Yeah, I just learned this, and it’s pretty cool. Good to have some mystery left in an ancient ritual.
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Disemboweling: Rated-R (or even PG-13)
Vagina: NC-17 or X
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Interesting for sure. Hungary briefly had a different crown though:
(shitty iPhone picture I made)
On the topic of the japanese imperial regalia:
It isn’t exactly uncommon that a monarch had/has limited access to the regalia. In Europe from the Middle Ages onward until very recently monarchs usually had access to their regalia only during coronation. That’s why a lot of monarchs had so called House/“Private” Crowns - crowns to wear for representation. A good example for this is the Crown of Emperor Rudolf II.
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You’ve got the basics down and would have no problem handling a two-week trip to Japan. Just keep your anus in clear view at all times and only look at the many vaginas on display through a colander. You can pick up a cheap strainer on the arrivals level at Narita.
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One thing which is glaringly apparent with the former emperor, new emperor and princess heir apparent is the rather large “imperial nose”. Hirohito hid his behind a mustache for most of his adult life.
Emperor Meiji
Naruhito and Akihito
Princess Aiko
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Nope. Women can;t inherit the throne.
Emperor Naruhito’s younger brother Prince Akishino will now be Crown Prince.
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OK, but the comment about the “Imperial noses” not only remains but seems to have more support with that picture of Fumihito
You owe me a new keyboard.
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I was lucky enough to be in Nara 2 years ago when the annual Shōsō-in treasure exhibition was on:
https://www.narahaku.go.jp/english/exhibition/2017toku/shosoin/2017shosoin_e.html
There are items on display each year that date from the early 700’s. Yes, not 1700’s, but ~1300 years ago. They had a stone recorder (musical) from that time, just astoundingly well preserved. So maybe these items still do actually exist…
Oh dear - Microsoft Edge (and so probably Bing Translate) had a troublesome time with the catalogue entry for the stone shakuhachi:
Chrome has it as ‘ball shakuhachi’ and avoids the… awkward… translation)
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My wife is from Nara. Thus turning a visit to a major cultural/historical center into mostly hanging out with my in-laws.
My personal highlight of the region of course is Todaiji Temple and the aggressive semi-domesticated deer
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Fun fact, the Japanese would describe a large nose as “tall” rather than “big”. And they wouldn’t necessarily mean it in a bad way.
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I have a “roman nose” or i guess it is an Aquiline nose so seeing this imperial nose i don’t think there’s anything bad about how it looks 
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I managed a few days there again just after new year this year. They are wonderful. Best photos of the last trip:
Self service:
Wot you lookin’ at:
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Fuck the aristocracy. Any aristocracy.
The Japanese aristocracy was fucked long ago.
The 1946 Constitution of Japan abolished the kazoku and ended the use of all titles of nobility or rank outside the immediate Imperial Family.
At least it was in theory.
Since the end of the war, many descendants of the kazoku families continue to occupy prominent roles in Japanese society and industry.
Ah, those inscrutable Japanese…
In Japan, my many relatives think I’m the “inscrutable” one for liking licorice and rootbeer flavored things… Not to mention having the sheer audacity to ride a child’s toy (skateboard or inline skates) in public…
Cultural differences are cultural differences my friend. You’re just as weird to them as they are to you.
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Lovely! I’m perhaps a little weird in that I really like ritual and ceremony, and think they’re an important aspect of life we have too little of in the modern world. This kind of highly structured formality can of course become constraining and crushing if there’s too much of it, but If you ask me we’ve got the opposite problem going on, in that too much of the modern Western life is “formless”.
If I remember correctly, it’s been rare to non-existent in recent times, but in the medieval period there were times when it happened regularly. The Emperor nominally had all the power, but they were incredibly constrained by the court ritual and protocol. So a tradition developed where the Emperors officially retired once they had a suitably grown-up heir to take the throne (the definition of “suitably grown-up” varying significantly), and these retired Emperors were the actual rulers.
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It would be interesting if a station broadcasting this used a golf announcer to explain each step. 
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Sounds like the ark of the covenant in Ethiopia…
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