Revealing sacrifices of Japanese royal family

It seems a modern fairy tale: In 1993, Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan finally married the love of his life, a woman he’d been pining for for seven years. Masako Owada, a scholar and aspiring diplomat, was a Harvard graduate, speaker of six languages, tall, athletic — just the kind of princess, it seemed, to shake up the stodgy reputation of the world’s oldest monarchy.

But in reality, the marriage came at great sacrifice for Masako. She was instantly plunged into an archaic world of formality and ritual, forced to endure a 24-hour routine of scrutiny in both public and private.

She has no assets and no occupation, and is allowed to do nothing that might even hint at controversy. Her name was even stricken from her family records — officially, she has ceased to exist outside her husband’s world.

Why would such an archetypical woman of the 20th century do such a thing? There is no doubt that there is affection between the couple, and perhaps each hoped they would be able to transform the antiquated institution from the inside out. However, the evidence suggests that the institution is winning — sapping the spirit, personality, health and perhaps the very life of this once-vibrant woman.

Such is the verdict of Australian journalist Ben Hills’ biography, banned in Japan for, among other things, “disrespect.” Although Hills makes many assumptions about events taking place behind closed doors, these assumptions seem sadly logical.

Addressing factors as varied as sexism, media sensationalism, the stigma attached to infertility and mental illness, and Japan’s cultural obsession with appearances, he puts forth the case that this Japanese monarchy’s refusal to truly adapt with the changing times is an anachronism at best, and at worst, a tragic violation of basic human rights.