"What?"
"It's an advance text of the speech His Majesty delivers on January second."
"That's his annual New Year's appearance at the Imperial palace, right? When he bestows his blessings upon the land."
"Exactly." He pulled out the sheet. "I think this sheds light on a lot of things. Here. I made a rough English translation, just to hear how it sounds."
She took the paper, torn from a yellow legal pad, and began to read.
The speech began with a long-winded celebration of the famous Yasukuni Shrine, home of the spirits of all Japanese warriors. That shrine, His Majesty then went on to declare, was increasingly misconstrued by the world as a symbol of Japanese militarism, a misapprehension both unfortunate and untrue, since Japan had indeed renounced martial force forever. However, to reinforce that commitment in the eyes of a nervous world, he was now announcing the dedication of a new national shrine to Japan's spirit that would have no such misleading overtones. This new shrine, at Tsukuba Science City, would be a memorial to the peaceful use of technology, to man's mastery of the physical world sanctified so long ago by the Shinto gods.
She looked up. "A new national shrine? Nice political move."
"Better read the rest before you jump to conclusions."
She glanced down and continued on.
It had further been decided, the Emperor would say, that the newly recovered Imperial sword would not be housed at Ise after all. It would instead be the centerpiece of this new memorial to Japanese technology.