http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-world_monarchy/article_528.jsp Comments for "Japan: from the divine to the human, Misaki Kamouchi " en http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-world_monarchy/article_528.jsp Before the second world war, children in Japan were taught at school that the emperor was not a human being, but a god. When the classroom topic became the emperor, children had to straighten their backs to listen. My mother, as a primary school girl in the 1930s, remembers the <em>Showa</em> emperor (Hirohito’s) car passing her local area. Along with her companions, she had to bow deeply until he was far away. But she recalls that everybody tried to steal a glance at the car. <p> As a small girl near the historic city of Nara, the famous novelist and human-rights defender Sue Sumii (1902-97) once saw a farmer collecting the emperor’s excrement after an imperial visit to the area. For him it was like a holy relic. </p>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-world_monarchy/article_528.jsp" class="read-more" title="Read the rest of this posting.">Read the rest of this post...</a><p><a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-world_monarchy/article_528.jsp">read more</a></p> http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-world_monarchy/article_528.jsp#comment asia &amp; pacific democracy &amp; power a world without monarchy? Misaki Kamouchi Original Copyright Thu, 23 May 2002 00:00:00 +0100 528 at http://www.opendemocracy.net