Imperial Family of Japan: News & Photos III

[rchainho]

Emperor prays for peace - and for the victims of Suicide Cliff
By Richard Lloyd Parry

When Tazu Sato was growing up in the 1940s on the remote Pacific island of Saipan, every school day began with the same ritual. Standing in rows, facing north in the direction of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, the pupils would bow deeply three times and shout aloud: “Tenno Heika Banzai!”

The words mean, literally, “May His Majesty the Emperor live 10,000 years”, and they were heard repeatedly during the vicious three-week battle for Saipan in 1944. Japanese soldiers shouted them as they charged into combat, armed with daggers and sharpened bamboos in suicide raids.

Miss Sato herself heard a young soldier scream them as he joined hundreds of others in jumping to his death from Suicide Cliff. Last night Emperor Akihito — the son of the late Hirohito, in whose name so many people died — and Empress Michiko arrived in Saipan to pray for peace on a foreign battlefield for the first time....

Full story:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1671695,00.html

 

[rchainho]

Emperor, empress pay tribute in Saipan

06/28/2005

The Asahi Shimbun

SAIPAN-In their first trip overseas to pay tribute to victims of World War II, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko offered condolences Monday in Saipan to the families of the war dead....


http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200506280127.html

 

[mandyy]

There's a video clip in English which reports about the Emperor and Empress' visit to Saipan.
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/videonews/index.html

 

[mandyy]

The Emperor and Empress visited the Silk Science Research Institute in Shinjuku, Tokyo on June 30th, 2005.

 

[rchainho]

Another one about this subject.

Princess Sayako prepares For married life by quitting work at bird laboratory Friday, 24 June 2005

June 23, 2005, Female FIrst News

http://www.royalarchive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=893&Itemid=2

 

[rchainho]

Emperor Showa was an avid supporter of U.S. military, documents show
06/17/2005
By YUKI ISHIDA The Asahi Shimbun

http://www.royalarchive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=864&Itemid=2

 

[mandyy]

Prince Akishino visited Shiga Prefecture on June 30th, 2005.

 

[Bubbette]

http://www.royalarchive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=893&Itemid=2

That just seems bizarre--since when are women who marry forced to give up their jobs? And for marriage to a city planner? She has a far more exciting job than him.

 

[rchainho]

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=341990

Film about Emperor Hirohito wins Russian film fest prize

 

[pdas1201]

July 1, 2005: Lalla Salma and Japanese Princess Takamado attend the national day ceremony of the 2005 World Expo Aichi at the Expo Hall.
Moroccan musicians also performed for the Japanese audience.

 

[Elspeth]

That just seems bizarre--since when are women who marry forced to give up their jobs? And for marriage to a city planner? She has a far more exciting job than him.

It may just be because she's royal. I don't think married women in Japan are forced to give up their jobs, although there does seem to be cultural pressure for them to do so - at least, there used to be several years ago, but I'm not sure how things are now.

 

[Bubbette]

But she won't be royal any more.

 

[mandyy]

Visiting Moroccan Princess Lala Salma (L), wife of Morrocan King Mohammed VI, and Japanese Princess Takamado arrive at the Expo Hall to attends the national day ceremony of the 2005 World Expo Aichi at Nagakute near Nagoya, central Japan 01 July 2005.

 

[kei893265]

Thanks lots for the photos

Prince Akishino and his wife Princess Kiko arrive at a cinema at Roppongi Hills to watch the film "Shining Boy And Little Randy" on June 24, 2005 in Tokyo, Japan.

Other photos

 

[kei893265]

princesses

Thanks for the nice photos!
Do you have photos of Princess Mako and Kako, daughters of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko?

I Like Princess Mako and Princess Kako.
But, their photos not much officiall announcement.
If we are fortunate, Prince Akishino family may be looked at by summer rest. on July or August.
And, his family's photo is officially announced on the his birthday (30-Nov), With his interview.

 

[kei893265]

princesses

more photo of Akishino princesses.
I think.. Princss Mako is like to her father.

Here is the link to the latest official announcement pictures.
http://www.theroyalforums.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=1310&c=11

 

[mandyy]

Japan mulls bringing back former royals to avert heir crisis: report(AFP)
1 July 2005

TOKYO - Japan is to consider reinstating former royals who left the imperial household in 1947 to avert a looming crisis in the monarchy caused by the lack of a male heir, a report said on Friday.

Maintaining male-only succession and bringing back some of the surviving royals or their offspring was among several options being considered by a government panel dealing with the issue, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

Imperial household law allows only men to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne, but no boy has been born to the world痴 oldest monarchy since Prince Akishino in 1965, threatening the line with extinction.

The government panel of 10 members from academic, legal, business and administrative circles has been reviewing the issue since January and will report to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi later this year.

A government official was unable to confirm the report.

The panel is 妬n the midst of debate and cannot say what it will do or will not do at the moment,・she said.

Japan imperial household shrank under the occupation by US forces after World War II, with emperor Hirohito, once considered a living god, renouncing his divine status.

The families of Hirohito three brothers stayed in the royal household, but 51 people from 11 other families lost their imperial titles and became commoners in 1947 to cut government expenses.

The lack of a male heir has led some traditionalists to argue Japan should consider allowing the royal family to adopt a male to avert the crisis.

Opinion polls have shown that a majority of the public support allowing female succession. There were several empresses who ruled the country. The last, Go-Sakuramachi, abdicated in 1771.

The current Emperor Akihito eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 45, and his wife Crown Princess Masako, 41, have a daughter Crown Princess Aiko who is three.

Naruhito younger and only brother Prince Akishino and his 38-year-old wife Princess Kiko have two daughters.
​

 

[ACBonelli]

Thanks for the very nice photos!

Thanks for the excellent photos! Princess Mako and Princess Kako are very nice.

more photo of Akishino princesses.
I think.. Princss Mako is like to her father.

Here is the link to the latest official announcement pictures.
http://www.theroyalforums.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=1310&c=11

 

[mandyy]

The Emperor and Empress met with families of war ship crews who died during world war II on July 4, 2005 in Tokyo.

 

[mandyy]

Princess Sayako, Emperor Akihito's only daughter who will marry a commoner in November, attends a charity concert at a Tokyo hotel on June 30.

 

[mandyy]

Pics of the Tokyo Imperial Hotel and its banquet halls where Princess Sayako will held her wedding banquet here on Nov. 15 of this year.

 

[mandyy]

Monday July 4, 3:37 PM

Emperor, empress to attend daughter's wedding

(Kyodo) _ Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will attend their daughter's wedding reception in November, the Imperial Household Agency announced Monday.

The wedding ceremony for Princess Sayako, 36, and a Tokyo metropolitan government employee, Yoshiki Kuroda, 40, will be held in Shinto rites on the morning of Nov. 15. About 150 people, including the imperial couple and other royal family members, will attend the wedding reception in the afternoon.

Noriyuki Kazaoka, vice-grand steward of the Imperial Household, said the ceremony to officially announce the wedding date, known as "Kokki-no-Gi," will be held on Oct. 5. He also said Princess Sayako, affectionately known as Princess Nori, will visit the imperial sanctuary and see her parents express her gratitude before the marriage on Nov. 12.

 

[mandyy]

Moroccan Princess Lalla Salma is greeted by Japanese Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko and Princess Sayako at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo July 4, 2005. Princess Lalla Salma is in Japan to attend the national day ceremony of the 2005 World Expo Aichi.

 

[mandyy]

Visiting Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas (L) speaks with Japanese Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo July 4, 2005. Brazauskas is on a six-day visit to Japan to attend the national day ceremony of the 2005 World Expo Aichi.

 

[mandyy]

Japan's emperor to attend vows

July 04, 2005

JAPANESE Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will attend their daughter's wedding reception in November, the palace said today, in a break with tradition in which women's marriages were given less weight.

Princess Sayako, the 36-year-old only daughter of the imperial couple, will marry 40-year-old urban planner Yoshiki Kuroda in a Shinto-style ceremony at the historic Imperial Hotel in central Tokyo on November 15.

"The Emperor and Empress, other royal members, relatives and people who had taken care of the two or are close to them will attend the reception afterward," a palace spokeswoman said. The guests will number about 150.

Under the customs of the world's longest-running royal line, the daughter of the emperor becomes a commoner upon her marriage.

In the last such wedding, Akihito's father, late emperor Hirohito, did not attend the reception when his fifth and youngest child Takako married in 1960.

The Imperial Household Agency was unable to say if Sayako's wedding would mark the first time an emperor had been to his daughter's nuptials.

The Japanese government has opened discussion on whether to amend imperial law to let a female ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne.

The male-only succession law has put pressure on Crown Princess Masako, a former career woman, to produce a male heir. Masako, whose only child is a daughter, is rarely seen in public as she struggles to adjust to palace life. Sayako's wedding has also been seen as a sign of change in the role of women. The 36-year-old had said she would think about marriage "in my own way at my own speed" amid a national trend of settling down late.

 

[liliana]

how tall is the emperor

 

[rchainho]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/05/wjapan05.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/05/ixworld.html

Emperor breaks a wedding tradition
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo

 

[rchainho]

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=342408

Emperor, empress to attend daughter's wedding reception

 

[rchainho]

Japan's emperor to attend vows

Is from this address this article? You have to put the source.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15821168-38196,00.html

 

[mandyy]

Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko and their daughter Sayako view paintings at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo on July 5.