Succession Issues

[Elspeth]

It seems that the Emperor has a lot of influence within the family, but from all that I've been reading, I'd say that the IHA controls the Emperor, not vice versa. The IHA are the ones holding the purse strings, and that has to count for something.

[Amina]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

It seems that the Emperor has a lot of influence within the family, but from all that I've been reading, I'd say that the IHA controls the Emperor, not vice versa. The IHA are the ones holding the purse strings, and that has to count for something.

Of course i forgot about that the only way to change them would be if say when CP N becomes emperor he works with a sympathetic Prime Minister to change things & i don't see that happening because royals cannot get involved in politics. I don't know if there is anyway that say when he becomes emperor he could change the IHA.

[Toledo]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

It seems that the Emperor has a lot of influence within the family, but from all that I've been reading, I'd say that the IHA controls the Emperor, not vice versa. The IHA are the ones holding the purse strings, and that has to count for something.

The Imperial Household brings memories of the people who controlled the last Emperor of China in the movie of the same name.
But I have some questions:
who really are these people?
how to they get that job?
Are they members of the old Nobility or it's a tradition passed within the family?

They seem to be the decision makers in Japan's Monarchy, and it seems they put as a lot of pressure against the Crown Princes and they daugther.

[CrownPrinceLorenzo]

They can go ahead and go against IHA's wishes. Nothing would happen to them. The late Princess Takamatsu did it all the time.

It's just that they're all just used to being obedient to the government agency. They need to get some courage.

[AnnieCat]

1 -- Did anyone notice that when Naruhito, Masako and Aiko went to see the Emperor and Empress they only stayed for 2 and a half hours? That's not really very long for a visit from an eldest son and a granddaughter -- unless you don't like having them around.

2 -- someone said Queen Beatrix invited the family. Maybe there's some protocol or rule that if a head of state invited them they HAD to go, it would give offense if they didn't. (Maybe that's exactly why Queen Beatrix did it, too.)

3 -- suppose Princess Kiko does have a baby boy. Who is he going to marry? By the time he's old enough to marry, in 25 years or so, women in Japan will be much more free even than they are now, and every single one of them will know what happened to Masako. Who's going to be willing to marry him? And what if his wife bears only girl children? Not that the IHA is going to listen to me or anything, but all they've really done is postpone the problem of the succession (the law of which was largely imposed by the Yankee occupation forces anyway!).

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by AnnieCat

1 -- Did anyone notice that when Naruhito, Masako and Aiko went to see the Emperor and Empress they only stayed for 2 and a half hours? That's not really very long for a visit from an eldest son and a granddaughter -- unless you don't like having them around.

It's been reported - although with how much truth I'm not sure - that the Crown Princess doesn't get along with the Emperor and Empress.

2 -- someone said Queen Beatrix invited the family. Maybe there's some protocol or rule that if a head of state invited them they HAD to go, it would give offense if they didn't. (Maybe that's exactly why Queen Beatrix did it, too.)

Since this is a private visit, I doubt the IHA would have been forced to accept if they didn't want to. It's certainly polite to accept an invitation from a ruling monarch, but if the IHA had had a reason to still want to keep Masako in the country, no doubt they'd have politely refused, citing the Princess's health as the reason or something. However, with the heir about to be born, the Crown Prince and his family become far less important, and this is a good way for the IHA to send this message.

3 -- suppose Princess Kiko does have a baby boy. Who is he going to marry? By the time he's old enough to marry, in 25 years or so, women in Japan will be much more free even than they are now, and every single one of them will know what happened to Masako. Who's going to be willing to marry him? And what if his wife bears only girl children? Not that the IHA is going to listen to me or anything, but all they've really done is postpone the problem of the succession (the law of which was largely imposed by the Yankee occupation forces anyway!).

There'll always be someone who's ready to marry a prince. Kiko didn't do too badly out of it, after all. There's probably be some pressure put on the prince to marry at a younger age than Naruhito did; maybe this one will go to Gakushuin University rather than the University of Tokyo, where there may be more "suitable" candidates like Kiko. As for the question of bearing females - the reason we're so convinced that this is a boy is that there are ways of making sure of it, both before and after the pregnancy begins. If there are ways of ensuring males now, in 25 years time it'll doubtless be a great deal easier again. This may be the last generation where the gender is left to chance.

[AnnieCat]

Sure, Kiko didn't do too badly out of it -- but she married the younger son, and even at the time she married that younger son there were some comments about how he had an easier time finding someone to marry because he was the younger son, presumably not in line for the throne, so his wife would have an easier time of it than the girl who married the Crown Prince. And that was what, 15 years or so ago? For Kiko's son, we're talking 20 years from now at least.

I seem to recall reading that even Prince Charles, in the 1970s, was turned down by a young woman who did not want to live the way she'd have to live if she married him, she wanted her regular life. IIRC it was Lady Jane Wellesley. And that's in the British royal family, which is nowhere near as hidebound as the Japanese one.

of course there's no way to really know what will happen 20 years from now.

[Charlotte1]

Originally Posted by bbb

it would also give the evil IHA a scare, can you imagine how they would feel about a room full of women so much smarter than them. i think that's why they hate her, their "manhood" is threatened by masako she sees right though them. .

Please enough with the 'evil IHA', it's a huge bureacratic organisation with over 7,000 employees. Everyone who works for the Imperial Family is IHA. That includes the farmers who milk the cows on the Imperial Farm, are they too 'evil'? They're IHA. The gardeners that clip the bonsai in the Imperial gardens are IHA, are they 'evil'? The cleaners who maintain the palaces are IHA are they 'evil'?
There's no threatening of 'manhood', in the last 10 years more women have been employed in the IHA than men. So is their 'womanhood' also being threatened because they want a male heir.
Wanting a male heir has nothing to do with whether women are equal to men, or who is smarter, it's all to do with tradition, which is an incredibly important aspect of Japanese culture. The desire to preserve tradition is even stronger. There are religious practises to consider as the Emperor also conducts certain Shinto rites, they can only be done by a male. Shinto priests are only male ( like catholic priests).
The top echelons of the IHA were only doing their job, to preserve the tradition of the Japanese monarchial system. It's an extremely conservative system in a conservative society.
As westerners we may not understand and not agree with the system but that doesn't mean the people perpetuating a system we don't understand are 'evil'.

[Next Star]

I feel that The Japan Imperial Family should allow female heirs some do not know but it has been more than 40 years since a male heir has been born. How one Japanese princess is pregnant but I forget her name the imperial family better hope and pray that she is carrying a male heir or the will have to change the constitution to allow females to be heirs to the throne.

[Princess Robijn]

Originally Posted by AnnieCat

1 -- Did anyone notice that when Naruhito, Masako and Aiko went to see the Emperor and Empress they only stayed for 2 and a half hours? That's not really very long for a visit from an eldest son and a granddaughter -- unless you don't like having them around.

2 -- someone said Queen Beatrix invited the family. Maybe there's some protocol or rule that if a head of state invited them they HAD to go, it would give offense if they didn't. (Maybe that's exactly why Queen Beatrix did it, too.)

3 -- suppose Princess Kiko does have a baby boy. Who is he going to marry? By the time he's old enough to marry, in 25 years or so, women in Japan will be much more free even than they are now, and every single one of them will know what happened to Masako. Who's going to be willing to marry him? And what if his wife bears only girl children? Not that the IHA is going to listen to me or anything, but all they've really done is postpone the problem of the succession (the law of which was largely imposed by the Yankee occupation forces anyway!).

Maybe if the Crown Prince becomes Emporer, things may be different for little Princess Aiko, maybe in 20 years (or more) the law changes...

[galuhcandrakirana]

Originally Posted by CrownPrinceLorenzo

They can go ahead and go against IHA's wishes. Nothing would happen to them. The late Princess Takamatsu did it all the time.

.Wow I didn't know that IH had a rebel princess, btw what the IH did to her while she showed her rebellious?.

Originally Posted by CrownPrinceLorenzo

It's just that they're all just used to being obedient to the government agency. They need to get some courage

I agree. May be they have to change bit of the attitude .

I bring here the quote from other thread because I think this thread is the right place to reply it.

Originally Posted by Charlotte1

(The same opinion polls that favoured female sucession, after Kiko's pregnancy was made public came back and showed that, yes female sucession was OK if there was no other choice. Chance of a boy, leave them as they are)

Then Japanese people themselves don't seem to be ready for an equal opportunity between male and female to ascend the throne. I think if people are unite in pushing for the change then IH or government can not do much except follow/approve what (the majority) of people want. But if people still don't want to let female become monarch while she has male sibling then we will never see the equal opportunity happen .

[Zonk]

I disagree. I think the Japanese people (from what I read) will accept a female on the throne but only if there is no other option. It will be interesting to see what Kiko has and the ripple affect.

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by Charlotte1

Please enough with the 'evil IHA', it's a huge bureacratic organisation with over 7,000 employees. Everyone who works for the Imperial Family is IHA. That includes the farmers who milk the cows on the Imperial Farm, are they too 'evil'? They're IHA. The gardeners that clip the bonsai in the Imperial gardens are IHA, are they 'evil'? The cleaners who maintain the palaces are IHA are they 'evil'?

Obviously bbb wasn't talking about every last employee of the IHA. I think we're all aware that farm hands aren't in the business of telling Princess Masako that she may not travel out of the country or that her conversation with foreign leaders should be restricted to sweet smiles. I don't suppose bbb thinks for a minute that that the bonsai clippers are the ones who Prince Naruhito criticised in public for stifling his wife's personality and career. I'm not sure why all of a sudden we're arguing over semantics when people have been using "the IHA" throughout these threads to mean the high-level civil servants who have been instrumental in making Princess Masako so miserable and ill, but I see no reason to believe that bbb was meaning anything different from anyone else by the use of the term "IHA" without qualifiers as to exactly which subset of the IHA she was talking about.

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by Next Star

I feel that The Japan Imperial Family should allow female heirs some do not know but it has been more than 40 years since a male heir has been born.

The last male to be born into the Imperial family is the Emperor's younger son, Prince Akishino (Prince Fumihito, as he was then), in 1965, as has been mentioned quite often in the threads in this forum, so I doubt that people here don't know. Thank you for repeating the information, though.

How one Japanese princess is pregnant but I forget her name

That would be Kiko, the wife of the above-mentioned Prince Akishino.

the imperial family better hope and pray that she is carrying a male heir or the will have to change the constitution to allow females to be heirs to the throne.

This situation has been discussed quite extensively in other threads in this forum, such as here and here. As you can see, many of us are fairly sure they're doing quite a bit more than just hoping.

[Next Star]

Once again I did not know that the other members knew about there not being a male heir to the imperial family in many years.

[TheQueen]

This has been talked about extensively in newspapers/magazines for quite a few years. That is why there has been so much pressure put onto Crown Princess Masako for the past few years to produce a male heir.

[Charlotte1]