Word: crowning
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Crown Prince. In his adolescence, Hirohito was stirred by the same restlessness and curiosity about the western world that was disturbing many of his future subjects...
...elder statesmen close to the throne were men of western ideas, like astute Prince Saionji, who promoted a Japanese version of parliamentarianism and constitutional monarchy. In 1921, with their support, Crown Prince Hirohito decided to go abroad. Never before had an imperial Heir Apparent left the Land of the Gods. Shinto jingoists threatened to fling themselves in fanatic immolation under the train that bore the Crown Prince to his ship. But Hirohito was not deterred, and this 20th Century form of hara-kiri did not take place...
...Crown Prince returned to Japan with several western notions. He thought that he would mix more with his subjects. He tried out the idea on a group of university students who were forewarned to dispense with ceremony. The adoring students all but mobbed the Heir Apparent...
...marry for love. Despite the opposition of the court, he chose a young noblewoman, Princess Nagako of the Satsuma clan, which was then outside the strict circle of families eligible for imperial matches. In due time she bore him five daughters and two sons, the eldest-born being Crown Prince Akihito...
...implications of this analogy are clear. The Emperor institution (in the form of Hirohito or, if he is too discredited, Crown Prince Akihito) must be retained to save the Japanese nation from disintegration. The Emperor institution must be used to prepare the way for a nonaggressive, nontotalitarian state...