August 17, 2005
He was born Kim Sung Jong in 1952 to Korean parents in Osaka. His
father was
a poor immigrant who built himself a fortune in taxis, property and
pachinko,
the addictive Japanese version of bagatelle. At 15, Kim Sung Jong was
sent to
the preparatory school for the private and prestigious Keio University
in Tokyo.
There he studied politics and law. It was at this time that he
underwent surgery
on his eyes to make them larger and less oriental, and he took on a
new,
Japanese name, Seisho Hoshiyama.
When Seisho was 17, his father died in Hong Kong in murky
circumstances, possibly
connected to the yakuza or Japanese mafia. Seisho shared the vast
inheritance
with his two brothers and, at the age of 21, underwent another shift of
identity,
taking on Japanese nationality and the name of Joji Obara.
On December 23, 2001, during his annual birthday meeting with
reporters,
the emperor, in response to a reporter's question, remarked that he
felt
a "certain kinship with Korea", and went on to explain his feeling
as resulting from the fact that the mother of Emperor Kammu (736?806)
was Korean
. The emperor noted that Koreans who migrated to Japan in ancient times
introduced
important aspects of culture and technology to the country, and then
called upon his
countrymen never to forget the regrettable fact that Japan’s exchanges
with Korea have
not all been so friendly. Emperor Akihito undermined myths of Japanese
racial purity, which
generally rely heavily on fanciful accounts of the imperial line.
/゙⌒゙ヽ | | /⌒\ /゙⌒゙ヽ | | /゙⌒゙\
./ .i | | i i ./●塵●i. | | .i嫌韓●i
,' .iノ人ヽi i ,' 癌● iノ人ヽi●キムチ i
i ! i i i●●● ! i●親韓 i
| ! i i |苦タール ! i●違韓 i
| l i i |●タール l i●籍● i
i ノ ヽ i i呪●塵ノ. ヽ恐● i
ヽ_/ \_ノ ヽ_/. \●ノ