>>514951323
I’m not Japanese but I suspect the Imperial line continues to exist so that, in case some domestic dispute arises and the current levers of power are turned on their head, there still exists a central figure for the entire populace to rally around and be conjoined with. It gives them a continued common political and national compass that countries like the US lack. I suspect this is the same reason many European royalty are still kicking. If there’s a civil war and the government needs reorganization at least the entire nation will not be absolved because they have this ceremonial figure there to maintain it until it is reorganized around a new system. Should the same thing happen in the US the country could splinter and never recover to full hegemony, likewise Russia and China and many other countries who abandoned such traditions as royalty. I suspect that in 100 years there will still be an England and there will still be a Japan looking much the same on the map as now but I am not so sure about countries without such royal traditions. Still they are a waste of tax money, especially in Europe.