Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
November 18, 2019
Rare deer-like species photographed for first time in wild
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A tiny deer-
like species not seen by scientists for
nearly 30 years has been photographed in
a forest in southern Vietnam, a conserva-
tion group said.
Images of the silver-backed chevrotain,
commonly called the Vietnamese mouse
deer, were captured in the wild by trap
cameras, Global Wildlife Conservation
(GWC) said.
It said the rabbit-sized animal is not a
deer or a mouse, despite its nickname, but
is the world’s smallest hoofed mammal.
They are shy and solitary, have two tiny
fangs, appear to walk on the tips of their
hooves, and have a silver sheen, the group
said.
“For so long this species has seemingly
only existed as part of our imagination.
Discovering that it is, indeed, still out
there, is the first step in ensuring we don’t
lose it again, and we’re moving quickly
now to figure out how best to protect it,”
said An Nguyen, a conservation scientist
at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wild-
life Research, a partner of GWC in the
project.
The chevrotain was first described in
1910 by four people. A fifth sighting was
reported in 1990 in central Vietnam,
making it one of the rarest animals in the
world, GWC said in a statement.
An and his team set up camera traps
after receiving reports from local villagers
SMALL & SCARCE. A photo of two silver-backed
chevrotains was captured by a camera trap in an un-
disclosed forest in south central Vietnam, in this June
6, 2018 file photo. Global Wildlife Conservation says
the rabbit-sized animal is not a deer or a mouse, de-
spite its nickname, but is the world’s smallest hoofed
mammal. (Southern Institute of Ecology/Global Wild-
life Conservation/Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife
Research/NCNP via AP, File)
and forest rangers of the animals. The
cameras took some 1,800 photos of the
species over a period of five months.
“The rediscovery of the silver-backed
chevrotain provides big hope for the
conservation of biodiversity, especially
threatened species, in Vietnam,” Hoang
Minh Duc, head of Vietnam’s Southern
Institute of Ecology’s Department of
Zoology, was quoted as saying by GWC.
“This also encourages us, together with
relevant and international partners, to
devote time and effort to further investi-
gation and conservation of Vietnam’s
biodiversity heritage,” Duc said.
Wildlife in Vietnam face many threats
including poaching and habitat loss due to
urbanization.
Japanese emperor performs secretive key succession ritual
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
T
OKYO — Japanese Emperor Naru-
hito has performed a secretive and
controversial ritual, a once-in-a-
reign event to give thanks for good
harvests, pray for the peace and safety of
the nation, and play host to his family’s
ancestral gods.
Or at least that’s what experts and
officials say.
The Daijosai, or great thanksgiving
festival, is the most important succession
ritual an emperor performs. But it is closed
to the public, even as taxpayer money
funds it.
It has drawn criticism as a throwback to
Japan’s authoritarian past and as a
colossal waste of money, and provoked
speculation the emperor is spending the
night on a bed with a goddess.
Here’s a look at the significance of the
ritual and what people are saying about it:
First communion with gods
Daijosai marks the emperor’s first
communion with the Sun Goddess
Amaterasu, the monarchy’s mythological
ancestor, and with other gods of Shinto,
the religion of the imperial family. Harvest
rituals originated in Japan’s ancient rice
growing culture from around the 7th
century, historians say.
The two parts of the ritual each last a
few hours. Naruhito, after purifying
himself and donning a white robe, enters
the Yukiden, one of two main halls at a
newly prepared, and very expensive,
shrine complex inside his palace. Only he
can enter the innermost sanctum to
present harvested rice, saké, vegetables,
seafood, and local produce from around the
country to the goddess and gods.
Japanese television showed Naruhito,
accompanied by assistants, walking slowly
in a hallway and then disappearing behind
white curtains at the entrance of the
Yukiden.
He was expected to offer arcane prayers
for peace and bountiful harvests in the
direction of Japan’s most sacred shrine at
Ise, where the sun goddess is believed to be
enshrined, then partake of the offerings in
a symbolic communion. After a short
break, he was to perform a similar ritual at
another main hall, the Sukiden.
One night, $18-million shrine
The venue, Daijokyu, is a one-off shrine
complex of about 30 structures in various
sizes, including the two main halls, all of
which will be demolished afterward. The
shrine complex alone costs about 2 billion
yen ($18 million), and the whole ritual
totals about 2.7 billion yen ($25 million).
It’s all funded by the government. The
ritual shrank when Japan was ruled by
warlords and the monarchy had little
money and power. There was a 200-year
hiatus before it was restored during the
Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled from
the 17th to the 19th century.
The ritual and the shrine were expanded
when the pre-World War II government
deified the emperor and used his status to
drive Japanese aggression. The event has
not been scaled down even after the
emperor became a mere symbol, with no
political power, under the postwar
constitution, and there’s been little public
debate about the use of taxpayer money for
the highly religious and secretive event.
Keiko Hongo, a University of Tokyo
historian who was invited to speak before a
government committee on the ritual, said
officials wanted to cut costs of other events
but not the Daijosai.
What’s the bed for?
There’s speculation about many aspects
of the ritual, but especially about the
presence of a bed in the main hall, and
what it might be used for.
Some experts believe the emperor uses it
to sleep with the sun goddess to gain
divinity. Others say it’s for the goddess to
rest and that it’s not even touched by the
emperor.
“The so-called bed, as we understand it,
is a sacred seat for the imperial ancestor to
rest,” then-Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu
said before the Daijosai in 1990 was
performed by former Emperor Akihito, the
current emperor’s father.
Officials have denied that the emperor
uses the bed to gain divinity.
Religion and state
The government’s funding of the highly
religious rite remains contentious.
A group of more than 200 people filed a
lawsuit against the government last year,
saying the ritual violates the constitu-
tional separation of state and religion. The
wartime government turned Shinto into a
fascist ideology to promote its colonial
aggression.
Abe’s government says even though the
rite is too religious to be considered an
official duty of the emperor, it is an
“extremely important” succession ritual
for the country’s hereditary monarchy
written in the constitution and therefore it
serves the public interest and deserves
state funding. The cost is paid in the name
of “palace expenses,” which ordinarily
cover maintenance and ceremonial
spending by the palace, following a
precedent set by the government at the
time of the earlier event.
“There seems to be a political intention
to resist (calls to stop funding the ritual)
because of a sense of nostalgia for the
(prewar) era,” Takeshi Hara, a monarchy
expert at the Open University of Japan,
told a TBS radio talk show.
Abe’s government wants the emperor to
be a more authoritative figure, as he was
before the end of World War II.
Imperial criticism
Naruhito’s younger brother, Crown
Prince Akishino, says he is against using
public money for the ritual and that it’s
questionable under a constitution that
separates religion and state.
“It’s a royal family event, and it is highly
religious,” Akishino said last year. The
palace budget for the Imperial family’s
private activities, including religious ones,
was about one-seventh of the amount
needed for the event. “I think the Daijosai
should be held ... by making it an
affordable ceremony.”
His view was quickly dismissed by the
government and conservatives, but widely
welcomed by some palace watchers and
legal experts. They say it’s doable because
the emperor already performs a regular
annual harvest ritual in November at the
palace’s existing shrines.