"Turn of Sympathy" for Crown Princess Masako

[wendy]

This link is for a Times article concerning Crown Princess Masako: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5010291.ece


I understand that official duties must be tiresome. I also understand that there is a big difference in the stress level of a social outing to a restaurant or to see her daughter at school and the stress level of a royal function. I wish the article's author had made that point.

However, it seems rather troubling for the Crown Princess to agree to attend a dinner for the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall but not to do the same thing for Swedish royals the following month. The article isn't clear on what the Swedish function will specifically be. If it's a state dinner I can understand why she wouldn't attend it. The function for the British royals is referred to as a dinner party - which might not be too intense a situation.

And now they're talking about giving her the boot - via divorce - because she's basically not meeting the team requirements!

Any comments on this subject?

[King Sargon]

Oct 25, 2008 11:52:24 GMT wendy said:

This link is for a Times article concerning Crown Princess Masako: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5010291.ece


I understand that official duties must be tiresome. I also understand that there is a big difference in the stress level of a social outing to a restaurant or to see her daughter at school and the stress level of a royal function. I wish the article's author had made that point.

However, it seems rather troubling for the Crown Princess to agree to attend a dinner for the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall but not to do the same thing for Swedish royals the following month. The article isn't clear on what the Swedish function will specifically be. If it's a state dinner I can understand why she wouldn't attend it. The function for the British royals is referred to as a dinner party - which might not be too intense a situation.

And now they're talking about giving her the boot - via divorce - because she's basically not meeting the team requirements!

Any comments on this subject?

I had read somewhere that she was slowly recovering? Haven't heard anything about a divorce though. They'd have to get the Crown Prince to agree to that, and as far as I know, he's pretty protective of her.


King Sargon

[vittoria]

I think it must be remembered that Masako Owada wasn't enthusiastic about marrying into the royal family in the first place. As I recall, she turned down her husband's proposals at least twice and was eventually pressured to accept. Out of "duty."

The Imperial Household Agency's notion of "duty" is highly anachronistic in this day and age and especially demeaning to women. It involves submitting to utter control, including accepting that your every public utterance will be scripted or not made at all. This may be a minor point, but I've been disturbed by the fact that Masako has been made to dress like something out of a 50-year-old manual for proper royal clothing. As soon as I saw her in the appalling yellow affair and matching hat at which she gave her first press conference, I knew that she'd been corralled, roped, and branded. The courtiers of the IHA are living in another era, whereas the princess, however respectful of Japanese tradition she may be (and I understand that she IS rather traditional) was largely raised and educated abroad. The IHA missed the boat where she was concerned; they had an opportunity to use the princess, her education and intelligence, in an entirely positive way, to Japan's benefit. Instead they sequestered her and demanded that she should devote all her time and attention to producing a male heir.

She may or may not be suffering from a clinical illness, but it is certain that she has rebelled and said, "Enough." And I don't blame her. When you are told, after years of working to achieve intellectually and professionally, that your sole value resides in whether your womb can produce a male child, that you cannot use your brain on behalf of your country in any way, that your only child, a daughter, isn't an acceptable heir to the throne, what possible incentive do you have to continue to support the institution that is oppressing you? The Japanese may be losing sympathy for the princess, but they must ask themselves whether their own attitudes are responsible for creating this situation. I believe they are.

[paulchen]

Why oh why does history keep repeating itself? Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Diana Princess of Wales and now Crown Princess Masako of Japan.

[vittoria]

Paulchen, Elisabeth of Austria and Diana were quite different from Princess Masako. I won't go into the historical issues involving Elisabeth -- although she was, indeed, an extremely interesting figure, worthy of her own thread here. Diana, on the other hand, wasn't remotely comparable to Masako. She was a vastly -- indeed, scarily -- undereducated girl who couldn't pass any exams or qualify for any serious jobs. She waited around in London for marriage, working as a part-time nursery school aide and nanny, while Masako Owada was a Harvard graduate with some study at Oxford and the prestigious University of Tokyo under her belt, plus professional experience at the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

To compare Princess Masako with Diana is an insult to the former, in my opinion, and it ignores the unique historical and cultural situations in Japan and the U.K.

[briar69rose]

Well... good thing I wasnt over in Japan trying to fullfill some royalness because they would have thrown me out of the country long time ago because I couldnt have put up with all that crazyness, thats okay I'll just stay over here in the U.S where they do put up with us crazy half breeds......

[paulchen]

Sorry Vittoria, but all three women [Elisabeth, Diana and Masako] were handed over to the equivalent of "Men in grey suits" and a world they couldn't/can't handle and have ended up fighting against it. The fact that these Royal Families hand over inexperienced girls for grooming into archaic ways is indeed history repeating itself.

[paulchen]

Having said the above, I just wonder how the Courts of The Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia appear to do it so much better?

[briar69rose]

I think this gerneration of people is whole different breed in my opinion to stay married is a challenge in itself no matter what walk of life you marry into.....

[briar69rose]

In the line of the Samari, if they didnt like someone they would just chop their heads off with the sword.....