|
 Princess Masako
Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne
The Tragic True Story of Japan’s Crown Princess
By Ben Hills
‘Princess Masako’ was published in Australia by Random House on November 1 2006 and in the US by Penguin/Tarcher – a new paperback edition was published there in January 2008 which is described on the cover as an ‘international best-seller.’ It was published in Taiwan on August 6 2007 by Sun Colour and in Japan on August 22 by Dai-san Shokan. It is also to be translated and published in: China, Indonesia, Turkey, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Poland.
A brilliant woman sacrifices her career to marry a love-struck prince. Inevitably, the fairy-story turns to tragedy when Masako Owada is unable to adjust to the pressures of living in Japan's ancient imperial court. It was feared that the royal dynasty, the world's oldest with a 2600-year-history, would die out if Masako and Crown Prince Naruhito could not bear a boy - but after 13 years of marriage, both are now in their 40s and have only a daughter, little Aiko, born with the help of IVF. Even the birth this year of a new son and heir to her sister-in-law Princess Kiko has done little to relieve Masako's stress - and has only postponed for a generation the vexed issue of changing the law to allow a woman to inherit the throne.
Inevitably, the strain of it all has had a terrible impact on Masako. She has been afflicted with painful shingles, and is suffering from deep depression - although the palace will not admit it. There has been talk of divorce, though no royal has ever divorced in Japan's history. Some say the prince is considering renouncing the throne for his love - leaving the crown to his brother. The Emperor is ailing with cancer, and the imperial system is in crisis.
This book draws on more than a year of research in Tokyo and rural Japan, Oxford, Harvard, Sydney and Melbourne. It involved more than 60 interviews with Australian, Japanese, American and English sources - Masako's and Naruhito's friends, teachers and former colleagues - many of whom have never spoken publicly before. It explores, for the first time, the 'Australian connection' with the royal couple. It includes intimate portraits of Masako and Naruhito from childhood to marriage and beyond; a look behind the 'Chrysanthemum Curtain' to the arcane world of the Japanese royal family, where vestal virgins still preside at Shinto rites and the position of royal stool inspector was only recently abolished. Through their love affair it opens a window on Japanese attitudes towards parenting, mental illness, the role of women, and the place of the monarchy.
Princess Masako asks and answers many questions which can never be raised in Japan because of the reverence in which the Emperor and his family are held. What is the real reason Masako had to abandon her studies at Oxford ? Why did Kunaicho, the powerful bureaucrats of the Imperial Household Agency, oppose the marriage ? Who are the shadowy figures who persuaded Masako to give up her career and marry the prince ? Why is there such secrecy over the couple's use of IVF, and Masako's mental illness ? What does the future hold for the star-crossed couple - and for the survival of the monarchy.
But above all it is the story of a romance gone wrong, an Oriental Charles and Diana story which neither will survive undamaged, but from which neither seems capable of escaping.
|
On February 13 2007 the Japanese Foreign Ministry called a Press conference
in Tokyo to denounce the book as "insulting to the Japanese people and the
Imperial family." They made no specific claims of factual inaccuracy, and
contented themselves with deeply inscrutable statements such as saying that
the book contains "..disrespectful descriptions, distortions of facts, and
judgemental assertions with audacious conjectures and coarse logic."
I stand by the accuracy of
the book, and have told the Japanese government that there will be no
apology. I reminded the representative of the Japanese Ambassador in
Australia, Hideaki Ueda, that this country is proud of its long tradition of
free speech, and will resist any attempt by government - particularly a
foreign government - to censor or suppress information to which its citizens
are entitled. As far as I am concerned, the only apology that is due is that the Imperial
Household Agency should get down on its knees and apologise to Princess
Masako for its treatment of her.
In November 2006 the Japanese publisher Kodansha had announced that it would publish the book in Japanese in Japan. However a few days after the government denounced the book they announced that they would not be going ahead with the publication. Fortunately in August 2007 a courageous publisher, Akira Kitagawa of Dai-san Shokan, defied threats from right-wing ultra-nationalists who picketed their offices and published an unexpurgated version of the book in Japanese. A full account, in Japanese, of Kodansha’s attempt to censor the book has been published by Dai-san Shokan as a companion volume.
|
|
|
