Furthermore, I would say that Asian courtiers 1) do much better job of maintaining the prestige of and mystique surrounding the royal families and 2) will adapt to the spirit of times as it has been proven by Japan time and again. I am sure necessary changes will be introduced. The Japanese are adept at finely attuning any system and making it operate flawlessly.
Overall I believe you are correct Al_bina, particularly with you last sentence. The statements prior that I quoted I believe were true in the previous generation as they had to make the transition of Hirohito from God-like status to human, deal with the first commoner to wed into the royal family and with Michiko's emotional adjustments. Perhaps there were more skilled members of the IHA then. We won't know because there is no public listing of who is in this organization, nor who is responsible for the decisions made by it.
The current IHA, IMHO has dropped the ball many times in protecting the prestige of the Imperial Family. Knowing the person Masako was before becoming Crown Princess and who she has become since is the best example to show how counterproductive and anti-progressive their methods and decisions are (I know...I know...Masako is probably a bit of a drama queen and difficult to handle, but again if you compare to before the wedding, these traits surfaced/developed from the restrictive IHA...much like her mother-in-law experience with the oppressive royal court).
In addition, their handling of the succession "crisis" was laughable in the amount of time it went on, the "convenient" pregnancy of Kiko (does anyone really think Hisahito isn't genetically engineered?), and the complete disregard for history (other Japanese empresses) and simple biology (males determining gender in offspring).
Finally, the choice of Naruhito to publicly criticize the IHA and the court for treatment of his wife, and the response from the court, IHA, Emperor and Akishino only served to scandalize the family more and bring the prestige even further down.
The only member of the Imperial Family that had not been touched by scandal was Princess Sayako, and - according to the progressive philosophy of the IHA - they followed the very progressive precedent of stripping her of her titles just because she married. But they were so kind to give her instructions on how to use appliances and go grocery shopping. VERY forward thinking on their part.
And as far as the "mystique" of the Imperial Family...it is something that is supposed to give you just enough to want to know more because you are curious or interested. Most people want to know more because it is so secretive and closed off that they speculate on the rigidity and oppressiveness. That isn't "mystique"...it is "isolation". Even with the Japanese people, they have lowered the amount of curiosity and respect for the Imperial Family. So I would have to disagree that they have done a good job. I think they have failed to recognize the amount of change in the world in the last 30-40 years and now they (the IHA-whoever they are) just look ridiculous.