Princess Kiko is Pregnant for the 3rd time


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Japan baby could end royal reform
Conservatives within Japan's hidebound imperial household must be rejoicing at what must seem a miracle pregnancy.
News that Princess Kiko, the 39-year-old wife of the emperor's second son, is expecting a child in the autumn may save them from their worst fear - the prospect of women ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne.
For months Japan has witnessed a mounting debate over whether the Imperial Household Law - which allows only male heirs - should be amended.
With no male heir born into the imperial family since 1965, supporters of change looked to have nearly won the argument. But Princess Kiko's pregnancy has at least stalled the process, and even - if she gives birth to a boy - ended it for some time.........................
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4693950.stm

FOCUS: Possibility of male heir to throne sparks new round of debate
The possibility that Japan's imperial family could have a male heir for the first time in more than 40 years has sparked further debate on whether to allow females to ascend the throne, leaving the whole issue up in the air......................
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060214/kyodo/d8fp6gko0.html
 
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This week's Point De Vue has a 2 page coverage on Princess Kiko's pregnancy.

Photo from pointdevue.fr
 

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Well, I wish them a healthy child. And I wish them a baby girl.
Why?
Because I have a feeling that they made this baby, just because they don't want to be left out.
I kind of like this couple, but the timing of this pregnancy is so weird.:confused:

Daniela

 
Is the baby's due date known, at least in what month it will be born? European royal families usually announce the pregnancies in about 3rd month. It looks that JRF announced pregnancy earlier.
 
Lakshmi said:
Is the baby's due date known, at least in what month it will be born? European royal families usually announce the pregnancies in about 3rd month. It looks that JRF announced pregnancy earlier.
The baby is due in late September or early October
 
Equal rights for the women aside, we are talking about the throne here. It should not be subject to the same forces of change that came from calls for equal rights.
 
Namie said:
Equal rights for the women aside, we are talking about the throne here. It should not be subject to the same forces of change that came from calls for equal rights.

So, it sounds like you are supporting the continuation of male emperors. Is that so? If it is, I strongly disagree. There have been female emperors in the past, so it is not like this "tradition" is inviolate. In addition, I would think Aiko is more qualified to be an empress giving her upbringing than any male shirt-tail relatives, without Aiko's upbringing, who are brought in just because they are male. There are also many other reasons I can think of. It is time for a change or the institution will - if it hasn't already - lose it's credibility. I think it is ridiculous to perpetuate the idea that only one gender is qualified to inhabit any top job.
 
Ugh

Namie said:
Equal rights for the women aside, we are talking about the throne here. It should not be subject to the same forces of change that came from calls for equal rights.

You're kidding right? Feudal Japan was Semi-Salic law, and they had 8 reigning Empresses in the past! Two of which reigned twice after admonishing a worthless MALE emperor.
 
Again, Asian ideology is very different from Western ideology. While it's fine to disagree with it, it still needs to be respected and tolerated. What they do with their own is their business. It's not right to say something is wrong because it is wrong from the person's point of view. One person's right is another's wrong.
 
Actually, no, oppressive traditions do not need to be tolerated or respected.

Also, I'm Asian, and tradition and religion gets in the way of progress.

Many Asian countries already had their fair share of female head of state and female head of government.

Japan must realize they're wrong. They need to follow other Asian countries that allow females to be head of states. Philippines has two female head of state and head of government. Sri Lanka had female Prime Ministers, etc.

And the fact that Japan has had female Emperors in the past shows that the country is going backwards when it comes to their society.
 
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mandyy said:

Still Mandyy, the female Emperors have a lot power, even if they're in power for emergency measures. And once they abdicate in favor of a male heir, they become cloistered rulers and becomes more influencial. And a few of the female Emperors that abdicated admonished male Emperors that they did not see fit to rule. That was still a lot more power than what the current Imperial daughters have.

Also, Empress Gemmei abdicated in favor of her daughter, Empress Gensho.

Empress Koken abdicated in favor of her second cousin Emperor Junin, but she admonished him six years later and reclaimed the throne as Empress Shotoku.
 
CrownPrinceLorenzo said:
Japan must realize they're wrong. They need to follow other Asian countries...
It doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks, the Japanese will make decisions for Japan in their own way and in their own time. I think it unlikely that the Japanese will look to Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka or Presidents of the Philippines for inspiration when considering changes to the Imperial Succession Laws.
As it stands the Japanese succession is based on exactly the same principles as the succession in Liechtenstein. Their dynasty, their rules.
 
Yeah, doesn't mean I have to respect it or tolerate it.

We might as well keep slaves with that attitude.
 
fanletizia said:
Prince Akishino's wife, Princess Kiko, is three months pregnant and is expected to give birth in late September, Imperial Household Agency announced officially 22 February. The Princess does not want to know the sex of the baby.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060224-043929-5449r

I'm highly doubtful about this. She MUST, giving the situation, know the sex of the baby.
 
That doesn't work. If she's three months pregnant now, she'll be giving birth before the end of September.
 
fanletizia said:
Prince Akishino's wife, Princess Kiko, is three months pregnant and is expected to give birth in late September, Imperial Household Agency announced officially 22 February. The Princess does not want to know the sex of the baby.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060224-043929-5449r

The math isn't adding up in this statement. Three months ago would be end of November -- nine months from that would be end of August.
 
Japanese palace slams media over princess' pregnancy
The news that Princess Kiko, the wife of Emperor Akihito's second son, is pregnant, possibly with the family's first male heir to the throne in four decades, has triggered a rash of magazine articles about the happenings inside the moat.
But now the secretive palace has had enough. In an unusually harsh statement, the Imperial Household Agency on Thursday accused unidentified magazines of printing errors and urged them to stop it......................
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/24-02-2006/76461-Japanese-0

Royal pregnancy raises male heir hopes in Japan

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japan formally announced that the wife of Emperor Akihito's second son is pregnant with her third child on Friday, raising hopes a male heir to the Chrysanthemum throne may be born for the first time in four decades.
Princess Kiko is three months pregnant and in good health, the Imperial Household Agency said in a statement.
The agency also urged media to exercise "good sense and restraint" in reporting about the princess, who will turn 40 on September 11 and is due to give birth that same month.........................The Imperial Household Agency, which had previously said only that Kiko was "showing signs" of pregnancy, criticized media for breaking the news before father-to-be Prince Akishino had been notified and at a time when there was a risk of miscarriage.
"Utterly unthinkable and inconsiderate coverage directed at one pregnant woman has continued daily since then, and it is truly regrettable that because of that Princess Kiko has suffered an unnecessary mental burden," said the statement............................
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/02/24/japan.princess.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Pregnancy Could Calm Male Heir Worries in Japan
TOKYO, Feb. 24, 2006 — For several years, Japan's royal family has been facing an Armageddon of sorts. Ancient tradition and an imperial succession law mandate that only males ascend to the throne, but Japan's royals are running out of males.
Now comes word of a new royal pregnancy that could save the male-only tradition, just as the Japanese were getting used to the idea of an empress — specifically 4-year-old Princess Aiko, the only child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako...........................
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/International/story?id=1658210&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Princess Kiko expected to give birth in September
................................"Their Imperial Highnesses do not feel that they want to know the sex of the child until birth," he said. (Mainichi)
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060224p2a00m0na024000c.html

LEAD: Princess Kiko 3 months pregnant, to give birth in late Sept.: agency
Princess Kiko, the wife of Emperor Akihito's second son Prince Akishino, is three months pregnant and is expected to give birth in late September, the Imperial Household Agency said Friday...............
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060224/kyodo/d8fv7jrg5.html

Japan to remain in suspense on sex of princess’s child
TOKYO - Japan will remain in suspense until September on whether it will have another male heir to the throne as a pregnant princess does not want prenatal tests on the fetus’s sex, a palace doctor said on Friday......................
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/February/theworld_February668.xml&section=theworld
 
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Video news about the official announcement of the pregnancy (links expires soon)
#1: ANN news- http://meta.cdn.yahoo-streaming.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20060224-00000023-ann-soci-movie-001&media=wm300k
#2: TBS news- http://meta.cdn.yahoo-streaming.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20060224-00000083-jnn-soci-movie-001&media=wm300k
#3: FNN news- http://meta.cdn.yahoo-streaming.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20060224-00000703-fnn-soci-movie-001&media=wm300k
#4: NNN news- http://meta.cdn.yahoo-streaming.jp/cgi-bin/yahoo/news.asx?cid=20060224-00000028-nnn-soci-movie-000&media=wm300k
#5: NHK news
#6: HOLA

Official announcement release from the Imperial Household Agency

皇室医務主管記者会見要旨
 文仁親王(秋篠宮)妃紀子殿下には,ご懐妊のご模様につき拝診したところ,妊娠3ヶ月目との診断であり,これまでのご経過は順調であります。関係の方々のお喜びはいかばかりかと拝察いたします。

 さる2月7日,このご慶事が一報道機関のスクープという思いがけない形で明らかになり,宮内庁としても急遽発表せざるを得なくなったことについては,先に宮内庁長官が談話で遺憾の意を表わしたところです。天皇皇后両陛下,文仁親王殿下すらが,テレビのテロップを見た人々からの通報でご懐妊をご承知になるという結果になりました。
 この日の検査は,ご流産の可能性の方がやや高い中での,ご検査であり,1週間前の診断でそのことを知らされていらした妃殿下は,多大なご不安を持ってこれに臨まれました。しかもご検査終了後,しかるべき方々へのご報告がなされる時間的余裕もないまま,報道がなされたということに,妃殿下が如何に驚かれ動揺を覚えられたかは想像に難くありません。さらにそれ以来今日まで,懐妊された一女性に向けられたものとは到底思えぬ,こころない報道が毎日のようになされる状態が続いています。こうした事態によって,妃殿下に無用な精神的ご負担をお与えしていることは,誠に遺憾であります。
 妃殿下の,これまでの2回のご懐妊・ご出産は極めて順調でした。従って,今回の3回目のご懐妊も順調であることを願っております。けれども,今回のご懐妊は,30代後半でのご出産という初めてのご経験ですから,それに向けた様々なお心構えが必要になりますし,ご不安も多いことと拝察いたします。ですから,順調なご出産をお迎え頂くためには,身体的にも精神的にも安寧で健やかな日々をお送り頂くことがもっとも大切なことであります。そのような観点から,報道関係者の良識と配慮を期待します。
平成18年2月24日:宮内庁​
 

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The Japanese au pair that we have staying with us is fascinated by this latest development. She believes that the Imperial Family must have pressured Princess Kiko into this pregnancy "the same way they made the Crown Princess crazy"

It seems pretty drastic to me but over the years with 3 different Japanese young women living with us, I have to say that Japanese society does have gender equality issues much worse than the US. On the surface, I bet the Imperial Family is ok with an Empress....but the same court members that have been blaming the Crown Princess for the lack of a male heir (hello! McFly!!! It's the guy who determines the gender!!) are probably desperate to make sure that Princess Aiko does not become empress.

Debby
 
Since this is the time when Aiko should start Empress training if she's going to do so, you'd think they'd go ahead and do a gender test on the foetus so they know what's what.

I assume the delay is to give public opinion some time to come round to the "don't let's bother with reform" state of mind so that when the boy is born, their work will be half done already.
 
*grumbles*

I feel like writing Mr Koizumi a letter. Not that I think it would make a difference or anything, but at least I'll feel that I did something.
 
dlws92 said:
The Japanese au pair that we have staying with us is fascinated by this latest development. She believes that the Imperial Family must have pressured Princess Kiko into this pregnancy "the same way they made the Crown Princess crazy"

I wouldn't be surprised if they did pressure Kiko into another pregnancy. I just hope that they don't indirectly mistreat her if the chips don't fall in their favor.
 
Kiko fit, ready for fall birth
.................It said plans are in place for the 39-year-old princess to deliver the baby at the Imperial Household Agency hospital in Tokyo. Meantime, Masao Nakabayashi, a director of the Aiiku Hospital of the Maternal and Child Health Center who heads a team of doctors caring for Kiko, told a news conference Friday that he examined the princess at her home and confirmed her condition as stable...........................
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200602250210.html
 
Oh, so Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko don't want to know the gender of their new baby. Very proper. It's their child, no matter if a boy or girl, and that's the important thing. :)
 
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monica17 said:
Oh, so Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko don't want to know the gender of their new baby. Very proper. It's their child, no matter if a boy or girl, and that's the important thing. :)

I certainly agree it is their right to know or not, and more than anything, I am hoping for a healthy child. That said, you guys, I'm afraid I am very cynical about what the press releases as "official" and what is really going on. I personally think recent photos of Akishino look like he is the cat who has swallowed the canary -- I am just sure they know it is a boy.
 
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