Japanese Royals News

[anastasia beaverhausen]

The pictures are so awkward, their fashion style so different from ours (or the jap. fashionistas on the net), the only sign of life outside this strange stage-setting is the cute little necktie of the doggie.

I agree - it makes me so sad to see individuality stamped out like that on these kids.

Happy birthday to Aiko!

The photo with the puzzle actually makes me a bit angry - Aiko isn’t three years old after all.  I'm also sorry that Masako isn't here. 

She isn’t three - nor is she fifty (like the way they have her dressed).

This is a very strange monarchy.

[thecrownjewelthief]

The pictures are so awkward, their fashion style so different from ours (or the jap. fashionistas on the net), the only sign of life outside this strange stage-setting is the cute little necktie of the doggie.

I agree - it makes me so sad to see individuality stamped out like that on these kids.

Happy birthday to Aiko!

The photo with the puzzle actually makes me a bit angry - Aiko isn’t three years old after all.  I'm also sorry that Masako isn't here. 

Maybe it’s a hobby of hers and they’re trying to show that? I’m 30 and I love doing puzzles because it’s super relaxing for me (which my 70 year relatives who also love puzzles get a kick out of). I wish Masako was there as well.

[Lady Mellie]

I love puzzles too but this one is the kind you can find in primary schools.

About Masako, it's strange but sadly usual.

The photo set for Aiko's 15th birthday :
https://mainichi.jp/engli...201/hpe/00m/0na/001000g/1

16th birthday :
https://japan-forward.com...16-steps-up-royal-duties/

17th birthday :
https://www.asahi.com/art...oto/AS20181130005292.html

No Masako... 

[Royaltyfan]

Is the half-fringe a thing in Japan? Her cousin has that strange fringe as well 

[wallflower]

I'm wondering how young members of the family dress in private.  From what I've seen their fashion choices seem very outdated. 

[cordtx]

OK so these pictures look strange from most European/American point of view.
 But do any posters understand the Japanese cultural reason the royals are expected to produce babyish pictures with the cardboard background and a baby puzzle and no mom in the pictures ? Like, does this make sense culturally ( sorry if that offends, cant think of a better work) or what would be expected by the JRF?
Would the boy that’s in line for the Emperor also be expected to take similar looking pics?
Also I understand it’s 2 completely different families/countries but compare Amalia of NZ 16th pics-quite a difference

[Athena]

To me the pictures look happy, dignified, serene.

Different cultures have different traditions and expectations.

[Chandrasekhi]

Happy belated birthday to Aiko.    Formulaic photos with props. If it keeps the grey men happy and allows Aiko to get on with her life, why not?!  Her cousins dress fashionably but conservatively. Classic, elegant fashion to look forward to in Aiko's future. To what extent will the Emperor be able to loosen the stranglehold of the IHA  on its imperial family?

[AutumnOpal]

OK so these pictures look strange from most European/American point of view.
 But do any posters understand the Japanese cultural reason the royals are expected to produce babyish pictures with the cardboard background and a baby puzzle and no mom in the pictures ? Like, does this make sense culturally ( sorry if that offends, cant think of a better work) or what would be expected by the JRF?
Would the boy that’s in line for the Emperor also be expected to take similar looking pics?
Also I understand it’s 2 completely different families/countries but compare Amalia of NZ 16th pics-quite a difference

These latest birthday pictures are very typical of what the Imperial Family releases for all birthdays and I'm sure they look that way simply because they have for decades.
I'm surprised but not shocked that Masako isn't in the picture-it's been that way before, maybe they're trying to show a special relationship between father and daughter. And the puzzle represents that she's studying Africa.
Yes Prince Hisahito has had similar pictures taken, but they've also had some informal photos taken outside, one of him and his father with bug nets comes to mind.

[Principessa]

December 1
Japanese Princess Aiko celebrates her 18th Birthday.
Aiko was born on 1 December 2001 in the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo Imperial Palace. On the occasion of the birthday, the Imperial Household Agency released Princess Aiko's new photos. The princess, who is in the third year at Gakushin Girls’ Senior High School in Tokyo, plans to enter a university next spring. According to the Imperial Household Agency, the princess is enjoying her last year at the high school, playing active roles in sports and cultural festivals while studying steadily.

18 already, time flies. Still remember those pictures in NL of a shy little Aiko together with over enthusiastic little Amalia ( who turned 16 on December 7)

[Amina]

The pictures are so awkward, their fashion style so different from ours (or the jap. fashionistas on the net), the only sign of life outside this strange stage-setting is the cute little necktie of the doggie.

The Japanese royals fashion and demeanor always seems so awkward to me. No individuality at all. I don't really know much about the family but I read that much of it is due to the Imperial Household Agency. I can't understand how they have so much power over the Emperor who is their boss?

Happy birthday to a wonderful young lady!

Agreed - unless things change they will always be prisoners imo.  Aiko is lucky in that once she marries, she can be free - thank goodness.

The Imperial Family are forced into an artificial and staged world.  Sad...

[dwi]

the young girls and masako dress like old ladies. it's like they have old lady uniforms.

[Lady Mellie]

  The Imperial Household has announced that Empress Emerita Michiko of Japan has been in poor health since September.

https://www.japantimes.co...mperial-household-agency/
https://www.nippon.com/en...vomited-blood-agency.html

[Kristallinchen]

The Imperial Household has announced that Empress Emerita Michiko of Japan has been in poor health since September.

https://www.japantimes.co...mperial-household-agency/
https://www.nippon.com/en...vomited-blood-agency.html

Hopefully she'll get better soon. I wish her all the best.

[Oh_Caroline]

I don't like the fact that they're putting the vomiting and weight loss down to "psychological stress" and not her cancer and it's treatment.  Now of course someone battling cancer would be stressed but given her own history when crown princess, and that of her daughter-in-law, I'm getting huge red flags.  She certainly shouldn't have faced stress as crown princess but it's even more inexcusable that she's facing it again in her 80s as the Empress Emerita.