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.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
RSS