Yes, IMO you are exactly right concerning Masako.
I would only like to add that you probably could chat with her nicely not only about everyday things but also tell her about your troubles and worries and be sure that she would listen to you with empathy and without judgment as she has been through so much herself. The first (the nice chat about everyday things) may very well be an innate trait of her personality, as you said, Albina, but being able to listen to another´s sorrows is something you learn only, IMO, by having gone through hardships yourself...
As for Kiko, I still think that she is the best argument against how women at the Japanese imperial court are being treated. She does look brittle, and her smile to me nowadays often seems forced. She is certainly still an impressing, elegant, dignified personality - but what a loss if you compare her to the young, brightly smiling, radiant g.irl she once has been. She was not only exceptionally pretty but her smile seemed to come directly from an open heart.
I cannot really find the exact photo I am bearing in mind. It is one of this series:
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2166/kikoa8fw.jpg
but on the one I mean Kiko does not look quite so controlled but with a big smile... Maybe I will find it bye and bye...
Anyhow, this young woman has not been treated with care. She has been used as an instrument, in the first place by her husband, and not been appreciated for her own wonderful loving self. She has obtained her reward in form of g.lamour and a higher status than she could ever have hoped for, marrying the younger son. And IF she had married him for ambition in the first place, that would certainly be very well, then she would just have gotten what she had asked for. But I am afraid that she asked for love in return for the love that she brought into this family, and that is what she did not get. I suppose that she is trying to pretend even to herself that she is happy but she is not. Her heart is broken.
What a strange fate she has. She always gets the fairy tale – marrying the prince, bearing the long awaited heir – gets exactly what she has probably asked for, and then has to find out that in real life living a fairy tale can be pretty painful. When she is through with her lesson she will probably know better than anybody on earth that it is not important how things appear to be, how they look like, but what they are inside and how they feel.
Perhaps am I much too romantic. Take the post immediately away, if it is impossible. Thanks you.
Do you know what the event was?
Her story shows IMO that whatever you do as a woman marrying into the imperial family of Japan: if you put all your energy into adapting to the status quo or if you try to find some sort of balance between your own personality and the requirements of your position, in the end it makes no difference: You just can´t win...
