Japan's new era name was announced: Reiwa

[vivster]

RenCutypoison said:

vivster said:

It's alright I guess. But as much as we harp on the US to finally go metric we should do the same for Japan to finally shed that useless era crap. I know that whole emperor thing is a pretty big deal in Japan, kinda like the Queen in England, but seriously, it needs to stop. Monarchies should not exist in this day and age.

If it were to be it'd be up to the japanese citizens.

The Emperor is mostly symbolic at this point, much like Belgium's King, but they were stripped of their powers and part of its symbols by another country.

Self-sovereignty should take precedence over imported ideologies.

And that's how we got Brexit, Donald Trump, China's de facto dictatorship and the various human rights abuses in middle eastern countries. Countries aren't isolated, they affect everything.

Also, I wouldn't call abolishment of monarchy an "imported ideology". More like, common sense.