have related to. After the war,
exemption from taxation was abolished in Yase and the village was integrated into the system of a legislative nation, but customs different
from others, still remain.
Recently, the village has become atourist site with signs that introduce
Yase’s Kama-buro (steam bath), Yase
Tenmangu Shrine and Shamen
Chiodori (a dance that celebrates the
exemption of tax). Since Mr. Inose
wrote “Tenno-no Kageboshi,” historical research has been pursued anddocuments that reveal the reality ofthese legendary Yase-no-doji havebeen created. Today, Yase-no-doji
have become one of the nation’s im-portant cultural properties. An archive museum in Kyoto today, takes
care of every material about them,including their papers and Buddhism statues of very old times. The
story of Kama-buro comes from abath that the people of Yase Village
provided to Oamano-Oji (Tenmu
Emperor later on) when he waswounded from an arrow during the
Jinshin-no-ran (War of Jinshin, 672),
which healed him.
Shamen Chiodori is a dance thatcelebrates the exemption of tax put
forth by the Emperor. When Empress Michiko saw the dance in August 2004, she read a tanka poem,
which has become a monument.
Okimi-no, Miyuki Iwao-to Yase-nodoji, Odomi-Kurotaki, Tsuki Wakakiyoni（Yase-no-doji performs a dance on
the night of a young moon, to celebrate the visiting of the Emperor）
The event is such an honor forthese people, that they make a monument of the poem.
Yase’s main industry is forestry.
Their tradition to live with themountains hasn’t changed.
Chairman of the Yase-no-dojigroup, Katsutaro Tamagawa (78)said that the meaning of their existence lies in the fact that they can
respect and serve the Imperial family.
There’s no point in their existence asa group if they forget that gratitude
and respect. After the war, the Emperor—who was a God up until
then—announced that he was, in fact,
a human. The people of Japan recognize the Emperor and the Imperialfamily differently before and after
the war. However, the people of Yase
don’t seem to have that distinction.
They seem to have a vision toward
Imperialism that transcends ideology.
Inose: Maybe that’s the case mental
wise, but they didn’t have to pay tax
before the war whereas after the war

they were obliged to pay tax under
the regulation of the modern government, so there’s a big difference
there. I’m surprised that they got
away with not paying tax right up
until the war. When they entered
Meiji, the fact that they were receiving the exemption for tax became anissue. People stressed that there
shouldn’t be an exception under amodern nation. Therefore, the Imperial Household paid their tax forthem. In return, the people of Yasepromised that they would carry thecoffin of the Imperial family when
they passed away. They made acontract to receive a certain amountof money when they do so. It wasn’t
only because they had to pass down
the tradition that the people of Yase
took this very seriously, but also because money was involved in theprocess too.

A new tradition
caused by the
restoration
Ishido: When the era changed to
Meiji and the Emperor relocated theImperial Palace to Tokyo, the peopleof Yase were worried that theirposition would change. They went
to meet government officials like
Iwakura Tomomi to request thatthey receive the same kind of treatment. On the other hand, it wasconvenient for the nation too, tohave people who passed down suchtradition.
A recent research shows that therelationship between Yase and theImperial family changed drasticallyin the Meiji Era. For although Yaseno-doji are known to be people who
passed down the tradition, they
didn’t necessarily carry all of the Emperor’s coffins after Godaigo Emperor. It was actually a ritual that was
built during the Meiji Era.
Inose: The Meiji Era saw the resto-

Norihiko Sasaki

ration of the Imperial rule. Emperors are buried in mausoleums from
the Meiji Era. In the Edo Era, they
were cremated.
Ishido: So, they altered the traditionat that point. The Imperial Household rediscovered Yase-no-doji when
they were restructuring everything.
Inose: If it were a cremation, it’slight so they didn’t need dozens ofpeople to carry the coffins. They
don’t need mausoleums either. Emperors of the Edo Era were buried in
the Imperial graves of Sennyuji
Temple in Kyoto. Momoyama Mausoleum in which Emperor Meiji wasburied, copied tumulus of ancient
times. With the restoration of theImperial rule, graves of Emperors
went back to ancient times. Other
words, Yase-no-doji carrying coffinsof Emperors soaked in vermilion
was a form of the new tradition created in the modern era.
In addition to this, the people of
Yase seemed to have done otherwork inside the Imperial Household.
What I heard when I did an interview in 1981, was that they preparedbaths for the Emperors. There were
8 pails containing very hot water, 8
pails with fairly hot water, and 8
pails with cold water lined in a row.
Before court ladies, they had to put
them in the cypress bath to prepare
for the Emperor. Also, there was ajob for toilets called “otou.” After the3they have lived with the Imperialfamily.

Satoru Ishido

Emperor relives himself, they pulled
the drawers underneath the toilets,
which had a key, and took the feces
to the court physicians. Both thesejobs and the role of carrying the Emperor’s coffin are no doubt dirty
works. However, at the same time,they are very important jobs that arelinked to the Emperor’s life. They are
not easy jobs you can ask anyone todo. In order to these jobs, it is said
that there were about 10 Yase-no-doji
working at the Imperial Palace constantly. Yase is a village with about
100 to 200 chiefs, so that means 1
out of 10 households work in public
services. Plus, there was extra workof carrying the coffin of the Emperor
during the Imperial funeral in whichcase a few hundred people cooperated. I think there still is a certain
number of people working inside theImperial Household.
Ishido: Godaigo Emperor died on
August 16th according to the lunar
calendar, which is around September 16 of the solar calendar. There is
still a ritual in which people of Yasedress in official outfits in the morning and afternoon to pray toward
gosho-dani, where Godaigo Emperor rested for a while during his fleefrom Ashikaga Takauji. This shows
how much Godaigo Emperor who
lived during the Nanboku-cho Period (1336-1392) and Kamakura Period (1185-1333) is real to the people of Yase and how much closer

4

Inose: Imperialism is now something of the legend. When theShowa Emperor died, they called on
the Yase-no-doji and put forth theritual. Yase-no-doji will probably becalled upon again next time. This is
how tradition is continued andpassed down to the next generation.
At the time, when I heard that
there was a village called Yase in
Kyoto, I just went but had no clue as
to where to find Yase-no-doji. So, I
asked a man passing by, “Where can
I find Yase-no-doji?” And he answered, “I’m one of them.” I visited
his house, and he showed me a thick,handwritten document called “YaseVillage Record.” The record was kept
from Meiji 5 (1872) until before thewar. After graduating from theHigher Normal School, he served asa local headmaster. He carried thecoffin of Taisho Emperor when hepassed away. Also, he introduced me
to another person who had carriedboth the coffin of Meiji Emperor
and Taisho Emperor. I was able tohear several stories, but it seemedthat the role of Yase-no-doji grew bigger after the Meiji Era.

Mori Ogai’s “A study
on Era names”
Sasaki: By the way, today’s symposium’s title is “The Imperial Era
Name is Changing!” Let’s hear a little more about some of the basic details like the meaning of gengo andwhy gengo is more important thanthe Christian Era?
Ishido: We talked about the restoration of the Imperial rule, but I
think that actually relates to what
gengo really means. The issue of Imperialism after Meiji and the role ofgengo after Meiji is inseparable.
Inose: The two are connected at afundamental level, in the following
sense; that tradition was restored
after the modern era. One gengo for
one Emperor was applied from
Meiji, see. Emperor Konmei—theEmperor before Emperor Meiji—changed the gengo up to seven times.
Before Meiji it was Keio, and before
that was Genji, Ansei....etc. Other
words, Imperialism of the modern era
is not necessarily the same as the tradition that has been continuously passed
down.
Sasaki: We have to look at the past
to know the future. I personallyhave an interest in what kind of era
we’re heading from here. How doyou think the next era after Heisei
will find its position in history?
Inose: Before we go on to that, weneed to know what kind of era Meiji
was. I will repeat again; modernism
was not a feudalistic society. It was
brought upon by the restoration of
the Imperial rule. It was from Emperor Meiji that one era name wasapplied for one Emperor. Other
words, on the outside, the modern
nation took a form of absolute sovereignty. Sovereignty dominatestime so when an Emperor dies, thetime changes. That kind of framework was built when they formed amodern nation.
When we look back today, the nation that was built in Meiji looks likea great nation, but it was, in fact, an
unstable empire that was hastily
made. The constitution was rushed
and established in 1889. They had todeal in the Sino-Japanese War andthe Russo-Japanese War in a chaotic
state. The era was never stable.
Writer Mori Ogai, who lived
during the eras of Meiji and Taisho,tackled the gengo issues 2 or 3 years
before he died. He knew they had tocome up with a new gengo, but hefound out that they rushed to makeone in the Meiji Era. Ogai researched
all the gengo before Taika (the firstgengo, 645-650). It wasn’t just Japan

that used gengo, so he researched all
the surrounding Asian countries too.
He put it in a list, which took up
270 pages of Imperial Household’s
writing paper. Through this research,he found out that “Taisho” was actually used in Anan, Vietnam and“Meiji” was used in old-time China.
Mori Ogai was furious that they
didn’t even research era names of thepast. From here onwards, he thought
they must use era names that haven’t
been used before.
Two characters are selected from
Shinsho Gokyo (Four Books andFive Classics of Confucianism) to
make a gengo. It’s something very
formal so it should be absolute,
thought Ogai.
The last work of Ogai was thethesis, “Gengo-ko” (A study on Era
names). He leaves the rest to Masuzo
Yoshida, his subordinate at the Imperial Household Agency and dies in1922. The last proposals for the era
name were written on the Imperial
Household’s manuscript paper andwere kept in Yoshida’s home.
Mori Ogai noted that “formality
is the nation’s key to success” which
I think is important. Because I think
today, only the rational sides of gengo are being discussed.
Sasaki: There’s a lot of opinions that
the Christian calendar is more efficient, and there is no longer need of
gengo.
Inose: I think even for people who
think they are rational, I don’t thinktheir lives are necessarily rational to
every extent. For example, why dopeople have priests at their weddings? Why do they have monks at
funerals site prayers they don’t understand at all but feel thankful all
the same? And why do people worka whole year to produce a shortterm festival like Yamagasa of Fukuoka or Danjiri of Kishiwada, eventhough they don’t receive any income? People depend on things thatare irrational in their lives. Similarly,

I think nations have “keicho” (celebrations and condolences).
“So, what is keicho for a nation?”questioned Ogai. At the basis of“Gengo-ko” lied the theory that mythologies are not necessarily historical. For example, Emperor Jinmu,
who is said to be the first Emperor,
did not exist. If you actually calculate, you’ll realize that he lived until
127, which is impossible. Therefore,
Ogai discovers; perhaps the unbroken line of Emperors from Emperor
Jinmu is a big, whole lie.
The graves of Emperor Jinmu andhis Empress lie in Kashihara Jingu in
Nara Prefecture, but it was built after
the modern state alike the Nintoku
Mausoleum. In order to group together 300 countries into one, theyneeded a national flag and a national
song. The nation just about existedbringing these things together, andMori Ogai had a sense of crisis thatthe nation will crumble if they lose
one part of it. In fact, he was thinking about gengo from a viewpoint ofbuilding a country.

What is Gengo?
The history of theunbroken line ofEmperors and thetheory of “as if.”
Inose: We know that the unbroken
line of Emperors from Emperor
Jinmu is a lie. That being said, howshould we understand the unbroken
line of Emperors? Emperor Tenji,“Kojiki” (oldest extant chronicle inJapan) and “Nihon Shoki” (oldest official history of Japan) existed
around 600-700. There are historical facts around this time, and wehave 1,300 years of history fromthat time up until now. However,right before WWII, in 1915, they
announced an Imperial Era of 2,600
years, which is double the years ofhistorical facts. The Christian calen-

dar counts 1940 years right afterJesus was born, so the number 2,600
can’t be right. We’re faced with thequestion of how are we going to position a nation in history of lies?
At this point, Ogai writes an essay
entitled “kano-youni” (as if ).”Ishido: It’s about acting “as if ” it’s
there.
Inose: A son who has learned history in Germany argues to his father
that Japanese history is not true. His
father starts avoiding deep discussions with his son. The son is at loss
and continues to struggle when hehears his friends say “Als Ob” and“Comme si,” which means “as if.”
Other words, it may be false, but it’ssometimes necessary to act “as if ” itis like that.
Ishido: Ogai himself studied inGermany and read Western history.
He’s also a doctor so he has scientificand rational approaches to facts.
However, in order to build a modern nation, you have to revive thetradition. Though a fabricated tradition it may seem, there was the needto build an image of Emperor Meiji
standing atop the Japanese government structure and restructure a history that links to that. In the end,
Ogai understands that it is important to behave “as if it is like that” orelse modernism would not move
forward.
Inose: While intellectuals like Ogai
came up with a solution after various sufferings, many people today
who take gengo for granted, say thatit’s not necessary because it’s irrational. Isn’t this kind of theory extremely shallow?
This is off the subject but, I think
the U.S. Presidential Elections is a
type of civil war that is fought over a
year. The American Civil War lasted
4 years in the past, in which 1 out of
4 grown men lost their lives. Legitimate power was born after the great

5

Civil War, which is why the Presidential Elections imitated it andmade the elections once in every 4
years. It’s a war of succession inwhich a new leader is selected every
4 years. Meanwhile, in Japan, a new
Prime Minister is selected from thewinning party, but outwardly it is
the Emperor who gives him the approval, so legitimacy is established inthat way. In the case of Japan, authority and power are divided.
Gengo is something that symbolizes
Japanese authority. Gengo exists together with the Emperor and authority is brought about by gengo.
Ishido: So gengo has the role ofcontrolling space and time in aframework different from the Christian calendar. We ourselves don’tcare about gengo that much, but
once people start telling us that “Heisei is ending” or “Heisei’s last~ is approaching” all of a sudden you feel
as if you have to do something. Isn’t
it weird that gengo is actually thatmuch rooted in our lives?
Inose: Other words, the Emperor’s
body and the concept of time is connected. Of course, there’s an exception this time because he’s abdicating.
Originally, the Emperor’s deathmeant the death of time in Japan.
The change is gengo symbolized authority, which was up until now themeaning of “one-era-for-oneEmperor.” In the case of Emperor
Showa, they broadcasted the condition of his health every day until his
death, giving reports on his bloodpressure rate and melena. By going
through these processes, one disappearance of a human fresh becomesa change of time in Japan.

Emperor and eras,
royalty and fools
Sasaki: What do you think will bereset when the era changes this time6

around? We would like to knowwhat kind of era is coming after
Heisei.
Inose: Although we know that it is
an image that has been built, theimage of an Emperor often overlaps
with the impression we get of that
Era. Emperor Meiji was referred toas “Emperor the Great” because Japan won in the Sino-Japanese War
and the Russo-Japanese War. In fact,
Emperor Meiji was terrified of battling against Russia and opposed to
the war. However, he got lucky andthe country won.
Emperor Taisho was said to bephysically and mentally weak.
There’s a legendary episode that herolled up parchment into a shape ofa telescope during the Diet, but thisis also something that was created.
There’s only a slight difference between a King and a fool and in away, these leaders are often like sacrifices. For example, there’s a tradition for a prince to be sacrificed inorder to maintain royal authority.
Other words, Emperor Taisho served
as a fool for Emperor Meiji. The
more he played the fool, the more
Emperor Meiji looked mighty. This
light and shadow contrast is always
associated with royal authority.
Taking this into consideration,
I’m sure Empress Michiko suffered a
lot of bullying when she joined theImperial family too. This was presumably a sacrifice for Emperor
Showa. In the U.K., Princess Diana
was sacrificed and royalty was maintained. If we look back in time, there
are people like Susano-ono-mikoto
and Yamato-takeruno-mikoto—turbulent and vagabond princes whoplayed the role of expelling incest
and various forms of violence existing in our everyday lives. Vagabondprinces carry terrible times on theirbacks and disappear. Thanks to thesepeople who play the role of carrying
the burden of informality, the legitimacy of royalty is protected. I think
the royalty of a modern nation is al-ways existing side by side with thismythology of sacrifices.
By the way, maybe Kei Komuro(Princess Mako’s fiancé-to-be) isnow becoming a kind of sacrifice
now too.
Ishido: Reports on Princess Masako
might be something close to that
too.
Inose: You see, his Majesty the Emperor and Empress Michiko are truly very grand people.
See, the present Emperor is carrying a heavy history on his back. On
23rd December 1948, 7 war criminals including Tojo Hideki were executed. The GHQ executed these
war criminals on the Crown Prince’s
15th birthday. The present Emperor
lives with the atonement for having
had 3 million of his people killed in
the Pacific War. Therefore, he continues to visit various sites including
Peleliu Island of the Philippines tooffer prayers with Empress Michiko.
They are a perfect couple with nofaults which is perhaps why “Princeof the Sea” (Kei Komuro) is being
attacked so severely by the mass media.
Ishido: When the Crown Prince isenthroned, he will probably be compared to the Heisei Emperor. Do
you think the next Emperor is expected to continue giving prayers toconsole the deceased with the history of atonement on his back?
Inose: It depends on how he’s goingto take that role.
Sasaki: Do you think in the future,
the Emperor will be characterizing
the nature of the country and its
flow in Japan, despite it being asymbol?
Inose: When we summoned the
Olympics, the existence of the Emperor was necessary to appeal to ourcountry. In order to battle with oth-

er countries and win in the competition to host the Olympics, we needed to think about the heritage of thiscountry. The fact that we were amodern, mature nation with a traditional Imperial Family, was crucial
to appealing this country. So, I went
to the Imperial Household Agency
and negotiated. It’s very hard to
explain, but I think the Emperor
and the Imperial Family represents
the way we are as a country. The
new gengo will be announced on
April 1. I wonder how we’re goingto feel?
I talked about how each Emperor
has an impression and a role. The
next Emperor went and climbed amountain on his own when Princess
Masako fell ill, so the impression of
him is “a man of patience.”
Ishido: Following the greatness of
his father, his sincerity may flourish
in another direction.

Inose: The Heisei Emperor says hewishes to be cremated. That means
he will not be soaked in vermilion.
He says he doesn’t want a mausoleum and wants to be in the samegrave as the Empress. The Imperial
Family is like the most authentic
family to pursue ancestor worship,
but today there are various types ofburial such as jumokuso (burial inwhich a tree is planted instead of atomb) and sankotsu (scattering ashesof the deceased). The changing ofpeople’s thoughts toward the way
they regard funeral rites and ancestor worship seems to be affecting theway he feels. I think it is the role of
the Emperor to transcend old valuesof the country, but there are presumably some changes that can’t behelped that comes with the flow oftime.
Ishido: Thinking about Yase-no-doji
is a way to contemplate about modern Japan. This country was createdthrough rediscovering tradition andto some extent rebuilding it, and intellectuals like Mori Ogai havethought seriously about these issues.
They realized that the tradition ofthis country was fake, but chose toaccept it. Or in the case of Natsume
Soseki, he chose to die as an individualist. Intellectuals of Meiji thoughtvery serious about these issues.
Like you said, Mr. Inose, today weare faced with rational, transitory
times, in which fictional thoughts
are undesired. However, I’m surepeople who are advocating rationalism are feeling things that can’t be
explained simply. That’s why thephrase “Heisei’s last~” has become so
popular. Some are even saying “Heisei’s last Christmas” (laugh)! Gengo
is included so much in our lives thatpeople make jokes about them.
Whatever they say about the Emperor, most people have a common understanding that they can say things
up until a certain point without

7

being imprudent. This is somethingthat is worth mentioning.
Mr. Sasaki has been showing his
concern as to what kind of Era will
be coming next, but if you think rationally, it doesn’t really matter in therealm of world history whether Heisei ends or not. But in this country,
when you hear “Heisei,” the majorityof people think about the passing
Era and the coming Era. There aremany people who feel somethingchanging upon the shifting of Eras.
During that change, how are we tocontemplate the war we experienced
and the consoling and reposing of
the deceased? Or are we going to see
a completely new value emerge? I
look forward to what’s coming
ahead. In any rate, I’m sure there’s
probably going to be an upliftingfeeling and a ceremonial mood with
Golden Week, the changing of gengo
and of course the Olympics. But thetruth is, I think it’s important how
we’re going to deal with things after
all the festive events end.

Inose: The changing of the Era andthe Olympics are going to come as aset, I think. It’s going to be a time toflush away many occurrences, including natural disasters and the depression, but I sincerely hope it will
provide us with the opportunity tothink about the nation and its meaning.
(Reprinted from “Shukan Dokushojin,” April 5, 2019, No. 8284 &Web Dokushojin)

The panelists
Norihiko Sasaki
NewsPicks CCO/NewsPicks Studios CEO
Born in Fukuoka, 1979. After graduating from Keio University, Faculty of Policy Management, he acquired an
MA in International Political Economy at Stanford University. He entered Toyo Keizai Inc. where he specializedin automobiles and IT. In November 2012, he became editor-in-chief of Toyokeizai Online. He moved to
NewsPicks in July 2014. He has been working on his current job since 2018. His recent book is “Japan 3.0.”
Other books include, “Beikoku-sei Erito-wa Hontoni Sugoinoka?” (Are American Elites Really Great?) and“Gonengo, Media-wa Kasegeruka?” (Can the media make a profit 5 years from now?). He is also the co-author of“Posuto Heisei-no Kyaria Senryaku” (Career Strategies of Post Heisei).

Satoru Ishido
Journalist, Non-fiction writer
Born in Tokyo, 1984. Entered Mainichi Newspapers Co. in 2006. He moved to BuzzFeed Japan in 2016 and took
part in its launch. In April 2018, he becomes freelance. His first book, “Risuku to Ikiru, Shisha to Ikiru” (Living withrisks, Living with the dead) was selected as “Best 3 books of 2017” of Yomiuri Newspaper Book Review.

Naoki Inose
Author. Born in 1946. In 1986, he received the Souichi Ooya Nonfiction Award for his book “Mikado no Shozo”(Portrait of the Emperor).” In 1996, he received the Bungeishunju Readers’ Award for his book “Nipponkoku no
Kenkyu” (A Report on Japan).” In June 2002, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed him to the Promotion
Committee for the Privatization of the Four Highway-Related Public Corporations. He served as Tokyo Governor
from December 2012 to December 2013. In December 2015, he became Special Advisor to Osaka City. His
books include “Showa 16-nen no Haisen” (The Defeat in Showa 16), “Persona—Mishima Yukio Den” (Persona: The
Story of Mishima Yukio) and “Picaresque—Dazai Osamu Den.” (Picaresque: The Story of Dazai Osamu). Upcoming
books include “Kyushutsu” (Rescue), “Senso, Tenno, Kokka” (War, Emperor, State), “Seigi ni tsuite Kangaeyo” (Let’s
Think about Justice), “Minkei” (Posse Man), “Tokyo no Teki” (Tokyo’s Enemy) and in collaboration with Lully Miura,“Kokumin Kokka no Riarizumu” (Realism and the Nation-state).

Translation: Ayako Karino
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