The Empire Strikes Back

Japan’s Imperial Household, an institution usually notable for its icy reserve, has launched a furious attack on the Australian author of a book about Emperor Akihito and his family, denouncing it as irresponsible, distorted, coarse, audacious and contemptuous of the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy.

In an unprecedented reaction to a book published overseas, both the Japanese ambassador to Canberra and the Grand Chamberlain to Emperor Akihito have written to its author, Ben Hills, and his publisher, Random House Australia. Speaking on behalf of the Japanese government, the ambassador, Hideaki Ueda, demands an apology for the book, ‘Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne’.

“The book . . . contains irresponsible citations of rumours, press reports, comments of self-proclaimed insiders and other sources, which comprise unfounded and highly contemptuous descriptions of the appearances, activities and speeches of Their Majesties,” he writes.

“[It also contains] disrespectful descriptions, distortions of facts, and judgmental assertions with audacious conjectures and coarse logic, pertaining to the birth of Her Imperial Highness Princess Aiko and the physical conditions of Her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess [Masako].”

The book is a biography of the former Masako Owada, who abandoned a promising career as a diplomat in Japan’s foreign ministry, to marry Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993. At the time she was compared to Princess Diana, and many people hoped that she would bring change to the Imperial Household Agency, the deeply conservative government ministry which runs the lives of Akihito and his immediate family.

In the opposite happened. As The Times was the fist to reveal in 2004, Masako has been treated for depression after suffering a nervous breakdown the year before. Few verifiable details of her illness are known outside the inner circle of courtiers and doctors. But it seems likely that her condition has been worsened by the isolation in which she lives within her official residence, the Togu Detached Palace, and the intense pressure on her to produce a male heir.

After a miscarriage – and, according to palace observers, a course of fertility treatment – she gave birth to a daughter, Princess Aiko, at the age of 38 in 2001. The Chrysanthemum Throne was facing a succession crisis until the Emperor’s younger son, Prince Akishino, had a baby boy last year – Prince Hisahito, the first son born into the family in 40 years.

Few Japanese journalists, and no foreigners, have direct access to members of the Imperial Family; even the officials of the Imperial Household Agency, are notoriously secretive, excluding foreign journalists from briefings which are open only to a tame “reporters’ club”. Privately, its members admit that they would be expelled from the club if they wrote anything embarrassing to the Imperial Household Agency.

The further threat of violence from right wing ultra-nationalists ensures that nothing remotely critical ever makes in into mainstream press. As result, Mr Hills book, like all investigative journalism on the subject, relies to a large extent on unnamed or unidentified sources.

It is an unrelentingly negative account of the Imperial institution, which is portrayed as an absurdly anachronistic, sexist and bloodless institution, which elevates ritual, superstition and hierarchy over the happiness of the members of the family. The marriage of Naruhito and Masako, he writes, is “a romance gone wrong, a young couple crushed by forces over which they have no control, a marriage which neither will survive undamaged, but from which neither seems capable of escaping”.

The book contains no significant new revelations, but tells the story of the couple’s courtship, wedding and the difficulties of their marriage, including Masako’s depression. It also recounts, as wild rumours, stories about the conception of Aiko, including speculation that the Crown Prince is infertile, and the child was conceived from the seed of his father or younger brother.

Ambassador Ueda gives no examples in his letter but it seems to be these “coarse”, and wholly unsupported tales, that seem to have most upset the Imperial Household Agency. The letter from Grand Chamberlain, Makoto Watanabe, rejects Mr Hills’ contention that the public appearances of the Emperor and Empress are meaningless formalities, with a lengthy account of their work with the physically and mentally handicapped and with lepers.

“I completely reject their attempt to intimidate me and I completely reject that there is anything inaccurate or any lies in the book,” Mr Hills said yesterday in Sydney. “The only person who deserves an apology is Princess Masako. They were bullying her. They caused her mental illness. The real reason [for the complaint] is that they don't want it to be published in Japanese.”

Comments

[C.J. Creighton]

This was on the TV news last night and the first thing my wife said was "I want that book!"
Thanks to publicity Mr. Hill will reap fabulous sales and thanks to Amazon many of those will be in Japan.
Banzai!

The strange orchestrated press conferences held by Masako and the Crown Prince concerning her condition and the semi public bickering between him and his brother make me wonder what kind of awful life do they all have? I also wonder how and why the IHA has the ability to keep them all in line?
Generally the press coverage is lame. Western media harps on about 'when / how / if the Japanese Royal family will change / modernize' and the Japanese press provides sheets and sheets of fawning coverage. No one asks what purpose do the Royals serve?
For one thing every time there is some kind of national crisis of confidence here one of the Royals obliges with a baby or a wedding or something that keeps everyone distracted until those that are pulling the strings get their act together.

[Mark Robinson]

Haven't read it, but this book is one piece of "investigative journalism" I view rather sceptically. In the mid '90s when I was deputy editor of Tokyo Journal magazine we lodged a complaint with the Sydney Morning Herald over a long Ben Hills article on the rightist Sasakawa. Hills' piece contained substantial plagiarised portions from a feature story by one of our writers, Andrew Marshall. Interesting now to hear the author whining about his unethical treatment at the hands of the Japanese authorities and Kodansha.

[Cultural Snow]

Is it better to make such a public complaint, or to follow the example of the Thai authorities when Paul Handley's 'The King Never Smiles' was published, and pretend it never happened?

[Peter Durfee]

It's worth taking a look at this mail from a journalist in Japan who says he was misquoted by Ben Hills in what sounds like a flawed book:

http://www.debito.org/index.php/?p=111

[Nicholas Klar]

I have been following this book and some of Mr. Hill's writing for a little while. Let's face it, the reviews have been quite underwhelming. So have sales - until now. Of course Mr. Hills will continue to defend his position. What author wouldn't? It's all about sales.

However he did also state, and I would agree with him, that, "It's the Emperor Household Agency that should be apologising to Princess Masako for destroying her health. It's absolutely appalling what they have done."

[lacadutadegiganti]

"It's the Emperor Household Agency that should be apologising to Princess Masako for destroying her health. It's absolutely appalling what they have done."

Though perhaps somewhat less appalling than what Masako's grand-daddy's company, Chisso, did to the Minamata victims. A silver-spoon girl's apparent depression certainly doesn't compare with having one's bones spontaneously break (the origin of the "itai itai" nickname for the symptoms caused by Chisso's mercury dumping).

Hills talks about Masako's having not gotten involved in any sort of advocacy campaigns. Perhaps she could champion the ongoing plight of the Minamata victims, no? They are, after all, part of the Owada family legacy, a legacy equal to that of the Mengele family.

[Firozali A.Mulla MBA PhD]

The Empire Strikes Back
Richard.
I do not know why people get so upset about the facts that the newspapers or the magazines or the books come with. These are not the Poetry books that some one sits isolated in the boat under the dipping sun and thinks of the loved and writes up few lines.
What you have stated are the facts. Let me explain you may check this. The king who abdicated for the love. Is this book banned in UK? No? Why? It tells about the love and reality. There is a book on Aga Khan, the Aga Kahn who has the pictures of marriage with Rita Heyworth, Prince Karīm al-Hussainī became the present Aga Khan IV upon assuming the Imamat of the Nizari Ismailis on July 11, 1957 at the age of 20, succeeding his grandfather, Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan (Aga Khan III). His father, Prince Aly Khan, was a high-profile celebrity in the mid 20th century owing to his relationships with Hollywood stars, including a marriage to Rita Hayworth.[1]. This is a religious book for us. But do we scream. This is the reality. The more people will burn the books or shout; more curious I become ands request the Amazon to send me one by DHL to know what the commotion is. We are social animals full or curiosity and go where all go. What is the fuss?

[Nicholas Klar]

Lacadutadegigant, you can hear the axes grinding as you write (on this blog and others).

1) How many generations have to pass before family members can be forgiven the crimes of their ancestors?

2) Is Masako in a position where she can do ANY campaigning on this or any other meaningful cause? No. And that's what goes to the heart of her treatment by the royal court.

May I suggest that The Guardian start an appeal for wood on your behalf? That way you can build a bridge and get over it.

You support a worthy cause but your energies could be better directed.

[lacadutadegiganti]

You certainly know your way around a hackneyed metaphor, Mr. Klar. "Axes and bridges" indeed; you've got the making of a good folk song there - get to work!

No, if I had some "wood" (perhaps a bit of maple and spruce), I'd build a tiny, tiny violin for dear old beleagured Masako.