Japan's crown prince, who turned 48 yesterday, said his wife needs more time to recover from an stress-induced illness before she can return to official duties.
Naruhito, heir to the world's oldest monarchy, said Crown Princess Masako was making progress, but not quite ready to fully resume her duties and public appearances.
Masako, 44, withdrew from most imperial functions at the end of 2003 after developing a condition her palace doctors call "adjustment disorder."
"Masako, with her conditions, still has ups and downs, [but she] is making efforts to expand her activities, both publicly and privately," the crown prince said at a news conference, a transcript of which was released yesterday.
"I would like to ask for your continued patience and understanding," Naruhito said. "Masako is helping me in many ways and I want to continue giving her firm support," he said.
Masako, a former diplomat educated at Harvard and Oxford, came under immediate pressure to produce a male heir for the monarchy after her marriage to Naruhito in 1993, but suffered a miscarriage six years later.
She gave birth to a daughter, Aiko, in 2001, but females are prohibited from taking the throne.
Naruhito visited his parents' palace later yesterday to mark his birthday.
Naruhito promised he would visit his parents more after a senior palace official rebuked him for not spending enough time with them.
The head of Japan's Imperial Household Agency Shingo Haketa earlier this month in a rare public signal said that Naruhito should visit Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko more frequently.
The emperor, 74, complained in 2006 that he and his wife didn't have enough opportunities to meet Naruhito's only child, Princess Aiko, now six.
But at a press conference before his birthday Naruhito said: "I would like to commit as much as I can to visiting the Imperial Palace" where Akihito and Michiko live.
He didn't elaborate, saying that it was "a private family matter."
According to the Kyodo News agency on Feb. 13, the imperial official said: "I think the emperor and empress are concerned as the number of visits [by the crown prince's family] to the Imperial Palace has not increased."
He added that he had given advice to Naruhito on several occasions, to which he said the Crown Prince responded: "I'd like to make an effort."
The prince has recently come under fire in tabloid magazines for shunning official duties while dining with friends and family.
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
COMMUNITY CONFLICT: Concerns about disease spread from corpses has run up against friends and families’ desire to bury their dead as infection spreads in the area Angry residents of a town at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) attacked and burned a tent that was part of a health center where people are being treated for the virus, the staff there said Saturday. It was the second such attack in the region in a week. No one was hurt in the attack, according to reports but as patients ran out to escape the fire, 18 people with suspected Ebola infections fled the facility and are unaccounted for, a hospital director said. Angry residents arrived at the clinic in the
Forecasters in Europe yesterday warned of exceptional heat as record temperatures driven by a “heat dome” push temperatures well above seasonal norms across the continent. The surge follows a record-breaking Monday, with France logging its hottest day in the month of May on record, its weather agency said, and the UK also posting unprecedented highs. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Restrictions on outdoor work were imposed in parts of Italy, beaches in southwest France filled earlier than usual and
RSS