Immerse yourself in a Japanese imperial family as mysterious as it is fragile

Just a ten-minute walk from Tokyo Station and the famous Marunouchi financial district and its skyscrapers, Kitanomaru Park is a green oasis that stands out in Tokyo’s vast urban landscape.Right there, hidden behind tall walls and thick trees, is Edo Castle, home to Japan’s most mysterious the imperial family. A lesser-known Japanese dynasty, however, it is the oldest in the world, dating back to the legendary Jimmu, Japan’s very first emperor, according to tradition. in 660.

Dynasty on borrowed time

If we are talking about her right now, it is because the oldest member of the royal family, Mikasa Princess Yuriko Takahito, died on November 15 at the age of 101. She was the widow of former Emperor Hirohito’s cousin, who died in 1989 after a sixty-two-year reign. today there are only 16, including Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, their daughter Princess Aiko, Honorary Emperor Akihito, Honorary Empress Michiko and Prince Hisahito.

Descendants are so limited that Prince Hisahito, the last hope for the survival of the Japanese imperial family, became the first person in the clan to come of age in nearly four decades on September 6. It is enough to once again call into question the disputed rules of imperial succession. And for good reason, even though Japan’s Emperor Naruhito has an only daughter, Princess Aiko, who will celebrate her 23rd birthday on December 1, she can’t claim the throne. The result: besides Prince Hisahito and his father, Crown Prince Akishino, the only other heir to the Japanese throne is none other than the emperor’s uncle, Prince Hitachi, 88 and childless.

Depressed Empress

The family also experienced its share of turmoil. Beginning with Empress Masako’s prolonged depression. At the age of 60, she is married to the current emperor of Japan, and everything started between them in 1986 Tatler two Japanese meet a tea time organized in honor of Princess Elena of Spain, eldest daughter of King Juan Carlos I and sister of the current King Felipe VI. She is a prince, heir to the “chrysanthemum throne” and a graduate of Oxford. After living her early years between Moscow and Boston, she grew up in Japan before earning a degree in economics from Harvard in 1985. Two years later, she worked at the Japanese Foreign Ministry. He knows that marrying him would mean giving up his career and limiting his freedom.

After two proposals (rejected each time), Masako finally accepted. The couple announced their engagement on January 19, 1993. The wedding took place on June 9 of the same year, which was attended by more than 800 guests.

At a press conference following the wedding, Masako, now the crown princess, said: “His Majesty told me. as long as I live,” it says Tokyo Weekend: who reports the episode.

Princess Masako still has her ups and downs

Naruhito

Husband’s support is not enough. Masako is clearly having trouble adjusting to life in the royal family, and in a rush to give birth to a male heir, she miscarries in 1999. Two years later, Princess Aiko was born. But the problem is not solved. Remember that only boys succeed to the Japanese throne. This is too much for the future empress. In 2004, Naruhito told reporters: “Princess Masako still has her ups and downs when it comes to her health. She has worked hard to adapt to the Imperial household environment, but from what I have seen, she has completely exhausted herself trying to do so.” In July of the same year, he was diagnosed. Masako suffered from an “adjustment disorder associated with symptoms of depression or anxiety, [et qui pourrait être le] the result of a sudden change in his lifestyle,” says the Imperial Household Agency. The princess is then sedated, begins therapy, and is prescribed “a small amount of medication.”

Since then, she, whom the Japanese press has called a “broken butterfly”, has become the Empress of Japan and ascended the throne on October 22, 2019. Last June, on the second day of her state visit to the United Kingdom, a day off was added at the last minute to the Empress’ schedule. A sign of Masako’s fragility.

Rebel princess

Remove two letters from “Masakō” and you get the name of another famous princess from the Japanese royal family who also made headlines in the celebrity press: Mako. The niece of the current Emperor Naruhito is actually causing controversy in 2021 by deciding to marry a commoner, Kei Komuro. A choice that forces her to give up all her titles. And for good reason, Japanese law (again) requires a woman to leave the Imperial family “if she marries a commoner.” Therefore, the fallen princess must say “sayonara” to her nobility She is even giving up the $1.3 million (€1.23 million) compensation typically given to royal women who lose their status. getting married.

Maybe it is due to the first failure that the young couple suffered three years ago. In 2018, the Japanese press revealed a conflict between Kei Komuro’s mother and her ex-fiancé, who accused the latter of borrowing large sums of money from her without paying her back. Controversy that upsets Japanese people, whose culture demands impeccable treatment from the royal family and those around him.In addition to the controversy, the national media has also scrutinized Kei Komuro’s personal life since his high school years, with allegations of molestation and hairstyles deemed too long by Japanese newspapers. The scandal was such that it prompted Kei Komuro to leave the country for the United States and continue his law studies. And the cause of “post-traumatic stress” in Mako. The curse of Japanese princesses, apparently…

However, the marriage of Princess Mako and Kei Komuro finally takes place in 2021. A sequence stands out before the union. the one in which Mako outlines her farewell to her clan by bowing to her parents and kissing her sister, as evidenced by images captured on Japanese television.Far from Tokyo, the Komuros now reside in the United States.

A surprise abdication

Another event that has shocked the Japanese imperial family in recent years is, of course, the abdication of Emperor Akihito in 2019. Unique and historic, the decision was known to the Japanese for several years. Having ascended the throne in 1989, the emperor actually announced his intention to resign in August 2016. “I am fine today. However, as I see my form gradually declining, I worry about the difficulty of fulfilling my duties as a state symbol,” Akihito said in a televised speech. By the Constitution, which was dictated by the United States after the defeat of Japan in World War II. The last emperor to abdicate in Japan was Kokau in 1817.

Adding to the sadness, this abdication created a real legal problem, as no legal text at the time provided for the emperor’s abdication to last for life. within three years of publication. And two years later, on April 30, 2019, the abdication finally happened. The rare ceremony, of course, is broadcast on NHK TV.Wearing a very high peaked black headscarf, Akihito “announces” his abdication to his ancestors and gods at several shrines in the Imperial Palace.

Either way, Akihito will leave his mark on Japan, showing himself to be a very human emperor. He distinguished himself especially by investing with his wife in helping Japanese people affected by natural disasters, which are unfortunately frequent in the archipelago, a compassion and modernity that his son is trying to instill in his own kingdom today.

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