Imperial Family of Japan Current Events 2: June 2008 - April 2017

[Mermaid1962]

I don't think that they actually have their own money. Everything they need is provided for, but they don't have any actual money of their own.

No amount of money is worth it if you have to live like that.

 

[iceflower]

.

Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko and other family members attended lectures given by top researchers on January 12 as part of the court's annual New Year events at the Imperial Palace:


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 **


** nhk.or.jp: Emperor, Empress attend academic lectures **


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6YDFdSWptQ

 

[Mermaid1962]

Are the lectures about topics in which the Imperial Family are interested, particularly the Emperor and Empress?

 

[Al_bina]

According to the "Imperial Family of Japan" blog that quoted the IHA,

The Ceremony of the Kousho Hajime was instituted in 1869 with a “lecture for the New Year” designed for the enlightenment of studies by Emperor Meiji. In those early days, lectures concentrated on Japanese and Chinese texts, and subsequently came to include western texts. From 1953 the explanations in the above-mentioned three fields came to be instituted.

https://imperialfamilyjapan.wordpress.com/2016/01/13/imperial-new-years-lectures-2/

http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e-culture/kosho.html

 

[carlota]

ladies and gents, where does the imperial household post future events of the family? i am visiting japan soon and would love to come to one of the events to greet them at the entrance

 

[Al_bina]

The Imperial Household Agency

How to participate in Public Events at the Imperial Palace and to visit the Palace and other Establishments - The Imperial Household Agency

The above links may contain some useful information for you.

 

[Prisma]

Members of the Imperial family attended the annual concert for music university graduates on March 30th.

https://imperialfamilyjapan.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/concert-of-the-music-university-graduates/

 

[Al_bina]

2 - 4 April 2016

Commemoration of Empror Jimmu | unbelievableme | ru_royalty

The above post by unbelievableme contains photos and videos of Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, and members of the imperial family attending engagements to commemorate Emperor Jimmu.

 

[iceflower]

.

The annual spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace Imperial garden in Tokyo took place today, April 27.

So nice to see Crown Princess Masako attending!


** gettyimages gallery **


** nhk.or.jp: Imperial couple hosts spring garden party **

 

[Mermaid1962]

Here's Masako at today's garden party. She looks beautiful. Imperial Family Host Spring Garden Party | Getty Images

 

[Prisma]

Indeed!
Her health continues to improve. According to Asahi, the Crown Princess spoke to guests for about 5 minutes before leaving.

ANN News video of the imperial garden party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZDq93aKs90

 

[iceflower]

.

Here's another gallery of yesterday's garden party:



** pm: Masako sourit au printemps **

 

[Prisma]

More garden party photos, including the Princesses speaking with guests at Sankei's Imperial weekly report for 4/30
Scroll below the text for the photo gallery.

 

[Prisma]

Another video of the garden party. Mostly commentary while footage repeats of CP Masako's arrival and departure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQkTP5oE8EM

 

[Prisma]

Asahi reports the Emperor had lunch with his 3 children on July 23rd. It's the first time any of the family has gathered since news of abdication. The Crown Prince, Prince Akishino, and Mrs. Kuroda arrived at the Imperial Palace around 11:30am.

There's more but the rest of the article requires login. I assume the Empress was also at the luncheon.

Source: Asahi

ETA: video of the arrivals. The description below the video mentions the children stayed about 2 hours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1iV-3s7RGk

 

[Prisma]

On August 9th, the Emperor and Empress had dinner with their three children, CP Naruhito, Prince Akishino, and Mrs. Sayako Kuroda at the Imperial Palace.
Added: Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wREpp2-8dCI

 

[Al_bina]

Thanks for the update!
I wonder what is going to be discussed without spouses and grandchildren. Mrs Kuroda drives herself nowadays, while her brothers have chauffeurs.

 

[Prisma]

On August 13th, the CP family had dinner with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.
Arrival videos at www.news24.jp and news.tbs.co.jp
(also mentions CP Naruhito watched the Emperor's broadcast in a VIP room at Nagoya Station, while CP Masako and Princess Aiko watched at the Crown Prince's residence on August 8th)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXCiqDVkewI

On August 14th, Prince Akishino, Princess Kiko, and Prince Hisahito had lunch with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.
Source: Asahi reporter’s tweet https://twitter.com/shimaykkkt/status/764695486376706048 and news.tbs.co.jp video

ETA: added video link of Akishino trio arriving for lunch.
ETA2: added YouTube link of CP family arriving for dinner.

 

[Prisma]

On September 2nd, Emperor Akihito invited the Speakers of the House from the G7 nations to tea at the Imperial Palace. CP Naruhito and the vice-chairman of the European Parliament also attended. The Canadian Speaker of the House conveyed sympathies for the damage caused by thypoon No. 10.

Photo: JP Reuters, Mainichi

ETA: another photo from Sankei
http://www.sankei.com/images/news/160903/prm1609030028-p6.jpg

 

[Prisma]

The IHA announced budget requests of the 2017 fiscal year budget on August 31st.

• 2 additional nurses to strengthen the night medical system at the Imperial Palace
• 1 additional staff member for the Akishino household to help take care of Prince Hisahito
• Maintenance for Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyoto Goshouchi). The terrain was expanded this year.

Sankei Imperial Weekly #450 page 2

Does anyone know each Imperial household's number of staff? Or overall IHA employees? I read ChiaraC's post from 2011 that the Crown Prince household has around 50 staff and the Akishinos have around 10.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

The IHA announced budget requests of the 2017 fiscal year budget on August 31st.

• 2 additional nurses to strengthen the night medical system at the Imperial Palace
• 1 additional staff member for the Akishino household to help take care of Prince Hisahito
• Maintenance for Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyoto Goshouchi). The terrain was expanded this year.

Sankei Imperial Weekly #450 page 2

Does anyone know each Imperial household's number of staff? Or overall IHA employees? I read ChiaraC's post from 2011 that the Crown Prince household has around 50 staff and the Akishinos have around 10.

In FY 2004, the IHA had a thousand paid employees.

Thanks to a 2001 freedom of information law it has been possible to put together a pretty clear picture. According to former Mainichi IH correspondent Mori Yohei, taxpayers funded the imperial family to the tune of about US$260 million in FY 2004, approximately the budget of a small city like Sagamihara. That makes Japan’s monarchy much more expensive than the British royal family, which costs taxpayers about 88 million pounds sterling (about US$152 million a year), according to the Centre for Citizenship.Org.

But while the British royals are personally wealthy – Queen Elizabeth is one of the world’s richest women and Prince Charles inherited a 144,000-acre estate – the Duchy of Cornwall – on his 21st birthday – the Japanese imperials had most of their wealth confiscated after World War II. The Showa Emperor left 2 billion yen in stocks and cash when he died and Mori estimates that his son has just five million yen a year to spend on himself.

The Japanese imperials, in other words, are like well paid bureaucrats without many of the frills that most European royals take for granted.

Japanese taxpayers pay for the six core members of the Imperial Family: (Emperor, Empress, Prince Naruhito, Princess Masako, Princess Aiko and, before she left in November 2005 to marry a commoner, Princess Nori); 19 other family members live in residences provided by the state. The budget also pays for about 1,000 Imperial Household Agency staff: a 24-piece orchestra, 160 servants, 25 cooks, four doctors and a cellar stocked with 4,500 bottles of wine. The Agency runs properties around Japan, in Naha, Kyoto, Gifu, Tochigi and elsewhere; a total of 24.66 sq. km. of property, or about double the area of Chiyoda-Ku (11.64 sq. km).

What Role Japan's Imperial Family? | The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus

Facts about the number of staff between the crown prince household and Prince Akishino's

Princely differences

By Wataru Kurihara
Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

The newborn prince is third in line to the Imperial throne, but even so there is still a noticeable difference in the number of staffers and level of medical support between the crown prince's household and that of the Akishino family. The Imperial Household Agency assigns officials to each of the princely households, including the Akishino family, to assist family members. But the crown prince's household is taken care of by the agency's own unit--the Office of the Crown Prince's Household. The Akishino family is provided nine agency officials including a chamberlain for the prince himself. The Office of the Crown Prince's Household, meanwhile, comprises 51 staffers led by Grand Master Issei Nomura, formerly ambassador to Russia. The number of staffers per family member before the new prince was born, excluding those privately hired, is 2.25 in the Akishino family, compared with 17 in the crown prince's household. The Office of the Crown Prince's Household has four full-time doctors, including the chief physician, who keep track of family members' health around the clock. The Akishino family and other princely households are not allocated their own doctors, though as Prince Akishino has suffered a slight arrhythmia, the agency has since October 2001 dispatched doctors from the Imperial Household Agency Hospital to accompany the prince when he travels outside Tokyo on public duties. When the crown prince and Princess Masako leave the palace, his chamberlains or other staffers always check in advance the sites to be visited. But as the Akishino family has fewer staff, visits by the prince and his family have, at least until now, always taken place without such advance work.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national...08TDY03005.htm

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forum...rrent-events-part-1-a-6616-10.html#post502384

 

[Prisma]

Thank you! I assume the Akishino staff will continue to increase. Hopefully, not too rapidly so the family can enjoy what's left of their informal lifestyle (well, more informal than the CP household as I understand from other threads).

 

[Prisma]

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko are scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Asian Games in February next year. CP Naruhito and CP Masako are to attend the closing ceremony.
Source: Asahi reporter Yasuhiko Shima's tweet https://twitter.com/shimaykkkt/status/775124711491575808

I wonder if this means CP Masako's condition is reliably stable now since her attendance is assumed so far in advance.

 

[Prisma]

On September 22nd, members of the Imperial family attended the Autumn Kōreisai and temple festival of Yi at Korei hall/temple. There are videos of CP Naruhito and Akishino family (minus Prince Hisahito) arriving and leaving the Imperial Palace. Asahi's Imperial schedule indicates Princesses Yoko, Hisako, Tsuguko, and Ayako also attended.

* I wonder why Asahi doesn't list this event for CP Naruhito whereas it appears for everyone else.

CP Naruhito:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_FZ66jck_0
Akishino family:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzzfL6nKyGc

 

[Prisma]

The autumn garden party is scheduled for November 1st. About 2100 people are invited, including members of Japan's Olympic team to Rio and Kumamoto Prefecture residents/officials.

Source: Sankei

 

[Prisma]

The autumn garden party is scheduled for November 1st. About 2100 people are invited, including members of Japan's Olympic team to Rio and Kumamoto Prefecture residents/officials.

Source: Sankei

Understandably, the garden party has been canceled following Prince Mikasa's death on Thursday. The Imperial family is in mourning. [Sankei]

 

[Prisma]

On November 4th, the Imperial couple, CP Naruhito, and Princess Mako attended a tea party for 4 recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit and 15 recipients of Person of Cultural Merit. To avoid conflicts with Prince Mikasa's funeral, the tea party was moved to 5:30pm, an unusual time.

Photos/info: Sankei Imperial Weekly #459 page2 and photos 40-42

 

[Prisma]

A few more tea party photos at Getty Images

 

[Prisma]

The Emperor, Empress, CP Naruhito, and CP Masako welcomed President Tony Tan of Singapore and his wife Mary on November 30th for the President's 5-day state visit to Japan. (other reports say 9-day visit)

Getty Images

tv-tokyo.co.jp video of the welcome ceremony

Jiji photo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAVNwKcKRGg

 

[Prisma]

Banquet for the state visit. No tiaras, black tie.

Getty Images

Mainichi gallery

Asahi highlighted Princess Kako’s new yellow dress with mentions of other princesses gowns.

Asahi 2 focuses on the Imperial couple with President Tan and his wife.

Emperor thanks Singapore president for help 3/11 disaster aid | The Japan Times

news24.jp video