Masako, Crown Princess of Japan
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Princess Masako with her daughter Aiko
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Early life
Masako was born as Masako Owada, the eldest daughter of Hisashi Owada, a senior diplomat. Masako traveled the world with her parents from early childhood. She attended kindergarten in Moscow, Russia, Denenchofu Futaba Elementary School in Tokyo, Japan and graduated Belmont High School in Belmont, Massachusetts, near Boston, where she achieved a perfect 4.0 grade point average and was also President of the National Honor Society.
In 1985, she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in economics. From 1988 to 1990, she read for a postgraduate degree in International Relations at Balliol College, Oxford University.
Fluent in English, she was hired by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she met many world leaders such as U.S. president Bill Clinton and Russian president Boris Yeltsin. She also took part as a translator in negotiations with the United States concerning superconductors.
Marriage and Family
Masako Owada famously refused Naruhito's royal marriage proposal twice before finally agreeing. The Imperial Palace announced the engagement on January 19, 1993.
Prior to the wedding she was required to undergo a fertility examination to ensure that she could safely deliver an heir to the throne. She also signed a prenuptial agreement, that limited her claims to the royal family assets as well as her own children in the event of a divorce.
The wedding took place on June 9, 1993, and Masako was instructed on the finer points of life at the Imperial Court, which is dominated by the powerful and highly conservative Imperial Household Agency.
The Crown Prince and Crown Princess produced one child after 8 years of marriage. Her Imperial Highness The Princess Aiko was born on December 1, 2001.
Controversy
Masako suffered three miscarriages, the last on New Year's Eve 1999. Her daughter's birth stimulated intense and ongoing public debate on changing Japan's Imperial Household Law so that females can ascend to the throne. Lack of a male heir is concerning for royal watchers and the Imperial household and Imperial Household Agency. It has been widely speculated that the immense pressure to produce a male heir has put great stress on the Crown Princess. This had led to ongoing discussion of the Japanese Imperial succession controversy.
The Prince has made pointed and controversial comments about discourtesies and pressures placed upon his wife by the Imperial Household Agency. It was announced that the Crown Princess experienced a bout of shingles, and she herself released a rare statement that she was suffering from "fatigue." Rumors linger that the Crown Princess suffered a nervous breakdown.
After more than two years absent, she announced December 9, 2004, that she hoped to return to her official duties. Doctors blamed her absence on "stress-induced illness."
International media coverage of Masako's difficulties has tended to frame her as a symbol of challenges faced by Japanese women in a patriarchial society. Within Japan, Masako's decision to marry the Crown Prince is seen as an informed one that also included a decision to forego her career, as the orthodoxy of life inside the Japanese Imperial household is widely known.
External links
| Styles of The Crown Princess of Japan | |
|---|---|
| Reference style | Her Imperial Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Imperial Highness |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
- [Kunaicho | Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako]
- [Hello! Magazine | Japan's Masako]
- [Who2 profile]
- [Profile at kjeld.com | Crown Princess Masako]
- [CBS News | Japan's Crown Princess Crumbles]
- [BBC News | Princess trapped by palace guard]
- [BBC News | News archive]
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