I'm personally not fond of his younger brother who sets out, however subtely, to publically undermine the Crown Prince by declaring the dynamics of the family unit. That in my opinion, is most disagreeable and nothing short of an attempt to further fuel public frustrations towards the CP couple. Knowing full well that a great deal of the Japanese public appreciate (expect) a united front, even though if behind closed doors that is not the case, suggests to me that Akishino is rather self serving. Ambitious, dare I suggest. That is of course my opinion and mine alone.
Modesty is a very likeable quality.
But imo in this case it leads you a bit too far. To say that Akishino is ambitious is undeniably an opinion and, as such, subjective (as well as it would be subjective to state the contrary). But you are very far from being alone with this view. It is shared by lots of other people and has been expressed in this forum by various members many times before. Whoever would try to deny that is either willfully choosing blindness or else, not very knowledgeable concerning this matter.
I am not convinced that, this time, Akishino had his father´s backing in every point. It is true that when he criticized the crown prince in his birthday press conference in 2004, it was widely believed that he did so with the emperor´s consent. I believe that, too. But since then, many things have changed. In 2004, Akishino was but the younger son. Since then he has become the father of the heir with the prospect of following his brother on the throne if he outlives him (unless the law should be changed). As the Asahi Shimbun expresses it: “[Prince Akishino´s] comments would seem to be a reflection of his pride at being chosen to shoulder the burden of the future of the imperial line. That pride has likely been fostered by the growing public presence of his family as successors to the imperial family image.“
To put it differently, I think it possible by now that Akishino feels himself authorized to speak for the emperor even if he has not asked his father before about every single point he wants to mention, especially so during a time when the emperor is too ill for serious political conversation (which he probably was). The idea that this might be the case here first entered my mind when I read about Akishino´s idea concerning a retirement age for emperors. It is obvious that such a change would considerably heighten Akishino´s chances to ascend the throne himself because that would mean that he would not have to outlive his elder brother (a risky business, considering that Prince Mikasa is still kicking around at age 95) but he would just have to wait for his brother´s retirement age. So, while I do not think that Akishino has meant any harm to his father, I seriously doubt that he has discussed this special idea with the emperor before the conference took place. I doubt it because the emperor is imo the type of person who wants to „die with his boots on“. I am personally absolutely convinced that he abhors the very idea of retirement, not only because of what the crown prince has said about his father „cherishing his duties as emperor“, but judging from everything that I know about Akihito´s biography and personality. That does not mean that I think that, in the event of him being convinced that it would be best for his country, Akihito would not still step down, even if he detests it. He definitely has a very strong sense of duty. But, at this point, I see no reason why he should think that the nation profits in any way from his abdication.
So, I have a very hard time believing that Akishino ever spoke to his father about the retirement idea. This impression is enhanced by the fact that the birthday press conference this year „was unusual. It lasted about 90 minutes, or about double the originally scheduled time. Also, in many of his comments, Fumihito went further than the more scripted comments of the past.“ (See this
Asahi Shimbun article of which the „The Australian“-article is imo but a clueless copy.) That means that Akishino may have been „improvising“ which makes it more probable that he expressed ideas in the conference that he may not have discussed before with anybody.
The second point that struck me as amazing was the fact that, concerning the possible changes of the Imperial House Law, Akishino actually said that it “would be good if the opinions of either myself or the crown prince are heard in that process.” (Especially the “either – or”-construction is very interesting. Does he want to suggest that the Diet should ask for his, Akishino´s, view on the issue, without considering that of the crown prince?) But the main point here is imo that Akishino expects to be consulted in a political matter and openly says so. In public! I cannot think of a precedent for this (if anybody here remembers one, please let me know). It is true, of course, that Prince Tomohito of Mikasa commented on the succession law, but, according to him, that had been made as a private statement that had never been meant to get public. Also, the emperor managed to somehow have his view on the issue of male succession known (without ever publicly commenting on it, though). But that was probably as it has ever been since the end of the war: officially, the tenno has nothing to do with politics, but inofficially, well, you know...
I do not doubt that there were things – political things – that Emperor Akihito wanted to have an impact on and succeeded. But he knows his limits: he would not
officially comment on matters of the state, nor would he publicly demand to have his views heeded because that would be against the Japanese constitution. I doubt that Akishino has asked the emperor before he told the Diet to listen to his (Akishino´s) suggestions concerning the Imperial House Law. Imo, his father would not have hesitated to tell him that this is not at all the way to do things. Btw, here I disagree with the Asahi-article: according to them, the abnormality of the statement shows that it must have been carefully discussed with the emperor and empress. But I see no reason to believe that it would have been made at all, if Akishino had sought his father´s advice. During the years, Emperor Akihito has repeatedly demonstrated that he is very aware of his constitutional role. I do not see why he should change that all of a sudden or why he should encourage his son to behave in a way that is clearly unconstitutional.
I´d like to further add that one of the reasons why I call the Australian-article “clueless” is that they make it sound as if Princess Masako had invented an illness as a mere pretext to stay away from her father-in-law whereas the Asahi Shimbun (which probably was the only source for the article) says no such thing. It just states that the planned visit “was canceled at the last minute because she came down with the cold”. I am, in fact, one of those who think that there is a serious conflict in the IF, but that would not mean that I believe without further evidence every nasty rumour that the media chooses to spread. Who knows if the crown princess did not really have a cold? After all, her daughter had been in hospital not so long ago. Just how deserving would it be to visit you ailing father-in-law while you are yourself full of germs to bombard him with?
