Japan’s new Emperor Naruhito begins his reign facing the delicate task of balancing modernity with the traditions of the world’s oldest monarchy, including protecting his family from the palace’s rigid rules.
The 59-year-old has not been shy about criticizing the sometimes stifling lifestyle imposed on royals, particularly given the struggles his wife Masako faced adapting to imperial life even before becoming empress.
And like his popular father Akihito, he has warned of the need to remember World War II “correctly,” without downplaying Japan’s early 20th-century militarism.
Photo: EPA
Born on Feb. 23, 1960, Naruhito was the first Japanese prince to grow up under the same roof as his parents and siblings — royal children were previously raised by nannies and teachers.
He studied for two years at Oxford University in the 1980s after graduating with a history degree in Japan, and reportedly adorned his residence with a poster of American actress Brooke Shields.
In Britain, he was able to shed some of the strictures of royal life in Japan, mingling with other students as well as the British royal family, and he has spoken fondly of that period.
In 1993, he wed Masako Owada, who became empress when Naruhito assumed the Chrysanthemum throne.
The daughter of a diplomatic family and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Masako left behind a promising diplomatic career of her own to marry into the royal family.
‘NEW ROYAL DUTIES’
Naruhito promised to “protect her at any cost” as she made the transition, and Masako explained she had sacrificed her career to “make myself useful in this new path.”
But she struggled to adjust to cloistered royal life, punctuated only by occasional and highly choreographed public appearances.
She also came under enormous pressure to bear a son because Japan’s imperial succession excludes women. This scrutiny only intensified after she gave birth to Princess Aiko in 2001 — the couple’s only child.
In 2004, Naruhito accused palace minders of stifling his wife’s personality, in unprecedented public remarks.
“To me, Masako seems worn out in her efforts to adjust herself to life as a royal over the past 10 years... It is also true that there was something that amounted to a denial of Masako’s former career,” he said.
He described Masako as “anguished” by the travel restrictions she faced after her previous diplomatic life.
The same year, the palace disclosed that Masako had been undergoing treatment for stress-induced “adjustment disorder” for almost her entire marriage.
Naruhito later apologized for his remarks, but he has called for “new royal duties” to fit modern times.
The pressure on Masako eased somewhat when her sister-in-law gave birth in 2006 to a son, the now 13-year-old Prince Hisahito.
She appeared confident during Naruhito’s enthronement in May and at ease when the royal couple welcomed US President Donald Trump as the first foreign leader to greet the new emperor.
In particular, her ability to converse with first lady Melania Trump in fluent English was well-received.
COMFORTERS-IN-CHIEF
Before his enthronement, Naruhito followed his father’s lead by hitting back against revisionism on Japan’s role in World War II, with remarks seen by some as a rebuke of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s nationalism.
In his first speech as emperor, to mark the end of World War II in August, Naruhito spoke of “deep remorse” over the country’s wartime past, echoing the language employed by his father, Akihito.
Naruhito and Masako are expected to pursue the role of comforters-in-chief crafted by the previous emperor and empress, who won public support for meeting with victims of natural disasters.
The royal couple have expressed their “heartache” over typhoon Hagibis, which killed dozens of people this month.
And there has been speculation that they may visit victims after the ceremonies related to the enthronement proclamation are complete.
Masako’s delicate health may however mean they “will not be able to do the same amount of activities” as the former imperial couple, according to Hideya Kawanishi, an associate professor at Nagoya University and Japanese history expert.
In a statement released on her birthday in December, Masako pledged to do her best despite feeling “insecure” about becoming empress, crediting the “powerful support” of the public for her gradual recovery.
Doctors have warned however that she will need to continue treatment and is susceptible to fatigue.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist