I took a very keen interest in the fate that befell Princess Masako of Japan three years ago after it became clear that she would not emulate Princess Diana by providing a male heir (and a spare) to ensure the unbroken longevity of Japan’s royal family.
My interest stemmed from the fact that Japan’s agnatic succession law, which precludes women from inheriting the throne, was deemed so sacrosanct that Masoko’s daughter Aiko became more an object of national resentment than a symbol of national pride. Never mind the irony that Aiko was born with far greater potential of emulating Queen Elizabeth II than Masako ever had of emulating Princess Diana.
Moreover, I was troubled because I could not determine whether Masako was banished to a sanatorium because she really suffered a nervous breakdown (which would have been understandable under the circumstances) or because this was the royal family’s way of containing the national shame she had become.
Alas, it is doubtful that Masako will ever fulfill her only royal duty that seems to matter. Because the unnatural anxieties that evidently inhibited her performance at 30 are bound to preclude the belated birth of a male heir at 42. Therefore, in light of such unforgiving stresses, it came as no surprise when the Imperial Household Agency announced last year that:
Crown Princess Masako was exhausted [and had] excused herself from royal duties. [And] that she had taken refuge at her family’s home in a wooden mountain resort.
[A royal disappointment: Masako – the putative Princess Diana of Japan, TIJ, September 20, 2005]
But that shame and her psychological trauma had to have been lifted considerably a year later when Masako’s sister-in-law Princess Kiko gave birth to a baby boy.
And even though this joyous occasion seemed to imbue every Japanese with jingoistic pride, I lamented that it effectively derailed a parliamentary initiative to modernize the country’s imperial succession law to allow women to inherit the throne.
The lingering irony of course is that this atavistic law was codified in 1947 by the “progressive” Americans who drafted Japan’s new Constitution after defeating the Japanese in World War II….
At any rate, I was greatly relieved by yesterday’s report in the Kyodo News that Masako has returned to official duties for “the first time in three years [after] undergoing treatment for an adjustment disorder.”
And thank God she now looks so damn well adjusted….
Related commentaries:
royal disappointment…
Princess Kiko performs Masako’s most critical duty…
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Don Kerr says
Curious, isn’t it, since the baby’s gender is always determined by the father, and not the mother.
Tyler says
Why the interest in the C.P. Of japan? You don’t know her and can’t help her.
Your bio doesn’t tell the names of any of the schools you say you attended! If you went to law school and did not graduate best to leave it off.atbleastbtell how long you attended athony.this will improve the bio a bit