Aristocracy in Japan still very much alive

Title

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XX (No. 10) October 1968

Year

1968

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

■ The conversation of the Japanese nobility into a new group of elites and efficient common workers. ARISTOCRACY IN JAPAN STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE’ The aristocracy in Japan still appears very much alive today — twenty-one years after the nominal extinction of peers as a breed in the nation. About 1,700 people gathered on April 24 to cele brate the opening of the Kasumi Kaikan Hall (the pre war peers’ club revived). The club is located on the 34th floor of the brand new 36-story Kasumigaseki Build ing in the heart of Tokyo which happens to be the highest ferroconcrete struc ture in Asia. Among the distinguished guests to see the birth of high society (some 120 meters above the ground) was the scholarly Prince Mikasa, younger brother of Emperor Hirohito. Other guests included man agers of the House of Mitsui and members of the diplo matic corps who, with cock tail glass in hand, strolled about the 3,300 square-meter hall, stopping here and there to chat with old but spry princes, marquises, and other prewar noblemen. The club has a membership of nearly 1,000 — all prewar peers, according to former viscount Takatoshi Kyogoku, music commentator and one time vice president of the international weight lifting federation and former Count M u n e y o r i Terashima, a Princeton graduate, who served as secretary to the president of the Cabinet In formation Bureau shortly after the end of the war. In an interview with a Kyodo reporter, Kyogoku and Terashima revealed that as of May 24, the defunct Japanese peerage had twentyone princes, thirty' marquises, 100 counts, 400 viscounts, and 500 barons. They also said that besides the 3,300 square-meter hall on the 34th floor, their club 16 Panorama owns the 10th and 11th floors for rent. Rentals for these two floor spaces will run into millions of yen a month — more than enough to cover the running expenses of the hall. The prewar peerage got the title to these three floors in exchange for the estate it sold to Mitsui Real Estate for construction of the Kasumigaseki Building. The hall itself is modern and tidy but characterless. The monotonous atmosphere of the hall, however, is re lieved by an old 7-foot West minster clock in the drawing room and a dozen of Vic torian chairs saved from the famed but defunct Rokumeikan Hall here, which was de signed and built by the Bri tish architect, Josiah Condor (1853-1920). The peerage in Japan was disestablished in 1947 simul taneously with the coming in to force of the postwar Con stitution. Some of these peo ple who “dwelled above the clouds and had direct access to the Emperor,” in the utter confusion created by Japan’s surrender to the Allied po wers, lost their heads, self-es teem and courage to face the realities of life together with their titles and prerogatives. But as the initial shock of improbability gradually wore off, they began descending from the “purple clouds” to mingle with “common peo ple” — to find wprk suitable for their capacities and ca reer. Since many of them were well educated, being graduates of the Peers School and the Tokyo Imperial Uni versity, Oxford, Harvard, Princeton, Sorbonne, etc., some sought academic jobs. Others went into business, winding up as figureheads of shaky firms in some cases. At any rate, it took a long time before many of the old peers managed to set them selves firmly on their own economic feet, it is said. They were a people who had never bothered to work and who had taken pride in not working for money. Now, a majority of old peers are out in the open, trying hard to establish bridgeheads in every field of human activity for the sake of their posterity. They are out in the political arena, in the Government service, in academic circles and the cul tural and sports worlds as October 1968 17 well. But they were conspi cuously absent from the busi ness world. For example, Naotsugu Nabeshima (viscount) is a mem ber of the Sato Cabinet and director-g e n e r a 1 of the Science and Technology Agency. Just recently, Nabeshima had a hard time, bear ing the brunt of the Opposi tion attack on the Swordfish case (possible contamination of seawater by this U.S. nu clear-powered submarine) in the port of Sasebo, Kyushu. Former Marquis Kickinosuke Saigo, grand son of “Saigo, the Great” is member of the House of Councillors (Upper House). S a d a take Hisamatsu (Count) is a long-time gov ernor of Ehime Prefecture, Shikoku. Kinkazu' Saionji, formerly prince and “blue-blooded black sheep”, has long been in Communist China. He is there to serve as a bridge be tween his country and Com munist China. A graduate of Oxford (class of 1930), he is a grandson of Genro Kinmo chi Saionji, one of the fore fathers of the Meiji Restora tion. Former Marquis Moritatsu Hosokawa, member of the Cultural Property Protection Commission is one of the greatest authorities on fine arts and one of the richest in his class. Former Marquis Nagatake Asano is curator of the State Museum in Tokyo. Well known both at home and abroad for bird studies is former Marquis Yoshimaro Yamashin a, managing-di rector of the Yamashina Or nithological Research Insti tute here. Dr. Yukiyasu Kiyosu (count) and Dr. Nagamichi Kuroda (Marquis) are also members of the Japan Ornithological Society. Takaharu Mitsui (Baron) is a world figure in the philately field. Yorichika Arima (Count) is a member of the Japan PEN Club and a good de tective story writer. In the world of sports, former Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda is a mem ber of the International Olympic Committee. The prewar peerage has also produced a number of Japan’s best amateur golfers such as Naoyasu Nabeshima and Morisada Hosokawa, both former marquises. — From Japan Newsletter, Kyo do News Service, June, 1968. 18 Panorama

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