Public criticism of the Crown Prince by the IHA and the Emperor

[HRHofNothing]

The Imperial Household Agency is trying its best to sideline the Crown Prince in the hopes that he gets fed up and renounces his rights in favour of his younger brother. The want to get this done now because they realize that in the future a transition from Naurihito to Akishino or his son is problematic at the very best.

Japan is an aging society and is rapidly changing its conservative outlook on life. Most young and middle-aged people do not mind a Empress Aiko. Crown Prince Naurihito has a good 25-30 years in him. Think about the situation in Japan in 2035-2040 AD: most of Japan's traditionlist old folks will have died off and the current youth will be the middle aged and old folk. The young folk at this time would care for the tradition of male only soverign even less than the young today do.

The IHA managed to stiffle the diet's reform plans when Princess Kiko managed to give birth to a son; however in 25-30 years the new Diet will be entirely made up of reformists where this issue is concerned. It will be very, very hard if not entirely impossible for anyone to justify at that time why the late-Emperor's adult Daughter was passed over in favor of her aged uncle or her male cousin.

[HRH Abigail]

Originally Posted by HRHofNothing

The Imperial Household Agency is trying its best to sideline the Crown Prince in the hopes that he gets fed up and renounces his rights in favour of his younger brother. The want to get this done now because they realize that in the future a transition from Naurihito to Akishino or his son is problematic at the very best.

Japan is an aging society and is rapidly changing its conservative outlook on life. Most young and middle-aged people do not mind a Empress Aiko. Crown Prince Naurihito has a good 25-30 years in him. Think about the situation in Japan in 2035-2040 AD: most of Japan's traditionlist old folks will have died off and the current youth will be the middle aged and old folk. The young folk at this time would care for the tradition of male only soverign even less than the young today do.

The IHA managed to stiffle the diet's reform plans when Princess Kiko managed to give birth to a son; however in 25-30 years the new Diet will be entirely made up of reformists where this issue is concerned. It will be very, very hard if not entirely impossible for anyone to justify at that time why the late-Emperor's adult Daughter was passed over in favor of her aged uncle or her male cousin.

Wow, lots of Authourities on Japan and its Royals, here.
You post as though you have "insiders" knowledge, HRHofNothing.

-- Abbie

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by HRH Abigail

Wow, lots of Authourities on Japan and its Royals, here.


-- Abbie

Indeed there are, and we're very fortunate that they take the time to post here.

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by HRHofNothing

The Imperial Household Agency is trying its best to sideline the Crown Prince in the hopes that he gets fed up and renounces his rights in favour of his younger brother. The want to get this done now because they realize that in the future a transition from Naurihito to Akishino or his son is problematic at the very best.

He's already been pretty effectively sidelined by the birth of his nephew, so I don't really see why the IHA would need him to renounce his position in the succession; they just have to wait him out. Knowing that Hisahito is being raised by Prince Akishino, who's more conservative, the IHA should be confident that any reforms Naruhito tries to institute as Emperor won't be very long-lasting. Masako has already apparently been pretty much written off as a dead loss by the whole establishment, which has put quite a crimp in Naruhito's plans for a reformist reign with support from his wife.

I don't really see why a transition from Naruhito to his brother would be problematic. Certainly it would be simpler for the conservatives in the IHA if Prince Akishino followed his father, since they seem to have a similar outlook and Prince Akishino is father of the heir, but it'd be like the situation in the UK if Prince Charles was forced to step aside in favour of Prince William because people liked William better - once you start interfering with the succession, you're interfering with the very fabric of the monarchy; for senior IHA officials, whose reason for existing is bound up in the monarchy, that would be quite a risk.

Japan is an aging society and is rapidly changing its conservative outlook on life. Most young and middle-aged people do not mind a Empress Aiko. Crown Prince Naurihito has a good 25-30 years in him. Think about the situation in Japan in 2035-2040 AD: most of Japan's traditionlist old folks will have died off and the current youth will be the middle aged and old folk. The young folk at this time would care for the tradition of male only soverign even less than the young today do.

The IHA managed to stiffle the diet's reform plans when Princess Kiko managed to give birth to a son; however in 25-30 years the new Diet will be entirely made up of reformists where this issue is concerned. It will be very, very hard if not entirely impossible for anyone to justify at that time why the late-Emperor's adult Daughter was passed over in favor of her aged uncle or her male cousin.

It was interesting that the newspapers reported that before the birth of Hisahito there was quite a majority in favour of Empress Aiko, but after the prince was born the proportion in favour of an empress dropped quite sharply. It seems to me from talking to some Japanese friends and reading English-language Japanese news articles that the whole business of the royal family is pretty irrelevant to younger and middle-aged Japanese, so the support or lack thereof is likely to be pretty lukewarm anyway. I honestly don't see the Japanese people rising up and demanding anything where the succession is concerned; I don't think the royal family means that much to them, unfortunately.

[kimebear]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

I honestly don't see the Japanese people rising up and demanding anything where the succession is concerned; I don't think the royal family means that much to them, unfortunately.

That does seem to be the case. When reading English written Japanese newspapers, the comments section really shows the lackluster interest in the monarchy. The only thing that the comments seem to show any passion about is the almost unanimous disgust with Masako's condition and the length of her recovery.

[HRH Abigail]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

Indeed there are, and we're very fortunate that they take the time to post here.

Elspeth, are people really "Authourities" or are they posting speculatively?

I guess that was the point my post was really trying to make, albeit not so directly .... There's a lot of guesswork going on here, about what people think the Japanese feel about their Royals, or about what really goes on behind palace walls, it seems to me.

[Elspeth]

There's a lot of guesswork about a lot of royals. Of course, feel free to ask other posters for links to published information if you want to see what they're basing their ideas on; the more actual information we can find and post in these threads, the better! As a general rule, addressing the post rather than the poster will have a more productive result.

[kbear]

I remember in Australia the media coverage of just before the crown princes engagement and that beautiful young woman trying to walk the street and the sea of press and flash bulbs, she was blinking trying to see then she stopped and was surrounded looking around for a way out somewhat confused, I felt sorry for her then and even more so now. I think the palace officials are trying to push aside the Crown Prince couple and may just get away with it.

[Mermaid1962]

This is so sad, and cruel and inhumane. I think that it was Albina who said that the Japanese were cruel. This confirms it.

Originally Posted by ChiaraC

However, Hirohito was separated from his parents at the age of three, and from that day on lived in a palace by himself (with a lot of servants, of course). There was a special room in the palace where pictures of his parents hung. And every morning the little prince went into this room to bid his parents` pictures a respectful “Good morning”, and every evening again to say them “Goodnight”…


…

[Elspeth]

This is how a lot of children of the nobility were raised in the past; in Britain it's still the custom for the upper classes to pack kids off to boarding school at the age of eight even if there are good local schools. The Japanese just held onto the tradition for longer than the Europeans. Part of it is the whole Japanese attitude about the inferiority of women - they thought it more appropriate for princes to be raised by male tutors and servants rather than getting soft by being raised by their mothers and nannies.

[Al_bina]

Originally Posted by Mermaid1962

This is so sad, and cruel and inhumane. I think that it was Albina who said that the Japanese were cruel. This confirms it.

Indeed, I have stated on few occasions that the Japanese society was/is both cruel and ruthless. I am keen on everything Japanese. At the same time, I do acknowledge the fact that attitudes toward something as traditional as the Imperial family tend to be conservatively old-fashioned. Facing the heir crisis, courtiers, who play an important part in the life of the Imperial family, were determined to get what they wanted that they did not care if they had to hurt other people in order to do it. They achieved their goal.
Given the fact that we are reduced to guessing about a state of affairs within the Imperial family, I would like to offer an article of an astrological nature to you. Perhaps this article contains some grains of truth...
Final conclusion about Masako Owada prediction
Secret of the Number Twelve - Final conclusion about Masako Owada prediction

If we would project this case [i.e., the case of Napoleon I and Empress Josephine as well as their issues related to producing an heir] to that of Naruhito, it does seem that Akishino will truly one day become the Emperor of Japan! It might be in the next 12, 24 years or a later twelve year cycle from Naruhito’s final inaugural ceremony. If this does happen, it’ll definitely serve as an additional proof that the 12th year of Naruhito’s and Masako Owada’s marriage brought exceptionally important changes.

[kbear]

oi people less about boarding schools I went to one and loved it. Ok my family lived 227 km from the nearest high school and it was a dodgy bloody place still... Boarding school is great... ( I can see Elspeth nodding going yes that explains a few things)

[Mermaid1962]

Given that the Emperor has cancer, Naruhito could be on the throne sooner than anyone expects. I would like to see this decent man have a chance to accomplish what he hopes to do.

[dragonsfire8]

well...you never know what will happen in the future.
It can go in favour of reforming the current system or stay with the current system.
The question is when will they make a clear cut decision which way they will go, and what will they do if they run into same problem in he future if they chose to keep the current system?

[el-khanz]

Yes, they need to make a decision. At least they should think about the future. No one know if they will face the same situation again.

[dragonsfire8]

the one thing i can't stand is that the iha is just leaving things out hanging.

whatever they decided to do, is fine with me, but the what they need to do is make a decision already. But preferable in favour of Princess Aiko. but there somethings can't be helped.

[Australian]

I was just wondering if anyone could provide any information regarding Crown Princess Masako and her relations with the European crown princess/royalty.....

Has any of the other royal families spoken out regarding her treatment? Perhaps they should show some support for their fellow crown princess or something... Maybe they can't because it would be like interfering and inappropriate. But I would like to see some support for Masako from other royal houses.

Has any other royal houses spoken about Masako and their opinions etc? I guess it may be a disaster if they did.

[Al_bina]

The Japanese Crown Princely couple seems to be on friendly terms with the Dutch Royal family. Crown Princess Masako, Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Aiko had a holiday in the Netherlands in August, 2006. However, I do not think that Crown Princess Masako ever discussed her personal issues with them or the Dutch royals asked any questions about her condition. It is not acceptable for Asians to confide their issues of a personal nature in people outside a family.
Dutch & Japanese Photoshoot in Apeldoorn - 18 August 2006

[Australian]

This is what the Empress had to say about Masako, which I found it to be very nice of the Empress to say:

"No-one can fully imagine from outside the feelings of the crown princess at having to endure such an experience with her first pregnancy," she said, adding later: "I wish the princess to know that I shall always be available for her if she feels the need to talk… I shall try always to be at her side."

HELLO!

[Al_bina]

Indeed, Empress Michiko expressed sympathy for trouble Crown Princess Masako encountered and offer a help by assuming a role of confidante to her daughter-in-law who was in a difficult situation and who was unhappy. However, it is unlikely that Crown Princess Masako ever visited her mother-in-law and shared issues with her because of indirect comminucators between the Imperial Household and the Crown Princely one (see post #51 in this thread for more information about indirect communication).