What happens when Emperor Akihito abdicates?

When Emperor Akihito on Monday announced indirectly his desire to abdicate, it marked the beginning of the end of Japan’s first modern imperial reign. Neither as controversial as his father, the wartime Emperor Hirohito, nor as public a figure as some of his fellow monarchs, Akihito navigated the Japanese imperial family through its postwar transformation into a purely constitutional monarchy. It will now be up to his son, the 56-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito, to maintain imperial tradition while serving as the figurehead of a country facing major challenges and searching for an identity in an increasingly globalized world.

The adjustment of both Hirohito and Akihito to their new roles after World War II ensured the survival of the imperial family. Instead of abolishing the imperial system, Gen. Douglas MacArthur saw it as a tool to help ensure compliance with America’s occupation policies. The emperors became figures above politics and returned to the powerless position that had marked centuries of essential house imprisonment under Japan’s feudal leaders.

Survival of the imperial system is also made possible by Japan’s conservative society. For all the kaleidoscopic change that Japan has endured, the imperial clan rests not only above politics, but in some ways above time itself. With roots reaching back 1,500 years, it links tradition and modernity. With little change in such attitudes on the horizon, the position of the imperial family seems secure. Yet with a declining population and a stagnant economy, Crown Prince Naruhito will face a different challenge as emperor. Naruhito’s ability to encourage continued social stability among a populace increasingly pessimistic about the future and to remind them of national strengths that transcend GDP calculations will determine how relevant he remains. As the country’s politicians fail to reverse Japan’s malaise, the powerless monarch may become a more potent symbol of Japan’s values and traditions than at any time in recent memory.

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