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Author Topic: Japanese Royal Family News and Events  (Read 40009 times)
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ChiaraC

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« Reply #15 on: June 17, 2012, 07:07:17 PM »

Crown Prince Naruhito will visit Thailand, Cambodia and Laos in the end of June, but without Masako  Sad
But Uganda seems more important imo, please correct me if I´m wrong.
I honestly have no clue. But would not the fact that no member of the imperial family has ever visited Africa before seem to indicate that the continent is politically not that important for Japan?

However that may be, I find it very interesting that the last time the crown prince visited Thailand was in 1994 whereas his brother has been there many times (mostly without his family) during the last 15 or 20 years. You know there was this scandal in 1996 when Akishino skipped a banquet for President Clinton in order to travel to Thailand, allegedly to attend there a festival dedicated to the rare giant catfish whom he specializes in.  Princess Kiko went to the Clinton dinner alone.
http://www.chron.com/CDA/...ip-banquet-for-clint.html
The weekly magazine Shukan Shincho later claimed that the prince was on "intimate" terms with a Thai woman and that this had been the reason why he had so urgently wanted to go to Thailand.
http://community.seattlet...19961201&slug=2362683
Akishino, not surprisingly, denied the allegations and said that "smoke has risen where there is no fire" - a way of expression that seems truly Freudian - everybody knows that where is smoke there is always fire.  Whistle Besides, the editor of Shukan Shincho said that he had "absolutely no intention of issuing a correction" and still believed the story to be true - which means a lot in Japan where the media are usually overly respectful towards the imperial family.

Maybe Akishino has finally gotten rid of his Thai mistress, so now his brother has to take over and visit Thailand...

Incidentally, the Akishinos today have come back home from Uganda.
http://www.houseofjapan.c...o-return-home-from-uganda

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Prince Akishino, the second son of Emperor Akihito, and his wife Princess Kiko returned home Sunday from a visit to Uganda [...] During the first official trip to Uganda by members of the Japanese imperial family, the prince attended a banquet Wednesday evening while paying a visit with his wife to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

The couple also visited a facility run by a Japanese nongovernmental organization supporting children who have lost their parents to AIDS and a wildlife education center during their weeklong visit to the country.
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ChiaraC

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« Reply #16 on: June 17, 2012, 07:16:13 PM »

Some more photos from the funeral

The first two rows at the funeral: Princess Mako, Princess Masako, Prince Naruhito, Princesses Yoko and Akiko (bowing), second row: Princess Takamado with her three daughters



Princess Takamado is the widow of Prince Tomohito´s younger brother - Prince and Princess Mikasa must have experienced a lot of suffering because of their sons. Their youngest, Prince Takamado, died of a sudden heart attack when he was but 47, the middle one, Prince Katsura, suffered a series of strokes at age 41 and has been paralyzed from the waist down ever since, and now the oldest has died, too, rather prematurely.  Sad

Prince and Princess Mikasa, Prince and Princess Hitachi at the funeral


Princess Mako at the funeral





The crown prince and princess with Princess Mako at the funeral



« Last Edit: June 17, 2012, 09:15:20 PM by ChiaraC » Logged
Miss Waynfleet

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« Reply #17 on: June 17, 2012, 07:20:25 PM »

I thought because Uganda has a lot of mineral deposits (especially oil) and gets in the focus of the industry nations.  Confused

__

Naruhito seems relaxed or is it just my impression?
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ChiaraC

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« Reply #18 on: June 17, 2012, 08:50:29 PM »

I thought because Uganda has a lot of mineral deposits (especially oil) and gets in the focus of the industry nations.  Confused
As I said, I really do not know. Maybe Uganda´s oil has become more important recently because in Japan there has been (for obvious reasons) more skepticism towards nuclear energy lately. (Although I hear that they have restarted two nuclear plants and Noda claims that the government can guarantee that people will be safe.  Roll Eyes Well, Noda will leave anyway in September - until then, there won´t probably be another catastrophe, and his successor will always be able to put the blame on Noda if anything happens... The whole thing is a mess.  Angry )

Naruhito seems relaxed or is it just my impression?
Well, usually he is grinning from ear to ear when his wife is at his side. In that case, he could hardly do that, but it may have resulted in him appearing relatively relaxed.
Besides, when Prince Takamado died, Naruhito was really hit hard as he lost a friend. But in Prince Tomohito´s case, it is not to be supposed that he is suffering very much. He probably feels for the daughters, but he allegedly hardly spoke to Prince Tomohito ever since the famous concubine proposal of the latter. (Although Prince Tomohito did not explicitly talk about the crown prince to take a concubine, it is clear that Naruhito would have been the obvious candidate.)
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ChiaraC

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« Reply #19 on: June 23, 2012, 07:11:52 PM »

Mr and Mrs Kuroda at the funeral of Prince Tomohito


Mrs Kuroda at the funeral


Prince and Princess Mikasa at the funeral



Funeral of Prince Takamado, Prince Tomohito´s younger brother, in 2002


Prince Takamado´s wife and his daughters, Princess Tsuguko (born 8 March 1986), Princess Noriko (born 22 July 1988), Princess Ayako (born 15 September 1990), with the crown prince and princess



Princess Takamado passed part of her childhood and youth in the UK and graduated from Girton College, Cambridge University in 1975 with undergraduate degrees in anthropology and archaeology.

Princess Takamado and her daughters, in the background: Prince and Princess Tomohito of Mikasa




The Takamado family


Prince and Princess Takamado at their wedding



Prince and Princess Takamado




Prince Takamado



Prince and Princess Takamado with tennis rackets



Prince and Princess Takamado with their daughters





Prince and Princess Takamado with their daughters - string quintet



Prince Takamado with his eldest daughter, Princess Tsuguko


Princess Tsuguko of Takamado



Princess Noriko of Takamado





Princess Takamado with her daughter Princess Noriko



Princess Ayako of Takamado

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Amina

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« Reply #20 on: June 23, 2012, 08:01:10 PM »

Crown Prince Naruhito will visit Thailand, Cambodia and Laos in the end of June, but without Masako  Sad
But Uganda seems more important imo, please correct me if I´m wrong.

That's a shame.  I guess even with her appearance at the funeral she is still not in good health.

I really hope that one day she gets better - really better and that she can tour abroad with Prince Naruhito again.  I would love to see her take up her royal duties full time.
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ChiaraC

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« Reply #21 on: June 23, 2012, 10:10:19 PM »

Although she attended the funeral, she did not welcome the crown prince and princess of Belgium along with her husband at the time which seems to indicate that she is still not absolutely well. And I suppose that, as long as she is unable to fulfill ALL of her duties within the country, she won´t be allowed to go abroad even if she could.

Still, I hope that the fact that she has been seen rather regularly lately, attending a lecture along with her husband, seeing off and welcoming her parents-in-law at the airport etc., indicates that she is gradually getting better. I think that one of the biggest problems is that, through her illness, she has lost some of her self confidence, maybe even her belief in who she is. She has always been described as someone with a high talent to communicate with all sorts of people and to work well even under pressure. She has been used to living under rather tough conditions from her early childhood, and I suppose that she always thought that she was born with the ability to deal with them and to get along well with people. When she finally found herself lacking those qualities that she must always have taken for granted, it must have come as an immense shock, like suddenly losing her memory or her ability to speak. How can you hope to regain qualities that you cannot remember to ever have actively acquired but that you always “just had” and never dreamt of losing?

I think that, on every official occasion, she is not only struggling with her illness but also with the weakening suspicion that she might fail. We all know from experience that if we doubt our ability to accomplish something, it in fact becomes much harder to do. This is why I do not find it so important for her to do very spectacular things like travelling abroad or welcoming foreign royals. It is absolutely o.k. if she does the smaller, easier things that do not gather that much attention. But it would be great if she regained the ability to do them regularly. If Princess Masako could come to feel herself always capable of doing these small things, it probably would give a big boost to her trust in herself.

On the other hand, it is kind of ironic and in a certain way very meaningful that the nation that has a special term for "death from overwork" has been gifted with a crown princess who is obliged by an illness to lead the sort of life that is judged as morally wrong ("lazy") by her countrymen. Of course, from a personal point of view, it is very desirable that she recover and live happily ever after with her family. But if her situation could serve to teach the nation compassion - compassion with themselves, with others, with their children who are obliged to take up a manager´s schedule if they want to attend a prestigious university - Masako´s gift to Japan might be more meaningful than that of any other empress before her - even if, God forbid, she should never get well again.
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