Imperial Functions and me

Last week, I had two very exciting and rare opportunities to attend functions of the Imperial Household.

On Thursday, I got to go to the Emperor’s Garden Party. It was SO COOL! It was at the Akasaka Palace Park, which I mentioned in an earlier post. The heads of office at the Embassy all get invited, but the rest of us diplomats put our name into a lottery. And I got to go! The event was full of famous Japanese people - current and former Prime Ministers, the recent Nobel Prize winner, Olympians, etc - who I unfortunately don’t recognize, because I haven’t been watching Japanese tv, but it was exciting to know they were there. Everybody was in national dress or day dress, so there were tons of beautiful kimonos.  

Refreshment tent, w/ Akasaka Palace in the background

There were refreshment tents scattered about with beverages and various garden party food, such as cheeses with the Imperial Crest of a chrysanthemum stamped on them, cucumber sandwiches, and yakitori.  

There was also an ensemble playing traditional Japanese music and, at the larger pavilion near where the Imperial Family entered, a larger band/orchestra.

People lining up for the arrival of the Imperial Family

About 20 minutes before the Imperial Family arrived, people started lining up along the path that the family would walk along. The Emperor and Empress, The Crown Prince, Prince and Princess Akishino and two princesses (cousins) were in attendance. It's forbidden to take pictures of the Imperial Family, but you can see the genealogy here - although it doesn’t show The Crown Prince’s sister Sayako, who was required by law to relinquish her birth position and membership in the Imperial Family when she married a commoner. A more current picture of the Emperor and Empress is here. 

Since I waited farther along the path, rather than at the beginning where there were tons of people, I was about a foot from them as they came by. They walked along, bowing and welcoming everybody and occasionally stopping to talk to people. They seemed very kind and gracious.

When we left, everybody received a box of cakes. They’re like pancakes, probably with a red bean paste inside, and with the Imperial Crest on the outside.

Souvenir cakes and my invitation

Then on Friday, I had the opportunity to go to the Imperial Palace Grounds to see a gagaku performance. Gagaku is ancient classical Japanese music, “perfected” in the 10^th century. The gagaku of the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency is the gold standard for gagaku. 

I wasn't able to take any pictures during the performance, but you can see a UNESCO video of an instrumental piece and a dance with music here. The location where the video was recorded appears to be the same location where I saw the performance (i.e. on the Imperial Palace grounds), and the dance looks to be the same as one of the dances that I saw, although on Friday it was performed in a different style (with two shoulders off instead of just one).