Question: Are you happy with Reiwa as name for Japan's new era?

Note: See my previous post for info on what Reiwa is.

Sure. It has a pleasant sound and the poem it comes from is nice.

The characters for Reiwa（令 = auspicious / good, 和 = harmonious）are taken from the first line of the introduction to a poem in volume 5 of the Manyoshu (the oldest collection of Japanese poetry, compiled around 759 AD).

A rough translation of the first line:

the time was an auspicious month in early spring, the air was nice, and a gentle breeze was blowing.

Nice, eh?

I’m told by Japanese friends that the two kanji go together unnaturally and so it feels a little strange, and it is true that it is a very unnatural combination, but I imagine we will all get used to any strange feelings due to the newness of it relatively soon.

The gaijin (foreign) community is making mountains out of a molehill I think with all their talk of conspiracy. Controlled peace. Be peaceful, or else! Abe announcing his intentions for the future. Picked from a Japanese source instead of Chinese as a nationalism move. It’s a bit much. Until we have reason to think otherwise, it is a nice name, end of story.

But it’s not just the gaijin community, I suppose. Eariler today, I read a Japanese friend’s Facebook post. She wrote:

To many Japanese people the Chinese character “令” means part of “命令” , or order . So the combination of the characters reminds us of people meekly follow the orders given by the government, maintaining “harmony”. I don’t like it.

And I've seen similar posts from other Japanese folks on Twitter.

In modern Japanese 令 usually means command or order, and 和 also means Japan.

An historian at Tokyo University says, "The name sounds as if we are ordered to achieve peace, rather than doing so proactively." Or else!

At any rate, I remain dubious that there is any malicious intent behind the choice. If the government really has nefarious intentions, I doubt they would be so overt. These days it seems like the internet is always trying to find the worst in everything.

So, again, until we are given reason to think otherwise, I think it’s a fine name.

Ask Me Japan

Do you have any questions about Japan that you just can't find the answer to and are itching to know? Ask me in the comments and if I have any insight I'll address your question in another post.

Thank you for reading. See you next time!

❦

	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. More?

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