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Comment by danso | Hacker News Reader

> A big issue is that people couldn't finalize any changes until the new era name had been decided and announced, which happened just a few weeks ago on April 1.

Yeah, I was wondering about this line in the article:

> Officials compounded the problem by keeping the new era’s name secret until April 1, just one month before the transition.

Is there any reason, specific to Japanese tradition/convention/bureaucracy to keep the name of the era secret until one month before the actual change? When is the era name actually decided on, and how soon after the abdication of the current emperor?

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The era name was decided by the government a couple of weeks before the announcement. Announcing a month in advance was a concession, conservative politicians wanted it like it always has been done, that the name is revealed at the start of the era.

I had to deal with the previous transition, and that one was going to be the result of the death of the emperor. Therefore, software was not allowed to include any provision for transition to a new date system, because doing so would imply that the emperor might die someday, which was strictly forbidden. I don't know whether it was an actual law, but there was zero tolerance for including any provision for changing the Showa date system.

As a foreign (non-Japanese) company, we just used the western-style date almost everywhere except for published documents to skirt this problem. Doing the wrong Japanese thing would have earned us serious hostility from the Japanese business press, but foreigners doing dates the foreign way would tolerated as mere foreignness.

The one month period was already a major concession by traditionalists: historically, the era name was announced the day it started.

Then again, this transition is also highly unusual because the emperor abdicated, allowing time to prepare. It's the first time in the modern era that this happened, as all previous (recent) emperors have died on the throne.

Does the announcement of a Pope have any advance notice at all?

From the other perspective, the only unique part about Japan is that they use a name for the calendar.

The Pope is conducted by secret election, and the candidates can be virtually any one who is a baptized Catholic man. I was under the impression that Japan's emperor has a line of succession? And which world governments (besides Vatican City) base how their bureaucratic system enumerates dates on the naming of the Pope?

Why only men?

Because for all of history and across cultures and civilizations, women have never been considered equal to men (socially or legally) - with the odd exception/legend here and there, of course.

"Because you're a woman and women can't do that" - "Why?" - "Because they can't." is what it boils down to.

Now for a more interesting stroll through Canon Law:

(1) The pope is the Bishop of Rome, and is (always) already a bishop (but if not, is immediately ordained as a bishop (Can. 332)[1]).

(2) Only men who have had the sacraments of baptism and confirmation (Can. 1033)[2] can receive the sacrament of ordination (Can. 1024)[3] and thus be bishops.

This has been reaffirmed (in 1994-1995)[4][5] as being part of the deposit of faith (i.e. Dogma).

In addition, anyone who tries to confer a sacred order to a woman (and the woman in question) are latae sententiae (implicitly) excommunicated.[6]

[1] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P16.HTM

[2] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P3R.HTM

[3] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_P3P.HTM

[4] http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1...

[5] http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/teach/ordisace2.htm

[6] http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/docum...

Of course, there's still the legend of Pope Joan[7]

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Joan

Very informative. Thank you for taking the time to write this in addition to citing everything!

The name of the emperor I believe is decided at the time of coronation though. They don't go by their real name but a new imperial name. That's my understanding at least.

"Is there any reason, specific to Japanese tradition/convention/bureaucracy to keep the name of the era secret until one month before the actual change?"

Yes.

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