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#201
06-04-2006, 11:22 AM
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I thought that this comment was very sinister (if it is true what the professor says). “This was a deliberate strategy by the Imperial family,” said Professor Hatta Ikuhiko, Japan’s pre-eminent historian of the modern dynasty. “I have heard that Princess Akishino [Kiko] consulted doctors, and that new medical technology allows for a 70% probability of a boy. We expect rumours to that effect to be spread by the household this summer.” Good to see PM out and about and smiling.
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When you wish upon a star... 
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#202
06-04-2006, 04:32 PM
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New medical technology allows for a virtual certainty of a boy, especially if the mother is prepared to undergo abortion of female foetuses until a male one is conceived (I'm not saying that Princess Kiko necessarily did that, but we don't know). There are also ways to test blastocysts for gender before implantation during IVF. I'd be highly surprised if she's carrying a girl. That Times article shows very well what's at stake: it isn't just the continuation of a male monarchy so that the imperial Y chromosome isn't lost, it's the whole issue of Japan's self image and position in Asia.
If the reactionary group, which appears to be well represented in the IHA, can marginalise the Crown Prince and especially his wife and daughter and push the apparently more malleable and conservative Akishinos into the limelight as parents of the future emperor, they have a good chance of working with conservative politicians to help reshape Japanese culture into something more nationalistic and belligerent. Apparently some of them haven't got over the defeat in WW2 as well as most Germans.
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Last edited by Elspeth; 02-22-2008 at 03:51 AM.
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#203
06-04-2006, 04:58 PM
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This just gets worse and worse....
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사랑
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#204
06-04-2006, 05:30 PM
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The Past is the Past Quis custodiet ipsos custodes - Who will watch the watchers? They started with me, it moved to you, who next?
Everything you wish for me, I send it back to thee times three
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#205
06-04-2006, 06:37 PM
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Talk about living in the dark ages where oftentimes women were just pawns of larger political games.....how sinister and scary this is. I so wish Naruhito would just opt out of the whole charade, call it for what it is and get on with a happy and meaningful life with his wife and daughter. I will be very surprised is Kiko is not having a boy -- look at the way the whole Akishino family is being trotted out and given good PR these days -- the handwriting is on the wall.
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#206
06-04-2006, 09:04 PM
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My heart goes out to Masako and Naruhito. Whether there truly is a conspiracy or not, I can just imagine the kind of claustrophobia they have to live with. Aiko gets caught up in this mess not by her choice but by birth and if Kiko does have a son, then it can be a good thing for Aiko. Maybe she can live a more "saner" and "normal" life--a life that is not controlled by other people but determined by the choices she makes. Of course, i would still like to see Aiko be Empress someday; it's time IHA realizes they are not living in feudal Japan anymore.
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#207
06-06-2006, 02:55 PM
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Scary article about the japanese succession, from the times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...196861,00.html
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Last edited by Elspeth; 06-07-2006 at 01:48 AM. Reason: Copyright
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#208
06-07-2006, 01:49 AM
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That article has been discussed in the Princess Aiko thread too. Just goes to show how complicated things are over there, with politics being very heavily involved as well as family issues.
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#209
06-07-2006, 03:42 PM
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I think that Her Impreial Highness Princess Aiko will make a great Empress of Japan.
Regardless who is born first either male of female they should be allowed to assume the throne. Here are two examples of two European Royal Families that had the laws changed in order for females to assume the throne. In Sweden Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria will be the first female sovereign in almost 300 years. The Swedish Paliament decided thatt the first born, female or male should be granted the crown. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark was given the crown because her father His Royal Highness The late King Frederik IX had asked if the law could be changed to allow his daughter to assume the throne since he does not have any male heir to the Danish Throne. I am sure that Her Imperial Highness Princess Aiko will be Empress of Japan in the future.
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#210
06-07-2006, 04:01 PM
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Ralph, did you read that article in Marengo's post? That suggested to me that it would be very unlikely that Aiko would become empress; I'm afraid that if she does, she'll be married off to some imperial descendent in order to produce a son from the imperial line, and as soon as he turns 18 there'll be pressure on her to do what her female predecessors did and abdicate in his favour.
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#211
06-07-2006, 04:03 PM
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Welcome to the forums, by the way! Just noticed your join date.
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#212
06-08-2006, 01:26 AM
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Japan's next emperor must seek new role
Emperor Akihito's father was a wartime symbol of nationalism who became, after 1945, an emblem of defeated Japan's embrace of democracy. Akihito himself has spent nearly two decades trying to soothe the wounds of war................. But his elder son, Crown Prince Naruhito, risks becoming a symbol of modern monarchical angst unless he can find a new raison d'etre when he finally succeeds his father. "Of all the symbolic monarchies ... none is more restricted than the Japanese. The limits around their role are so strict that it raises the question, 'What are these people supposed to do?'," said Kenneth Ruoff, author of a book recounting the transformation of Akihito's father, Hirohito, from a deity in whose name soldiers fought and died into a symbol of democracy................... http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060608/3/2lmp5.html
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#213
06-08-2006, 05:53 AM
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I don't believe for a moment that someone can stop the emperor from picking up a phone. Maybe it simply is not done and he uses other channels of communication like ordering a minion to do the call for him but I'm convinced if the emperor wants to contact somebody, he does. As for the Imperial family - well, here I think the emperor is the one to set the rules. This emperor is obviously quite conservative and does not want his daughter-in-law to perform the public duties she would have been perfect for. He obviously believes that his family's obeisance is his due and that Masako did not fulfill her duties when her only child is a girl. I doubt, too, that he wants a girl as his son's successor - so as soon as Kiko became pregnant, he probably started hoping for a grand-son. But - as soon as Naruhito becomes emperor, he is the one the IHA has to obey. He will be the one the government will consult. He can change things, I'm sure about it, it he has the character to do so. There are surely more modern men in the IHA who see a chance of a career on supporting the Crown Prince. There always are people like that. My impression at the moment is that prince Naruhito bides his time and waits for the moment he will get the power. He dares openly protect his wife and daughter (and the rumours died down after that) but apart from that I think both Crown Prince and Princess know that they can't do anything without hurting too many people. So they simply wait. As for the princess not seeing her parents so often: if I was the daughter of a deeply conservative father and unhappy with my traditional role as wife of the Crown Prince - would I want to have close contact with parents who probably support the system and not me? I don't think so. That's my interpretation but I simply don't believe the princess can't call people she wants to call - problem is: does she have friends she can rely on?
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#215
06-08-2006, 02:43 PM
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#216
06-10-2006, 04:44 PM
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I wish Princess Takamatsu was still alive. She'd eat the IHA and these other politician for breakfast.
She was also the first member of the Imperial Family to support Aiko's succession to the throne. She also made references to Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria about the roles of female monarchs. It was amazing too, because she was from the old days, yet she was very modern.
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#217
06-10-2006, 07:52 PM
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