The Emperor Has No Clothes

The word "emperor" is mentioned, and I just can't help but think of a vain old man parading naked in front of the unwashed masses. Maybe that is just me though. I'm sure that that was not the thought process of the thousands of Japanese people queuing to see "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor" on December 23rd when the big guy turned 76.

After an 8 hr night bus ride, I arrived in Tokyo at 6:00 a.m. on December 23rd. Seeings as it was the current emperor's birthday and one of the two days per year that he and The Imperial Family come out to greet said masses, I wandered my unwashed self on over to the Palace to check out the shindig for myself.

All I could see were layers upon layers of barricades and traffic cones. There didn't appear to be anyone around. Was it possible that I, Maggie McCarron, gaijin extraordinaire, was the most patriotic person in all of Japan?

Inconceivable.






the 12 most patriotic people in Japan








Then, across the stillness of the morning, I heard a hearty chuckle that could only belong to the second most patriotic gaijin in Japan. He was at a corner across the street from me, chatting to several older Japanese folk who alternated between looks of terror and looks of absolute befuddlement. Turns out that Sandy and I tied for 13th most patriotic. He, a JET from some village north of Tokyo, had also arrived on a night bus with time to kill before his afternoon flight. So we killed some time.

We killed a lot of time.
















The line grew, people queuing down the block like ants behind a particularly insurmountable twig. A man passed out paper Japanese flags. I snacked on my box of combini chocolates. My toes went numb. The sun crept across the intersection toward us, carefully warming inch after slow inch of asphalt.

Finally, we moved. It was after ten in the morning. I had waited almost 3 hours to see a guy whose name I still don't know.















After a quick security check, we were on the lawn. We waited. The sun warmed my back. I saw people trying to inch out of my shadow's reach. Sometimes it is good to be tall.

I ate more chocolate.

















And then all of a sudden it was here, the moment for which we had spent all morning waiting. We were crossing the bridge into the Imperial Palace, Tokyo sprawling in every direction from this ancient grassy knoll.

As the crowd swelled across the bridge and flowed up the curving driveway though yet another set of gates, I wondered if this was what the Russian peasants felt like when they stormed the Winter Palace.


Yeah, it was probs a little different for them.