Crown Prince Naruhito & Crown Princess Masako current events 5: Dec. 2008- Dec. 2015


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:previous: I like CP Masako's outfit. The scarf adds some color, too. Nice to see the three of them again.:flowers:
 
I am curious about Masako and her lack of public appearances. I know she has had "health" issues and apparently problems with the IHA, but if she can hold it together when appearing with her husband and child at small occassions like this why can she not apparently hold it together to undertake more public engagements in Japan or even abroad for events like weddings? I would think she would want to get out of the palace as often as possible if things are so bad within the palace walls. Is she really so much of a prisoner that even attending some sort of charity or cultural event outside the walls is not allowed?
 
Since the chief criticism of Masako is that she won't attend any public engagements, I don't think there's a question of it's not being allowed.

That's precisely what the IHA, the press, and much of the public wants her to do, so what would prevent her?
 
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:previous:
Mirabel,
Are you privy to any special detailed information about what Crown Princess Masako is and is not allowed to do? It has been my understanding that the IHA regulates much of official appearances and daily life within the Imperial family. There must reasons for Crown Princess Masako's rare public appearances.
 
No, I am not, as you are no doubt well-aware and are making a statement to suggest that I have no understanding of the lengths the IHA will go.

Nevertheless, I believe that Masako's non-attendance is her own doing, and not some nefarious conspiracy on the part of the IHA.
(For one thing, I don't believe her husband would allow it; for another,, I don't think the Emperor would condone it).

If you have reasons to suspect that Masako is kept under lock and key, I would Like to hear them.
 
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:previous:
I am not in the camp of those, who think that the bad IHA has locked Princess Masako away. The IHA, as an agency, is very effective (e.g., the heir crisis was resolved) in managing the Imperial Household and adheres to established strict protocols. It would be fair to assume that the IHA is aware of the public opinion about Crown Princess Masako's very secluded way of life. If the IHA did not take any drastic measures to address the issue and increase Crown Princess Masako's official engagements, there must some valid reasons for it. Given the above, I do think that Crown Princess Masako's health precludes her from performing duties alongside her husband and the IHA has been listening to the doctor's or doctors' recommendations and letting her live in seclusion.
 
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Given the above, I do think that Crown Princess Masako's health precludes her from performing duties alongside her husband and the IHA has been listening to the doctor's or doctors' recommendations and letting her live in seclusion.

I understand your reasoning, and agree in part.
However, in that case I think the IHA, along with the Imperial Family, would be better served by being more upfront about Masako's health problems.

How long can they keep attributing everything to adjustment disorder?
Or if it is severe depression, why not just admit it, and deflect the criticism? The secrecy baffles me.
 
:previous:
I think that, at least in part, the reason is to be found in cultural differences. In Japan it is very impolite to say anything that might embarrass the person(s) you are speaking to. According to my impression at least, this leads to people sometimes boldly asserting obvious falsehoods and trusting that they won´t be challenged about them because of the social rules. (Concerning the cultural differences in the handling of delicate royal issues, please see also this blog of mine: Photo of Princess Kako leaked onto Internet)

Another reason could be that the IHA are simply not that effective in protecting Masako´s public image, be it because of incapability or because of unwillingness. At least, that is what Japanese author Naoko Tomono (who has written a book about the princess) seems to think.

According to Tomono, the agency also mishandled the Crown Princess' illness. "As they are a traditionally minded body, they were reluctant to accept or understand her emotional illness, or explain it to the public. They allowed the press to say that she fell ill because she was selfish, and I think that sin is grave," she said.
In that article you also find an answer to your former question if Masako will become empress. First, one has to say that the moment the emperor passes away, Naruhito will automatically get to be the emperor and his wife the empress. So unless he does not divorce her, it does not matter how ill she is. Concerning the possibility of a divorce, Japan Times writer Mariko Kato says:

It is generally accepted that the Crown Princess can divorce her husband under the Imperial Household Law, which stipulates that a commoner married to a prince can leave the family through divorce or if her husband dies. In reality, however, divorce between the couple is highly unlikely, according to Tomono.

"Neither the Crown Prince nor Princess Masako is the type to divorce and run away from the problem. In fact, that's precisely why she fell ill in the first place," she said. "The couple get on well, and the princess feels strongly about her husband and the royal institution. They simply want to show (the public) that they are working hard to do what they think is right," she added.
Japan Times

I am curious about Masako and her lack of public appearances. I know she has had "health" issues and apparently problems with the IHA, but if she can hold it together when appearing with her husband and child at small occassions like this why can she not apparently hold it together to undertake more public engagements in Japan or even abroad for events like weddings? I would think she would want to get out of the palace as often as possible if things are so bad within the palace walls. Is she really so much of a prisoner that even attending some sort of charity or cultural event outside the walls is not allowed?

I do not necessarily believe all that is written about the princess. But I do believe that her state of health is unstable. So if they´d give her a busier schedule, she´d probably end up appearing more in public than she does now, all in all. But she also from time to time would have to cancel an engagement because of health reasons. It seems that this is unacceptable. Several years ago, the head of the crown prince household was (publicly!) admonished by the grand steward of the IHA because the princess canceled an engagement just one day in advance because of health reasons. I suppose that they prefer to not send her to official engagements at all instead of risking a cancellation once in a while.

The other thing is that it seems that the princess would like to take up a cause that she has at heart (like the crown prince does with environment/water issues), probably help disadvantaged children or something of the sort. Her doctors have repeatedly said that this should be made possible because it might help her recover. Still, the princess is obviously not allowed to do that. (In Japan´s monarchy, the principle of royal neutrality is taken very far, and it is basically supposed that royals go where ever they are being sent. They are not allowed to favour one charity over another. The crown prince has hinted at his wish to change that and this is, incidentally, one of the points that his brother has criticized by saying that, according to him, royal duties are “passive in nature”.)

I also suspect that even if the princess should be able to accompany her husband abroad, she won´t be allowed to do this as long as she does not fulfill all her regular duties in Japan.
 
More pics of Crown Prince Naruhito, Crown Princess Masako and Princess Aiko waving upon arrival in Tochigi Prefecture on May 3, 2012.

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Video

One more pic
 
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In this article it is said that the emperor after holding a 20-minutes-conversation with the Peruvian president (see this thread) on themes like Peruvian-Japanese cooperation in education and economics, presented him to the crown prince and the crown princess.


Durante la reunión el Emperador presentó a su familia, el príncipe Nahurito y la princesa Masako.
Google translation
 
:previous: Is this the first time in awhile that CP Masako has met a visiting head of state?
 
As far as I know, yes, but that obviously does not mean much. There are no pictures of Masako meeting Humala and his wife which means that no media were present. It was by mere coincidence that I found the one article that mentioned the meeting. So it is quite possible that the crown princess has met foreign dignitaries before but that it was not covered by the press because there were no pictures. But it is possible as well that such meetings did not take place, of course.

[...] in Tokyo on Friday, Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife Crown Princess Masako met with the visiting head of the University of Oxford, Vice Chancellor Andrew Hamilton.

It was the first time for the crown princess to engage in external official duties since last November when she and the crown prince met with then outgoing Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan, Nguyen Phu Binh, who came to bid farewell before leaving the post, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
The Mainichi
 
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Brilliant news about Masako. :)
Hopefully, now that the pressure is relatively off her, she will be able to make a full recovery.
Masako certainly looked very happy and at ease in the recent pictures from the airport.
 
I am delighted to hear that CP Masako has found the strength to fulfill her royal duties.The press didn´t put an emphasis on her attendance and didn´t publish so many pictures of her,it seems that they are more careful and considerate and changed their behaviour towards the Princess.This will probably lessen the stress and give her the feeling of security so that she can regain her confidence and raise to the expectations that are set in her.
 
The pressure to bear an heir must have been off her during the last 2 or 3 years already. But her husband once said that the public attention was too much on the pressure to have a boy and trips abroad (as speculated reasons for Masako´s illness) and that there were still other reasons for his wife´s problems. I do not see any evidence that those reasons have been removed.

I am certainly the first to hope that the crown princess will recover in spite of everything. But we have seen her make one step forward and one step back again for years now, so, for the moment at least, I would not expect too much. On the other hand, considering the rumours after the awkward statements of the head of the Crown Prince Household, it serves to show in any case that the crown princess is not getting worse, as some thought.
 
Crown Prince Naruhito attended a ceremony to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Scout Association of Japan on May 26, 2012. Picture

WFP Executive Director Thanks Japan For Ongoing Commitment To Ending Hunger
On her first trip to Japan as the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin this week welcomed the continued commitment by Japan – including the Japanese government, business, non-governmental organizations and citizens – to the fight against hunger. [...]
Her lecture, entitled “Fighting Hunger Worldwide,” was attended by Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako and an audience comprising diplomats, representatives of UN agencies, NGOs and private companies, university teachers, students, and individuals.
I have found a few pictures that show the crown prince and princess on their way to the above-mentioned lecture: "Fighting Hunger Worldwide". They are a bit dark, but there is a very good video that shows the couple at the event at this blog that is dedicated “to the beautiful family of the crown prince of Japan“.

It is said there that the event was originally scheduled to be attended by the Crown Prince alone. :D:clap::D
I am always glad to see the crown princess in public, and I am convinced that she was very interested to learn more about the subject of the lecture.

Obviously, someone has taken the trouble to make the photos a bit lighter, that version is to be found here.
 
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Crown Princess Masako's public appearances are a welcome development.
 
CP Masako looked comfortable at this event. The signs are promising. Let's hope and pray they continue and that she'll be able to perform as Empress one day.
 
Errmm, just in case some people should have missed the pics of Princess Masako yesterday, they have been posted in the Naruhito-thread.

Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako talk at the entrance of the Togu Palace in Tokyo before Naruhito's departure Monday, June 25, 2012.
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It seems he is always going off on his own!
Why does Masako never accompany him to any of these things?
Isn't she allowed to, or doesn't she want to?
 
The question is imo not, if she does not want to - I am sure she wants. The point would rather be if her health renders her unable to go - or if she is not allowed to. But this is up to everybody´s guess. Obviously, if Masako were not allowed to go, nobody would officially admit that. At first sight, it seems, of course, absurd to even consider that possibility, but, at least in the nineties, it was a fact.

At the time, the then-French president Jacques Chirac had openly expressed his interest in meeting Princess Masako. The princess was informed of this wish via tv – her staff had never told her that there had been an invitation for her to France nor that it had been declined, let alone the reasons for this. In the end, she got at least part of the answer through one of her old contacts at the foreign office. She was told that there had been several requests from various countries for her and her husband that had always been declined. Martin Fritz and Yoko Kobayashi who have written a book about Masako talked to an executive of the foreign office concerning this issue who told them: “Those who were in charge of these matters at the IHA always said that the requests for the crown prince and the crown princess had to be declined. They explained that this was necessary so the couple would be free to concentrate on the production of an heir.” (It remains their secret why they thought that Tokyo was so much to be preferred over Paris, in terms of being a good place for the conception of a child.)

You may say that today nobody expects the couple to produce any more children anyway, but Fritz and Kobayashi say that, even in the past, this was by far not the only reason why the crown prince and, notably, the princess were kept at home. It was just the one that sounded best.

Imo, the fact that Princess Masako was sent to Australia and New Zealand one year after the birth of Aiko, says a lot. That was a reward for "delivering". Accordingly, I think that they won´t let her travel before she fulfills all of her duties within Japan - independent of the question if she might be able to go on an individual trip or not. But that is just my guess that is as good or bad as anyone´s.
There is just one thing we can be sure of, imo: we won´t be told the truth, we will have to find it out ourselves.
 
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Are the Japanese people fed up with the Crown Princess being unable to fulfill her public duties? Do they express discontent with her? Any suggestions that she should retire to a convent or perhaps divorce in order to allow her husband to remarry and perhaps have more children?
 
I think MariaAntoniaPia would be the best person to answer this question if she is around. (Are you? :wave: ;))

But it seems to me that, in this matter, there is no "the Japanese people". Masako is a target for heavy criticism from the ultra-right and has been so for quite some time - like MariaAntoniaPia said when Masako miscarried in 1999 (which made her utterly miserable) right-wingers even put the blame on herself and accused her of having lost a precious imperial foetus. But from what MariaAntoniaPia said in this forum, I get the impression that she herself rather feels for the princess.

It seems also to be a matter of generations, as we have already discussed in this thread.

"Articles on the imperial family are widely read because such ordinary problems as child-rearing and delicate relations with in-laws that seem to plague the imperial family make readers feel relieved," said Jin Ito, editor in chief of Shukan Josei, a variety magazine for women. "The difficult environment facing the crown princess is being viewed as a result of generational conflicts with the traditional way of life at the imperial family," he said. "Women in their 30s and 40s, who are our readership base, naturally relate to the problems facing Masako."

Generation gap?


One of those readers is Miki Fuda, a 38-year-old homemaker from Hamura, western Tokyo. Fuda began closely following Masako-related coverage in the media after the crown princess began suffering from stress. She said the princess was likely under tremendous pressure to give birth to a male heir to the Chrysanthemum throne. "When I became pregnant with my second child, there was the unspoken understanding that I must have a boy," she recalled. "When a test at the advanced stage of my pregnancy suggested that I would have another girl, my mother-in-law looked very disappointed and immediately asked if the test was really reliable.

"I was shocked by her reaction and started to feel that I had no value as a member of the family unless I give birth to a boy," she said. "The crown princess must have been in a similar situation, but on a much larger scale. I just cannot help feeling sympathetic toward her."

But a 68-year-old woman in Yachiyo, Chiba Prefecture, who visited the Imperial Palace on Emperor Akihito's birthday on Dec. 23, was critical of the princess, even though she says she feels sympathy for Masako in her tough environment. From the perspective of a mother-in-law, the woman says, Masako appears a bit too self-oriented and assertive.

"I put up with a lot of things while living together with my parents-in-law for over 40 years, but I took care of them until they died at 90 and 98," she said. "But my son and daughter-in-law visit our place twice a year at most, although I and my husband desperately want to see our granddaughters."

She said her son and daughter-in-law never really consulted her on big decisions, such as working after giving birth. "They may say it is a generation thing, but if anybody in a family is too self-oriented and assertive, the relationship among the entire family may go bad. I guess even the imperial family is no exception. I feel kind of relieved because it looks like even they have similar problems that we have."
Source

As Mirabel justly remarked, "it sounds as if that woman who put up with catering to her in-laws for many years feels quite a bit of resentment- more like a feeling of entitlement that now it's her turn to make her daughter-in-law miserable!"
 
The question is imo not, if she does not want to - I am sure she wants. The point would rather be if her health renders her unable to go - or if she is not allowed to.


Unless she is actually bedridden (which we know she's not), I don't see how it could be a health issue! If it is due to emotional stress, a change of venue is often helpful in these cases.

As for being allowed to go, I would be very surprised if she and her husband agreed to any such restrictions on their activities.

(The part about concentrating on conception is ridiculous, imo. If he is away and they are separated, how could she conceive? Anyway, she is nearly fifty and will not have more children now).
 
As for being allowed to go, I would be very surprised if she and her husband agreed to any such restrictions on their activities.

(The part about concentrating on conception is ridiculous, imo. If he is away and they are separated, how could she conceive? Anyway, she is nearly fifty and will not have more children now).

:question: As I said, I was talking about what was happening in the nineties. At the time they were BOTH kept at home, and whether you are surprised to hear it or not, there was nothing they could do about it. Nobody asked for their consent. In fact, nobody even INFORMED them that it had been decided that they should stay home. My point, in case it should not have been quite clear, was to say that it is possible that it is happening again what happened back then and for similar reasons - by which, like I have ALSO already said, I do NOT mean the necessity to produce an heir.

Unless she is actually bedridden (which we know she's not), I don't see how it could be a health issue! If it is due to emotional stress, a change of venue is often helpful in these cases.

Concerning illness, there are all sorts of illnesses with all sorts of effects. Particularly mental illnesses CAN be nearly invisible for medical non-experts. On the other hand, you may well be right and a change of venue might prove helpful in Masako´s case. We just do not know.
 
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The crown prince´s trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos

This video shows the crown prince during his trip as well as with his wife and daughter upon his return.

The crown princess and her daughter welcome their husband and father home on July 1, 2012
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Crown Prince Naruhito, Crown Princess Masako and Princess Aiko were seen upon arrival at Izukyu Shimoda station in Shimoda on August 12, 2012. The family planned to stay at the Suzaki Imperial Villa for a couple of days.



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More pictures of Crown Prince Naruhito, Crown Princess Masako and Princess Aiko on August, 12.

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