| Sports |
by CHISA
FUJIOKA
Japan’s empress known for grace under pressure
TOKYO: Raising kids, cooking meals
and chatting to ordinary people – Empress Michiko’s sweeping
changes to Japan’s ultra-conservative imperial family has made her
an endearing figure to the masses. But for Michiko, 72, who
shattered tradition to become the first commoner to marry an heir
to the throne in 1959, royal life has been anything but a fairy
tale.
Struggling to adapt to demands of stuffy court officials, she has
suffered on and off from stress-related illnesses – a fate
mirrored by her daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Masako, who has
been unable to perform public duties in recent years. Michiko fell
ill to symptoms of intestinal bleeding as recently as March, and
recovered only shortly before setting off for a 10-day tour of
Europe with Emperor Akihito on May 21.
Michiko met the then-crown prince at a tennis tournament and their
marriage, widely portrayed as a love-match, created expectations
that the elegant and vibrant young woman would modernise the
court, long shrouded in a veil of secrecy. She did, in many
respects.
The daughter of a wealthy industrialist, Michiko won popular
acclaim when she chose to raise her two sons and daughter herself,
even making them packed lunches to take to school. Previously,
royal children had been raised by wet nurses and royal caretakers.
But the images of happy family life were overshadowed by news of
ill health, rumoured to have been triggered by bullying from the
courtiers who run the lives of the imperial family as well as from
her imperial mother-in-law. In one oft-told tale, Michiko was
scolded by royal staff when she rolled down the window of her car
to give photographers a better view of her first newborn son in
her arms.
The little prince could have caught a cold, courtiers fumed. Such
demands in the early years of her marriage drove Michiko to the
brink of a nervous breakdown.
“The empress suffered immensely. Even when she was bullied, she
said not one word and concentrated on raising her three children,”
Midori Watanabe, a royal expert and author, said. “She overcame
those tough times with her strong spirit.”
Michiko continued to suffer even after Akihito became emperor in
1989. She collapsed and temporarily lost the ability to speak in
1993, a reaction attributed by some to negative tabloid reports
about her. She was also forced to cancel official duties briefly
in 2006 after suffering dizzy spells.
Michiko’s woes are often compared to those of Masako, wife of
Crown Prince Naruhito. Masako, a Harvard-educated former diplomat,
suffers from a stress-induced mental illness and has been taking a
break from most of her royal duties for more than three years.
The illness has been blamed by royal watchers on pressure to bear
a male heir as well as restrictions that have kept Masako from
mobilising her diplomatic skills as a sort of “royal envoy”.
Masako has one child, five-year-old Princess Aiko, who cannot
inherit the throne under Japan’s males-only succession law.
Masako, who spent part of her childhood abroad, is said to have
had serious worries about marrying into the royal family. She
agreed to tie the knot only after the prince promised to protect
her “with all his might” from the demands of palace life. Many
Japanese sympathise with Masako, whose plight they say is a sign
the royal family needs to change with the times and respect
individualism over tradition.
Masako is said to have been kept by court officials from
travelling overseas often. Even a holiday last summer in the
Netherlands, apparently aimed at helping her recover, came under
criticism in some media.
In her own quiet way, Michiko has brought change. Images of her
kneeling and embracing victims of the 1995 Kobe earthquake at a
shelter – a radical change in a country where the emperor was
considered divine until the end of World War Two – made a deep
impression on many Japanese.
“Empress Michiko has been able to do so much, despite the cold
environment she’s been in,” Tomoko Inukai, a private social
commentator, said. “Even those who were critical of her in the
past, look at her now and think highly of her.” – Reuters
 
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