Japanese Palaces Castles Mansions & Houses

[victor1319]

Media were allowed to see the public rooms of the renovated Akishino residence...

The front of the building looks from the outside a bit uninviting and more like a bunker... But inside it looks light and friendly.

It is a shame, that the photos don't show the garden or yard. I am sure, it is an extraordinary one.

 

[Prisma]

TV Tokyo's longer video of the renovated Akishino residence's public areas (no garden views, sadly)

- blue: private rooms
- red: public rooms, offices
- green: clerical work areas
- bottom row, left to right: small dining room, Japanese style room, Great Hall, large dining room, 1st reception, 2nd reception
- above the 2nd reception room is the public area/lobby and entrance on the right
- near the center: 3rd reception room

 

[Prisma]

A New Zealand man was arrested for injuring an Imperial Palace police. The man (23), assumed to be a tourist, was found in a restricted area of the Imperial Palace's public East Gardens on January 7. He rammed into the officer and fled when questioned. The officer's injuries included bruising on the face.

Sources: NTV, tv-asahi

 

[Blog Real]

Goryo Bokujo (Imperial Stock Farm):

https://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e-about/shisetsu/bokujo.html

https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/御料牧場

 

[Sun Lion]

Just here last week, East Gardens, open Tues, Wed, Thurs ... free. Wonderful place, made available to the general public by the Imperial family in the sixties. Moats, fish, Samurai quarters, many, many walls and gates. Too late for this year's early Sakura in Tokyo ... (but saw plenty of cherry blossom in different mountain regions, not to mention the gob-smacking sight of wild wisteria over all the hillsides everywhere across Japan). Sky-scraper high robots that change posture every hour and glorious kimonos on all ages and both sexes at the Shinto temples on Saturday. A truly unique and beautiful country. Some of my photos of this garden, and a few of the castles around the country I got to visit.

 

[Sun Lion]

East Gardens -

 

[Sun Lion]

Kumamoto and Odawara Castles.

 

[Prisma]

On June 30th, the IHA toured the renovated Akishino residence and revealed Princess Kako continues to live at the temporary residence. The family's top aide Takaharu Kachi says the matter was discussed between the couple and their daughters that no rooms would be provided for Mako or Kako in the renovated residence. In addition, the adjacent Akasaka East residence was reconsidered to be integrated with the Akishino residence, and will continued to be used by the entire Imperial family.

Both measures were aimed at cost reduction although the IHA says it’s difficult to know how much savings. The new Akishino residence cost about 2.6 billion yen to renovate.

Weekly magazines and other sources reported Princess Kako lives separately from her parents and brother, speculating on a rift. As to why Kachi did not disclose the purpose of the temporary housing until now, he said, "Who lives where is private information, and there is also concerns security." When the renovations were completed last year, it was reported the temporary residence would become office space for staff with some private rooms for the family.

Sources: Sankei, Jiji, NHK, TBS, TV-Asahi

-----

I wonder what happened to Kako's (and Mako's) old rooms? Did their parents and Prince Hisahito simply get bigger rooms and there really wasn't any space for Kako? It doesn't seem everything in the old residence was torn down and rebuilt. Why not include a room for Kako? It could become an office or family storage after she marries. Although it's completely understandable that Kako, like most adults, would want to live away from parents and this is a perfect solution.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

Interesting, thank you. I apologize if you have already posted about this and I missed it, but when was it decided that Princess Kako would remain at the temporary residence? An ordinary adult choosing to live away from their parents would be nothing to remark upon, but this is the imperial family and it is understandable that a late-stage change of plans and a not very plausible explanation for keeping the living arrangements secret (the public knows where the other royals live, security concerns notwithstanding) would cause chatter. And is there precedent for unmarried female members of the imperial family having their own residence?

ETA: I am also unclear on how splitting the Akishino family between two residences is supposed to save on costs.

 

[Prisma]

No need for apologies! The reports so far did not specify when it was decided Kako would remain in the temporary residence. No room for Mako is understandable but leaving Kako out of plans/design is odd unless the family thought she would also marry soon. The Akishino family will use the temporary residence (as staff offices/storage too) after renovation so they will maintain 2 structures anyway.

I can see savings in leaving the Akasaka East residence unconnected. No idea how or when the private rooms were renovated.

Princess Akiko of Mikasa has a residence in Kyoto but that's reasonable since she has work and many activities in the Kansai region.

ETA: NTV says the Akishino temporary residence will be called the "branch office."

ETA2: Yomiuri published later than other media and says building each family member a room would increase the scale of renovation and budget. Before renovation started, the family discussed and agreed Kako and Mako, who was not married yet, would stay at the temporary residence. Renovation started in March 2020 with the family moving into the temporary residence a few weeks earlier.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

No need for apologies! The reports so far did not specify when it was decided Kako would remain in the temporary residence. No room for Mako is understandable but leaving Kako out of plans/design is odd unless the family thought she would also marry soon. The Akishino family will use the temporary residence (as staff offices/storage too) after renovation so they will maintain 2 structures anyway.

I can see savings in leaving the Akasaka East residence unconnected. No idea how or when the private rooms were renovated.

Princess Akiko of Mikasa has a residence in Kyoto but that's reasonable since she has work and many activities in the Kansai region.

ETA: NTV says the Akishino temporary residence will be called the "branch office."

ETA2: Yomiuri published later than other media and says building each family member a room would increase the scale of renovation and budget. Before renovation started, the family discussed and agreed Kako and Mako, who was not married yet, would stay at the temporary residence. Renovation started in March 2020 with the family moving into the temporary residence a few weeks earlier.

Thank you for the explanation!

Do you think Yomiuri's source is reliable? If it was already decided before March 2020 that the Akishino sisters would live separately from their parents and brother, I wonder why it wasn't communicated at the time.

If true, perhaps it had something to do with the tension within the imperial family as a whole over Mako's engagement to Kei Komuro? Although that theory would not explain why Kako remained there after her sister's marriage (planned or not, surely an imperial residence would have at least one spare room?).

 

[Prisma]

Yomiuri is reliable... however, it's a major newspaper so they're a IHA press club member and won't push too hard for explanations.

I agree family tension surrounding Mako's marriage was probably a factor and I share your skepticism there was no absolutely space for Kako. It was reported the temporary residence would have mixed functions (office, private) last year when the renovations were completed but did not specify Kako's living situation. Also, dropping the Akasaka East residence connection wasn't mentioned earlier.

ETA: I remembered Princess Ayako of Takamado, when she was a research fellow, lived at Josai International University housing in Chiba Prefecture.

 

[Somebody]

Interesting, thank you. I apologize if you have already posted about this and I missed it, but when was it decided that Princess Kako would remain at the temporary residence? An ordinary adult choosing to live away from their parents would be nothing to remark upon, but this is the imperial family and it is understandable that a late-stage change of plans and a not very plausible explanation for keeping the living arrangements secret (the public knows where the other royals live, security concerns notwithstanding) would cause chatter. And is there precedent for unmarried female members of the imperial family having their own residence?

ETA: I am also unclear on how splitting the Akishino family between two residences is supposed to save on costs.

I fully agree. While from an outside perspective it makes a lot of sense that Kako would want to live on her own instead of continuing to live with her parents and younger brother, the way they went about it suggests it's not as simple as that. It wouldn't have been complicated to announce it at that time, that the girls would remain there; instead of revealing it now. This seems fishy; it really seems the family is divided between the Akishino couple and son on the one hand and both daughters on the other. If so, Kako must be feeling rather lonely these days: is there anyone within the family she can truly trust other than her sister who is abroad?!

 

[Prisma]

IHA statement about the Akishino residence's renovation changes (posted on June 30, 2023)

https://www.kunaicho.go.jp/activity/activity/03/press-050630.html

Not much different from media reports. There's some history about the space added for Prince Hisahito's birth.

Google translation for that part:

Tracing back, the Prince Akishino residence had a prefabricated part that was added as a space for Prince Hisahito and his related staff when Prince Hisahito was born in 2006. The Imperial Household Agency believes that this is a prefabricated room that is intended to be used for a limited period of time, and that it will be necessary to incorporate a permanent room into the Prince Akishino Residence on the occasion of future renovation work. However, it was expected that if the rooms of the five members of the family, including the permanent room of the Imperial Prince, were kept within the Akishino-no-miya residence, the scale of the renovation would increase and the budget would increase.

 

[Prisma]

At a regular press conference on July 13th, Grand Steward Yasuhiko Nishimura of the Imperial Household Agency commented the June 30 announcement regarding Princess Kako's residence "was not timely" and "should have been announced sooner."

When renovations were completed for the Akishino residence last September, the press asked the Crown Prince household, "When will you [the family] start using the imperial residence?" It was explained the family would slowly move in by end of fiscal year. The temporary residence would become offices for staff with a portion remaining private, but details were not disclosed about the private room.

According to the Crown Prince household, by the time construction began in 2020, it was already decided Kako (and Mako) would not return to the main residence, citing cost reduction. Privacy and security concerns explained the lack of disclosure.

Source: Sankei

ETA: FNN points out Crown Prince Akishino said, "It is necessary to release accurate information in a timely manner" regarding how the Imperial family should disseminate information at a press conference in 2022.

When asked about the situation of moving and living were not explained correctly, Nishimura said "We should reflect on what happened in the end."

ETA: NTV reports Nishimura said he doesn't know why the announcement took so long, adding he heard the Crown Prince Household's top aide "would make an announcement once he had finalized his thoughts. It took time to put [the announcement] together."

Nishimura acknowledged that "it was not a timely announcement" and "should have announced as soon as possible when it (referring to renovation design? or tabloid reporting?) became a problem."

 

[Prisma]

At the Crown Prince household's regular press conference on July 14th, Akishino family top aide Takaharu Kachi said "We have provided the necessary explanations at each milestone" in response to Grand Steward Yasuhiko Nishimura's comment that Princess Kako's living situation announcement "was not timely."

Kachi said the timing was "the (Secretariat's) idea" and insists "we have given the necessary explanations at every turn."

Source: FNN

Kyodo article about Nishimura's comment, also mentioned Kachi's response at an April press conference when questioned about Princess Kako. He said whether or not Princess Kako had returned to the [main] residence "is a private matter, so I will refrain from explaining."

ETA: I don't know if it'll calm the controversy but maybe Kachi should describe how much space Kako is using in the temporary residence. Something like "2 rooms" or even a percentage to reiterate staff will use most of the space and Kako isn't getting the whole building to herself. Kako's situation should have been explained earlier but that opportunity is gone.

I suspect the temporary residence will become Prince Hisahito's residence when he's older and Kako has left the Imperial family after marriage.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Kyoto Imperial Palace