I am just very curious to know..
Does anyone have even a vague idea how they "stress" her out? [...]
I have a lot to say on that one. It is not just the IHA that causes the stress but, of course, the IHA and imperial tradition do play an important role.
All, in all, there are six factors I would like to mention in this context:
- Japan´s crown princess – a victim of political power struggles
- “Denial of personality”
- No privacy - even at home
- Censorship
- Isolation
- Failure regarding the one and only important task: to bear a male heir
1.
Japan´s crown princess – a victim of political power struggles
There is a group of very powerful and vocal people in Japan who never wanted Masako as crown princess, from the very beginning. I want to explain this point a bit more in detail because it is relatively little known, compared to the “male heir issue” and the “travel abroad issue”.
I hope the people who read the
succession-thread forgive me if I put the following quote here again. (I think that maybe not everybody who reads this thread also reads the succession thread.) A 1993
New York Times article reported on a very nasty press campaign against Empress Michiko that took place at the time and that shocked her so that, as a consequence, she was unable to speak for several months afterwards. The article went on by saying that the bitchy gossip about her was, probably, not true at all but had a serious political background: she and her husband (who were relatively new in their position by then) had raised the anger of a very powerful and vocal group in Japanese society.
Some Japanese professing to understand the bizarre court politics of the palace say Michiko's habits are not the issue at all. Instead, they argue that it is a smoke screen for far more fundamental criticism about the direction in which she and Emperor Akihito have taken the Chrysanthemum Throne since they were formally enthroned in 1990. […] Some believe the nastiest comments were directed at Michiko because in Japan one still dares not find fault with the Emperor.
The emperor had angered people who belong to the extreme right (that still has much influence) by openly seeking reconciliation with Japan´s neighbours:
A year ago this month Akihito became the first Japanese ruler ever to visit China, speaking along the way of the "unbearable suffering" Japan inflicted there. Earlier this year he visited Okinawa, an island chain whose residents feel they were sacrificed by the Japanese Government in a last-ditch effort to save the mainland from the invading American forces in 1945.
But these were not the only actions by which imperial family infuriated Japan´s conservatives at the time:
The right wing was angered anew, though it could not say so publicly, by the selection of Masako Owada as the Crown Princess, and thus the next Empress. The Crown Princess does not descend from the "daimyo" families, Japan's old feudal lords, but from a family that represents Japan's new elite, educated as she was at Harvard and Oxford.
That means, when Masako became crown princess she was confronted, right from the beginning, with the hate of people whom she could never please no matter how hard she tried because this was not about how she behaved but about who she was and where she came from. She knew that beforehand, of course, and it was one of the main reasons why she hesitated for so long to accept Naruhito´s marriage offer. This was probably also the reason why the couple decided to make Naruhito´s promise of protection public at their engagement press conference: it was to signal everybody that the prince would take every attack on Masako as an attack on himself.
Nevertheless, there was never a “closed season” regarding Masako, not even in the beginning. The attacks started immediately after her engagement press conference: the princess-to-be was criticized for having talked 28 seconds longer than the crown prince on the occasion and for having said “immodest” things like: “I basically agree with the prince. But if I might be allowed to add something in my own words…” A former teacher of the prince, Minoru Hamao, commented: “If the prince speaks three sentences, Masako is allowed but one.”
Still, it is important to note that in 1993, Masako was by far too popular with the general population as to serve as a scapegoat for all the shortcomings of the imperial family – the main strike in 1993 went, as I mentioned before, against her mother-in-law who was an easier target. This, of course, changed after Masako fell ill. Due to the fact that her illness was kept a complete secret at the beginning (and a relative secret ever since), it was rather easy to convince people that she was not ill but just lazy. To some degree, though, she was still protected for some time by the fact that she had such a cute little daughter. Although there were purposefully mischievous rumours leaked of Aiko being autistic or somehow mentally challenged, most people were charmed by the little princess. But when Hisahito was born in 2006, he, being a baby, naturally took the first rank in the public “cuteness ranking”. (I am aware that this sounds absurd. But if you come to think about it a bit, you will have to admit that when in royal families a baby is born, there is always an increase in public attention and goodwill towards them. It may be not fair but it is probably just human nature.)
From this point on, it was possible to denounce Masako openly without having to fear a public outcry. Not surprisingly, it is this what happened. In 2008, for example, there was what could be called a downright media campaign in which it was said that the princess was always fine when she wanted to party but always sick when she had a public engagement. (I am not going to explain here why I think that these accusations were completely unfounded because this would get too long.)
Besides, the crown princess has since become a popular figure of ridicule and even downright hate on certain Japanese websites. As casualfan justly remarked, some people went so far as to bluntly recommend her to commit suicide, along with her daughter, to leave her husband free to remarry and produce a son. In addition, Masako is being criticized by bloggers for various things, for example for being fat and for allegedly having a “voracious appetite”, as reported in
this article:
Some of the comments by website visitors referred to her as “Royal Meat” and “Royal Pork” because she likes pork. […] Some sites claim that her diplomat father is trying to take over the Imperial Family through his daughter’s marriage to the prince. They claim that her high profile was the result of bribery. Some people insist that her daughter Aiko is autistic and developmentally challenged. […]
In any other country, Masako would be going out to fashionable restaurants, be seen shopping in the best stores (like those in Tokyo’s Roppongi district), and perhaps be setting fashion trends. Instead, the Crown Princess is essentially a prisoner because she is well aware of the critics (and those they influence) out there lying in wait for her, as she is the particular focus of their poison. […]
The taboos of ultra-conservatives keep them from attacking the Emperor too directly, so instead the Crown Princess has become one of the substitute targets for them. Princess Masako is a Princess under siege.
(To be continued)
But the problem is that Japanese royals are not allowed to favour one charity over the other or actively promote a certain cause (like the British royals use to do). "They cannot say they like apples because if they did, what would the orange growers say?" This problem is also at the core of the conflict between the emperor and the crown prince. I dearly hope that Masako´s doctors will sooner or later be successful and make it clear that this is a necessary measure. But so far, it does not look like it. We will see.
)
