Chrysanthemum Fish
And then there are the Emperor’s enthusiasms – his love of tennis, of the cello, and, above all, his passion for a small, unglamorous fish called the goby.
In a few days, in recognition of his contribution to goby studies, Akihito will deliver a keynote speech at the august Linnean Society, an organisation of natural scientists in London, at which his esoteric expertise will be on full display. He will talk of binomial nomenclature and the history of Linnaean taxonomy. He may refer to his own painstaking work in distinguishing different goby species by minute comparison of their shoulder-blades. It is an appealing, almost Pythonesque image – the dotty boffin Emperor ensconced in his palace, sifting through fish bones. And yet there are few monarchs today more serious, or burdened with greater care, than Emperor Akihito.
Doo doo doo, yes isn’t it awful having an imperial family, skip skip skip…
And this perhaps, explains the Emperor’s passion for biology. “His duties, inevitably, are related to political questions or government,” says Watanabe. “In natural science there’s none of that. He can straightforwardly pursue the truth . . . He has contacts with scientists who also pursue the truth and tell him he’s wrong regardless of whether he’s Emperor or not.” How appealing it must be to put aside cares of state and stand up in front of an audience of like-minded rationalists, to talk of species classification, and the shoulder-blades of gobies.
A world-class scientist
It is a 10cm-long bottom-feeder with a translucent, orange-speckled body and big bug eyes, by all appearances one of the humbler residents of the seas. The most recently-discovered fantail coral reef goby, however, is a blue-blood: it bears the scientific name Exyrias akihito, in honour of the only reigning monarch who can claim a world-class reputation in science. …
Akihito will visit Sweden before Britain, then on Tuesday he will address the Linnean Society of London. Linnaeus is one of Akihito’s heroes, and in a press conference last week he described his satisfaction at being elected to the eminent Linnean Society in 1980: “I thought I was not worthy.” His wife, the Empress Michiko, is well aware of Linnaeus’s influence. She said: “Shortly after we were engaged, His Majesty, then the Crown Prince, talked to me about fish. He would use the precise binomial nomenclature, such as Tilapia mossambica. I was astonished, slightly awed and overwhelmed.”
Aww! That, my friends, is a love match. After she accepted him, he could tell her all about his gobies. And she was awed!
May 26th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Wasn’t Hirohito also into the fish deal? Hell, aren’t all Japanese into the fish deal? Growing up I lived next door to an American sailorman and his Japaneese wife (Tadako) what a piece of work. Cement koi ponds under oak trees, beautiful, an enormous amount of work. Saw her last week, I swear she doesn’t look over 55 and she’s gotta be 80.
May 26th, 2007 at 9:43 am
It’s the soy. Soy sauce, tofu, edamame, miso, they put soy in everything and they live forever.
Yeah, they love fish. But what I love about them is the way they love fish, see a fish they love, and say “Woah let’s eat that!” They’re not silly about it. Sometimes they could stand to be a bit sillier (whales) but yeah. It’s great. And I think you’re right. I think he was into some kind of something… Hm. I’ll look it up after Ikea.
May 26th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
They do love fish. They like to sit quietly and watch fish. I think it’s something akin to the Plains Injuns-Buffalo deal.
I may go by tomorrow after seeing Dad, maybe I’ll get a picture of a few squish fish. Still there, still bug-eyed, still Japan.