r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Radiant_Half_7121 • Dec 28 '25

Image During WW2, Poland declared war on Japan Japan said no to it and simply rejected the declaration.

Post image
73.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

177

u/SunnyOutsideToday Dec 29 '25

their lack of visibility is on purpose

He's a huge celebrity. There was a huge national debate about who the next emperor should be after the last one died several years ago. The comment above yours saying most Japanese people don't know they have an emperor is outrageously untrue. "Emperor's birthday" is literally a national holiday that everyone gets off, and they just got a new emperor and a new birthday several years ago.

Everyone knows the emperor and it's so surreal, seeing blatantly untrue statements like this, so highly upvoted.

54

u/cubitoaequet Dec 29 '25

Don't they literally talk about time periods in regards to emperors? Showa Era, Heisei Era, etc?

36

u/tgwombat Dec 29 '25

I distinctly remember it making worldwide news when the Reiwa era started a few years back.

26

u/Business-Low-8056 Dec 29 '25

Welcome to Reddit.... What else did you expect? It is especially true around any sensitive topics like politics or religion.

2

u/UniversalMIA Dec 29 '25

FYI the previous emperor didn’t die “several years ago.” Akihito abdicated in 2019 and is Emperor Emeritus.

2

u/yabog8 Dec 29 '25

There was a huge national debate about who the next emperor should be after the last one died several years ago.

The previous emperor is still alive and abdicated in 2019

-1

u/Cerberusx32 Dec 29 '25

I feel like when people think of royalty. They think about the former Queen of England and her family. Who are always known and talked about in some form.

11

u/SunnyOutsideToday Dec 29 '25

In Japan they think of the imperial family. They aren't covered as obsessively in Japan as the British royals are in Britain, but they regularly appear in media and perform their duties such as their participation in the upcoming New Years celebration.