Japanese tabloids make hay of royal family foibles

and good job too. Aiko is an overly spoiled little girl who has every whim pandered for. She would have made a lousy empress.

The best thing her parents could have done for her was to raise her in as normal as life as possible. But they didnt, and as a result she is a bit of a brat.

We are for the masses. They don’t want a lot of intellectualizing.

Well said. Very true.

Actually, it’s not quite no holds barred.

Actually, the reporting in the tabloid media only surfaces sporadically. The problem is that there simply isn't much to report, since Japan's royals are on such a short leash they have few opportunities for mischief. I remember a story a few year's back when, at the moment one of the imperial princes posed for a photo of a group of reporters at a Seoul hotel, one of the journalists farted loudly, and the prince became indignant. The reporter was praised by some of his peers for his "gallant" effort to get a smile out of his highness.

Nobody in any country's royal family has a chance of coming out normal or unscathed. What a pitiful life.

I think its hilarious that the Royal family here are feeling hard done by by the press. My God, they should get a taste of what the British royals are subjected to and then she how they feel! Harry Pothead??! Queen Mother found alive and well (with an accompanying picture of Yoda in a lavender two piece, hat and brooch)?!

Royalty deserves what they get from the tabloids. They are living extremely wealthy off the backs of real workers. The least they could do is allow the downtrodden tax payers to poke fun at them.

People who read the tabloids are pretty foolish anyway, so who cares what they write?

"Rarely are the men—and especially the emperor—portrayed in as harsh a light as the women who marry them, though indirect and usually carefully couched criticisms pop up every now and then."

That's the problem -- they're not truly 'making hay' of the Imperial Family foibles, they're specifically targeting certain members based on outdated expectations. Princess Masako still has no son?!? EGADS! Doesn't Japan know that the gender is determined via the sperm, and isn't a "woman's fault"?

Princess Masako still has no son?!? EGADS! Doesn't Japan know that the gender is determined via the sperm, and isn't a "woman's fault"?

That`s the best bit of all! I am still waiting for them to announce her public beheading for failure to produce a male heir a la Henry VIII

Great gene pool. Most handsome men in the country.

notice princess masako is not too depressed to attend events in europe but always excuses herself from events with africa, s.e. asia, etc. what an embarressment.

Royalty is handled with kid gloves in Japan. If you write something about Japan's royal family that right wing fanatics object to, your house and work place will be visited by big black trucks blaring idiotic slogans all day. The police may or may not come and watch, but they will do nothing to protect you, your spouse, your children, your neighbors or colleagues. You will instantly become persona non grata.

I love the Japanese imperial family. Finest people on earth.

Hope they never have the misfortune to read the horrible comments made about them by foreigners who have no concept of respect.

They argue that the public has a right to know the royal family better than the largely uncritical, one-dimensional picture in the mainstream media.

I agree with this point. While hard working people's tax money goes to fuel the extravagant and mostly lazy lifestyles these select few have, they ought to be under the most scruitiny of all. Same goes for all Monarchies, especially the British one.

I'd prefer to see them gone and their money gone to help the hobo's around Ueno Koen for example.

@mrsynik -

I'd prefer to see them gone and their money gone to help the hobo's around Ueno Koen for example. From my reading of the constitution - all it would take is an act of parliament to disband the monarchy in Japan.

Hope they never have the misfortune to read the horrible comments made about them by foreigners who have no concept of respect.

Virtually zero foreigners care. The Japanese are the people spewing bile and creating gossip about the Japanese "royal" family...

The Russians, French and Chinese had it right as far as the born into privilege goes.

I wish the tabloids didn't only pick on the non-royal born women who marry into family. East targets I guess. But I also wish that the women weren't so thin-skinned that they would be laid low by a bit of annoying media scrutiny. I suppose what hit Masako hard was the way she was treated by the Kunaicho bureaucrats. What would really be nice if someone inside that family (like Masako) would just rebel a little and decide he/she was going to live the way they wanted to. What would happen? Would she be physically restrained if she tried to just go out to a konbini or get a drink at a bar?

Is the quality of creative writing so undervalued that a subject such as this one would even come to light? What logic dictates the abuse of any category? Royal or not, this is unnecessary. "The Russians, French and Chinese had it right as far as the born into privilege goes."I agree to disagree, but I will do so politely. This is not justice. The decisions of those involved with the murders of these categories of people was not right. It was not even clear or clever. Any one person should not be judged, much less murdered, by those bigoted enough to want them "dealt with." This is not justice. I asked a brave man something once. I had asked a question on how are the rich treated since he'd now seen both worlds. Point blank, he said "they want us all dead." I thought "you've got to be kidding". I thought about it and watched people. I found he was right. The rich, the powerful, even the emblematic are not the cause of the current economic anything. They are neither the cause nor the cure. Throwing their money at the current situations would be no more effective than the workings of a Medieval Hungarian stomach pump. Monte Python quote there. They don't have a way of defending themselves in public that would be publicly acceptable. Enough. This is just kicking someone when they are down. I wouldn't do this to a dog.

I wish the tabloids didn't only pick on the non-royal born women who marry into family. East targets I guess. But I also wish that the women weren't so thin-skinned that they would be laid low by a bit of annoying media scrutiny.

I wouldn't call it "a bit". If the Japanese tabloids are even only 1/10th as bad as the British tabloids, the Royal family has to second guess every decision they make about going out in public: "Is this necessary? Am I going to be able to make it through this without ever having a facial expression that will be used to make me look angry or a shrew (or both)? Because you KNOW if it accidentally happens, there will be forty different photos of it on the internet within minutes."

"Royalty deserves what they get from the tabloids. They are living extremely wealthy off the backs of real workers." Well said.

I do feel a little sorry for them, but if they don't like it they should simply abdicate. It's their life, and if they haven't realized it yet too bad.

"If it bleeds, it leads." This is an old philosophy in the newspaper business. Certain people enjoy reading such stories just to make them feel superior. This saying does not mean that someone should literally bleed, but royalty is easily attack because it is foolish to rebut. Keep the comments coming so that the subject stays in the headlines rather than the terrible situation the world is in.

I hope the Japanese press never gets as bad as the British press.

It's not as easy as just abdicating. They might want out themselves but don't because they know they would be letting a lot of people down.

I don't think the Japanese royals have such a fun life at all.

btw, I would have no problem with there being no royals. Even if the system was completely dismantled tomorrow, both the British and Japanese royals would be followed and adored by some people. And invited to special events.

I just don't like the hate and insults directed at them. Maybe I'm old fashioned.

the fact that it is only the women in the royal family that are being attacked by the trash media has another register of significance that no one has mentioned.

that relates to the fact that they are both from co-called "commoner" backgrounds.

akihito had to repel the objections of his own parents for marrying outside of the families of the former fujiwara regents, the true epitomes of dysfunctional feudalism. michiko was from a very successful family of (textile?) merchants, and is certainly a very poised and elegant lady.

and then when it comes to the crown prince marrying masako, the former fujiwara people themselves were complaining that the crown prince should be marrying one of their eligible daughters, which seems an outright affront to the prince. it is also indicative of the fact that there are still people maneuvering behind the scenes in japan who think they have some birthright to political power.

i think that the japan royal family is quite interesting, as the past two generations have been blazing a new trail, so to speak, putting their newly gained freedom to the fore in a progressive yet respectable manner for people who yearn for tradition. the emperor has even published a couple of academic papers on taxonomy.

michiko has enjoyed immense popularity among the young generation of japanese women who grew up during her tenure, so let's hope that masako can recuperate and hit her stride sometime in the near future. it is much better to have them exerting as much of a positive effect as possible, as the lack of a prominent presence would create a void that some others with less benign intentions might try to exploit to their own advantage, at the expense of the public interest.