Thoughts on Monarchism?

[SanAndreasX]

Wman1996 said:

My views on monarchism are varied.
I lean towards abolishing them all and finding them outdated. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy and a very repressive country that influences the world in some pretty negative ways.
Limited to figurehead monarchies are more tolerable. The Emperor of Japan seems entirely ceremonial and a symbol of the people. He doesn't seem capable of doing his nation or the world any meaningful harm. The worst part would be the tens of billions of yen or so a year the taxpayers provide to maintain the monarchy. And that is one of the biggest arguments for abolishing monarchies.
Charles III's coronation cost a staggering 72 million pounds or about 90.7 million USD.

The Japanese Imperial Family is not treated with anywhere near the same pomp and circumstance that the British Royal Family is, thanks in part to MacArthur's actions during the U.S. occupation. Their means are relatively modest and a negligible expenditure for Japan. With that said, the British royals are a big tourist attraction and a source of the UK's soft power in the world. The Japanese ruling family, not so much. 

However, even Charles's coronation was relatively modest compared to the obscene amounts of money spent on Trump's inauguration, and Trump's inauguration was largely a walled garden for his oligarch buddies.