Naruhito Crown Prince of Japan: Encyclopedia II - Naruhito Crown Prince of Japan - Marriage and family

Naruhito Crown Prince of Japan - Marriage and family

On June 9, 1991, The Crown Prince of Japan and Masako Owada were married at the Imperial Shinto Hall in Tokyo before 2,500 invited guests and an estimated media audience of 500 million people around the world. All of Europe's crowned heads attended. So, too, did most of Europe's elected heads of state, with the notable exceptions of Karamanlis of Greece, who declined to go because Greece's exiled King, Constantine II, a personal friend of the Imperial Family, had been described in his invitation as "His Majesty The King of The Hellenes" (the technically correct description of an exiled monarch who hadn't abdicated), which infuriated Greek republicans.

By marriage to the heir-apparent, Masako Owada received both a title (Crown Princess of Japan) and the style of "Her Imperial Highness". She is popularly known as Princess Masako, although this form of address is technically incorrect. The couple make their home in the Kuyojo Palace, on the Imperial compound in Tokyo. Almost immediately, the Crown Princess became a star attraction, chased by the paparazzi, her every move (including every change in hairstyle) closely followed by millions.

However, the marriage soon hit the proverbial rocks. Critics of the Crown Princess alleged that she was unstable and temperamental; one by one she sacked each of the Prince's longstanding staff members and fell out with numerous friends (her father, mother, sister, her own staff — who quit after baseless arguments). The Crown Prince, too, was blamed for the marital troubles. Within five years of the wedding, the fairytale marriage was already on the brink of collapse. Ironically, the Crown Prince and Princess were similar in some respects: Both had had troubled childhoods. Both took their public roles seriously and devoted much of their time to charity work, becoming highly regarded for it. (The Princess notably devoted much time to helping cancer sufferers, while The Prince devoted much effort to marginalised groups in urban centres through his Hiro's Choice charity).

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess have one child, HIH Aiko (her official title is Toshi no Miya, or Princess Toshi), born on December 1, 2001. The child's birth, which occurred more than eight years after her parents' marriage, has sparked lively debate in Japan about whether laws of succession should be changed to male-preference primogeniture or even equal primogeniture, that is, to allow a woman to inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne. There is ongoing discussion of the Japanese Imperial succession controversy.

On January 24, 2005 the Japanese government announced that they would consider allowing the Crown Prince and Crown Princess to adopt a male child, in order to avoid the possible heir crisis (adoption is an age-old imperial Japanese tradition, outlawed only in modern times). The child would be adopted from former royal descendants whose branches lost imperial titles after World War II. However, a government-appointed panel of experts submitted a report on October 25, 2005, recommending that the Imperial succession law be amended to permit equal primogeniture. On January 20, 2006, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi used part of his annual keynote speech to adress the controversy when he pledged to submit a bill to the Diet letting women ascend to the throne in order that the imperial throne be continued into the future in a stable manner. Koizumi did not announce a timing for the legislation to be introduced nor did he provide details about the content but he did note that it would be in line with the conclusions of the 2005 government panel.[1]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Marriage and family", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki