Happy Birthday Your Imperial Highness

In another life Masako Owada could have been a diplomat, as she was before her marriage, and as her father Hisashi Owada is; no doubt in her next life - as Empress of Japan - she will not only be among that country's foremost ambassadors but a superlative one at that, owing to her background. If, that is, she can get the Imperial Household Agency to stop hectoring her over her failure to produce a male heir - as if bullying someone were any good way to get what you want!

Born on this day in 1963, Crown Princess Masako - bright, beautiful, beloved - has instead turned into something of a spectre within Japan's Royal Family, seldom venturing out on public duties, nursing the wounds that result from the particular misogynies of royal life. For a woman as worldly as Her Imperial Highness, the paternalism of Japanese society - especially in its upper echelon - has proven especially hurtful.

Not that she didn't expect it; stories abound about how many times she refused Crown Prince Naruhito's proposal and (setting aside all romantic notions about his persistence during their courtship) it's a darn good thing he's stood by her as resolutely through her trials as he has. Even more so than with most married couples, her problems really are his problems.
*
share on: facebook

Trouble In Japan's Imperial Household?

Empress Michiko was the first commoner to marry into Japan's Imperial Household.

Following her marriage, the then-Crown Princess was ruthlessly tormented by Empress Nagako, something which is largely unreported in Japan. When Michiko's own son took a bride, the Empress was reported to have said that she wouldn't be as hard on her new daughter-in-law as her mother-in-law had been on her.

Alas, Crown Princess Masako has not had such an easy time of it, even with her lofty ally. The "failure" to produce a male heir, culminating in last year's debate over whether or not little Aiko should one day be Empress-regnant, has meant that Masako is now rarely seen in public; it seems life in the fishbowl may have gotten to the Empress as well.

That, and a new book about Masako subtitled "Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne", seem determined to make for a very unhappy Kokyo palace indeed.

[S O U R C E]
share on: facebook