Japan's Imperial Family: Its Role And Meaning In Modern Japan

Contemporary Review, Sept, 1999 by Raymond Lamont-Brown

Events prompted one Minoru Hamao, an erstwhile Imperial Chamberlain to comment publicly: 'The media have generally been too soft on the Imperial Family. Now they are being plain nasty. This is not a good trend.'

Recently the press have changed track and following the enormous public interest in the marriage of the Crown Prince and Princess have turned their attention to Masako Owada who gave up a great deal to become Crown Princess. The subtleties of her position can be pieced together by looking at how foreign commentators view the situation.

The international perception of Emperor Akihito and his family is an amalgam of confusion, puzzlement, misconception and unrecognition. Writing in 1998, on the occasion of the visit to Britain by the Emperor and Empress, a former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of St James wrote: 'Another misconception about the Imperial Family, that of the "captives in the chrysanthemum cage", alleges that taboos, restrictions and deliberate policy have stunted and stifled their individuality and left them languishing listlessly in the ratified milieu of the Palace. That this is completely false can be grasped immediately by observing the real living persons of the actual family. Far from being recluses, members of the family are responsible personages immensely active not only in official duties of their own or in support of the Emperor and Empress but also in their particular chosen fields.'

This statement is true as far as it goes, but it is still a gloss over a very restrictive life. For instance Crown Princess Masako, on marriage, entered 'a life of stifling Victorian values for a brave modern woman' said one international correspondent. Princess Masako, a former diplomat of definite, strongly voiced opinions and a taste for the racy social life in America', sacrificed great personal liberties to become Crown Princess. Movement in public for her is strictly circumscribed by the Imperial Household Agency as are her public utterances. Public statements on such things as the environment, architecture and society - as well as off-the-cuff comments by the British Royal Family are looked upon with incredulity by the Japanese public, horror by the court, and blank disbelief by the Gaimusho.

The Crown Prince and Princess have increasingly become a prey of Japanese magazines who wish to break royal protocol. The non-appearance of a male heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne is a main source of comment and might just escalate into more public assessments of the role and relevance of the Imperial Family in modern Japan.

When he came to the throne Emperor Akihito expressed the desire to try to de-mystify his position and set himself up as a constitutional monarch in a 'real world'. Since the death of his father there has been an erosion of protocol but observers dismiss this as only small democratic touches. Now the Emperor's motorcade stops at traffic lights, and he has allowed direct-line telephones to be used at the Kyujo. Commentators dismiss these as trivial and may be correct. It would seem that if Emperor Akihito wishes to fulfil his wishes expressed at his accession then he must not fiddle with minor protocol but reconstruct his Imperial Household Agency with its ossified structure of old aristocrats; that way he can begin to build the first steps to redefining his wished for role for the twenty-first century.