Eli5: Why is the Japanese emperor an emperor if Japan is not an empire and doesn’t have a king or multiple Kings below him?
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For a time in the 19th Century the Japanese “Emperor” was sometimes translated to English as “Pope,” Shogun was translated as Emperor, and Daimyo was translated as King. This was never universally accepted and pretty much died out after the Meiji Restoration, but it’s an interesting idea that illustrates the answer to your question:
Japan has a culture and History that developed independently from Europe’s, and no ideas are going to directly translate. We call the Emperor of Japan “Emperor” because it’s the best fit for a lot of reasons, despite not being perfectly equivalent to European titles. “King” is less suitable because it is even less accurate in comparison, despite avoiding some of the “specific” issues Emperor raises.
The real reason, though, that we translate it to “Emperor?” *It’s Japan’s preference*. Aristocratic Hierarchy was important in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and as Japan emerged as a major world power, they did not want their Emperor to be of lower rank than the European Emperors (and British King, which is a weird exception and had the “status” of an Emperor if not the title, as a reminder that these things aren’t always cut and dry). At that point in time it was MUCH more important than being “just a translation,” as you have called it ITT. It matters a lot less now, but Japan continues to translate their monarch’s title as “Emperor,” and it’s frankly not our “job” or “place” to tell them otherwise.
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