The Mikasa Family Picture Thread

[Alison20]

Elderly men - from most countries - seem to have great difficulty accepting that women can be as competent as men!

Since I belive that Japan has in the past had reigning Empresses, and the men only ruling is relatively recent, I can't see why there is all this concern about 'breaking with tradition'>

[monica17]

Originally Posted by Alison20

Elderly men - from most countries - seem to have great difficulty accepting that women can be as competent as men!

Since I belive that Japan has in the past had reigning Empresses, and the men only ruling is relatively recent, I can't see why there is all this concern about 'breaking with tradition'>

Alison20, there is a thread on this..... please take a look at: Succession Issues.

Does anyone know if the Emperor and Empress had some time to see Princess Akiko during their recent visit at Oxford University?

[mandyy]

Prince Tomohito of Mikasa to receive treatment for alcoholism

(Kyodo) _ Japan's Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, a cousin of Emperor Akihito, needs to receive treatment for alcohol dependency for more than a month at the Imperial Household Hospital, the Imperial Household Agency said Friday.........
Prince Tomohito of Mikasa to receive treatment for alcoholism

[mandyy]

Prince uses speech to talk about his alcohol problem
SENDAI (Kyodo) Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, a cousin of Emperor Akihito, broke with Imperial tradition by speaking about his struggle with alcoholism in a speech Saturday.
"I am Prince Tomohito, dependent on alcohol," the 61-year-old prince said to begin his speech entitled "The Welfare of Our Country" at a meeting in Sendai on welfare services.
"I have been drinking alcohol since my days in university and am dependent on it, so I find it rather surprising that I am seen to have been hit by it now," he said, drawing laughter from the audience.
The prince is undergoing treatment for alcoholism at the Imperial Household Hospital...............
Prince uses speech to talk about his alcohol problem | The Japan Times Online

[mandyy]

A Japanese royal known for talking up a storm
Never tight-lipped about his recurring battle with cancer, he still surprised many Japanese by acknowledging that he was an alcoholic and checking himself into rehab over the summer. Family problems, he explained.
The inevitable strain of a quarter-century marriage, a cousin's cryptic comments, existential questions about the nature of family and life itself, all of this, he said openly, had contributed to his heavier than usual drinking.
The family in question is none other than Japan's imperial family, and the recovering patient is Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, a first cousin of Emperor Akihito. The family's other members are only seen, if they are seen at all, waving at some official event. But this prince has never shied away from offering his personal opinions on everything from preserving the throne's unbroken male line - even, he wrote mischievously two years ago, by reviving the concubine system - to the private burdens of royalty.
"It's not only the past one or two years," the prince said of the stress behind his alcoholism. "As long as I can remember, the imperial family's been like one big ball of stress."............
A Japanese royal known for talking up a storm - International Herald Tribune

An aritcle worth to read

[mandyy]

Prince Tomohito faces ninth cancer surgery | The Japan Times Online

Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, a cousin of Emperor Akihito, has again developed cancer in the throat and will undergo surgery Friday at a Tokyo hospital, the Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday. It will be the ninth cancer surgery for the 62-year-old prince, who began having operations to remove tumors from his esophagus and tongue in 1991, the agency said.....