Saturnine comments

I feel like this is one of those issues where there are good arguments for both sides.

On the one hand, in favor of not changing the law - Japan is right that this is outside of the UN’s scope. If nothing else, there are more pressing matters for this committee to address. And on top of that, entirely aside from the issue of “is this even their business” we have the issue that the Imperial household is intrinsically linked with the native Shinto religion. I don’t know if it’s appropriate for the UN to ask a people to modify the laws of their religion.

On the other hand, in favor of changing the law - while it may not really directly impact people’s lives in Japan on the ground, the value of having a woman in a position of prestige and/or power/influence such as the head or figurehead of a religion and/or government should not be understated. It’s something men, who all their lives have seen other men in every high place there is, will ever really understand.

Anyway. I think a lot of people are acting like there is a sure right and wrong, and that just isn’t the case.

For me, as much of a feminist as I am, I think the UN committee made the wrong call here from a purely strategic point of view. Everything is more obvious in hindsight of course, but to me this seems like a kind of obvious chain of consequence. As much as I align with their goals, this was never the way to go about achieving them. There was never a world in which the Japanese government responded well to this, and they could have known that. Then again, maybe it was a 5th dimensional chess move and they DID expect this reaction from Japan and they want the backlash and discussion that it is generating. How many of you had even heard of their committee before this? Maybe it’s international government level rage baiting.