1921 (Taisho 10) Thursday, July 7 The Imperial Household Ministry released a remarkable statement regarding Crown Prince Hirohito. It was reported that Prince Hirohito was very popular during his visit to Europe and went shopping in London and Paris, but the Ministry of the Imperial Household reported that Prince Hirohito plans to treat the people in a similar free style after returning to Japan. It was Hirokuni Ito, the deputy director of Shikibu of Viscount who was the heir of Hirobumi Ito. According to Ito, it’s better to wear a suit and go shopping in Ginza by train.
At the time, it was customary for the Japanese Imperial Family, including Imperial Prince Hirohito, to wear military or gold-plated full-dress uniforms, but the crown prince often wore a more casual suit during his visits to Europe, following the example of European royal families. Romanian Crown Prince Carol (later Romanian Emperor Carol II), who visited Japan the previous year, wore a suit except for official events, which attracted attention in Japan at that time, and this had an impact. Ito also stated that the Crown Prince of Japan should attend a general school instead of the Togu Gogakumonjo, which is a specialized educational institution, and that it was unnecessary to stop trains and passersby unnecessarily when traveling. He says it is absolutely unnecessary for a policeman to stand upright for two or three hours along a railway line.
These opinions expressed by Ito may be viewed as an aspect of Taisho Democracy, a movement in which a free atmosphere prevailed throughout society. In reality, however, a few years later, when the time passed from Taisho to Showa, not only the free atmosphere but also the deification of the Emperor by the military progressed and the world became very suffocating.
Leave a Reply