Lesson comes early these days, no???

NickTさん、

According to the dictionary, a king/queen is the ruler of a sovereign state. And an emperor is the ruler of an empire. Of course, these days it’s just based on tradition to call the ceremonial head of state of Japan an emperor when he has no empire. It’s also a little ironic, since with a few notable exceptions, most of Japan’s history was spent in isolation, there usually has not been an empire to rule over. Go figure.

Happy Birthday to the Emperor and also Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2007 to all JP101 staff and listeners!

I already have my gifts ready to gift and receive, …. YEAH!

in cantonese, banzai is pronounced man sui… close ne? hmm the popular, more slangy use is to say banzai as u use yatta… as in mansui!! school’s over!! or you say it as a respectful phrase, like the eunuchs used to have to say it to the emperor though now we use it as a joke among friends…
random question: do you reply to irasshaemase?

NickTさん、

My guess would be that England is King/Queen because it was so long before it became an empire. Of course, that still doesn’t explain Japan.

In most cases, I think prime ministers are chosen by parliament, while presidents (at least US ones) are chosen by the electorate at large. They are both executives, so that can lead to some confusion regarding the differences in their positions.

In the US system, but having the executive branch be separate from the legislative branch (they are intertwined in the parliamentary system), there is more of a checks and balance in their roles.

In Japan, for example, when former Prime Minister Koizumi stepped down, he remained a part of Diet.