Inside the looney bin, Japan

[Taro Toporific]

About a boy: Dynasty, Japan-style
The Independent, UK, 4 Sept 2006
.... ----Inside the imperial palace--- Most foreign journalists get at least one opportunity to step inside Tokyo's imperial palace and it is always an interesting experience....We were met by an Imperial Household Agency official, a superbly unpleasant and sniffy bureaucrat, who did not feel the need to smile or even greet us in the usual formal Japanese way. He immediately raised a fuss over the dress code of an RTE (Irish television) cameraman, sparking a mad scramble for a jacket before our 11am deadline to meet the Emperor.
On the way to the Emperor's official meeting room for foreign dignitaries, the official complained that it was "rude" to turn up in informal clothes to meet "his majesty". He then berated me for walking in the centre of the long hallway leading to the meeting room. "Only his majesty walks in the centre," he said banishing me to the edges of the carpet. In the meeting room we were told we would have 90 seconds to photograph the Emperor as he arrived to greet Mr Ahern. We should be careful not to make any noises when he entered the room. We would leave directly afterward.
Princess Masako and the dwindling band of royals are surrounded by people like our handler, with their total dedication to the emperor cult and the countless arcane rules that structure it. The handlers rigidly control all aspects of imperial life and media access. When Princess Kiko married Prince Akishino, a photographer who snapped the new bride brushing hair out of her husband's eyes before a formal portrait was banned for life. One former imperial house correspondent says he was once told off by bureaucrats for asking the Emperor if he had recovered from a cold. "That's how much they control things," said the journalist.
As the imperial correspondent for Japan's top news agency said: "Now you know why Princess Masako has become ill. There are so many old rules like these that must be making life unbearable for someone who was used to having a lot of freedom. I feel very sorry for her." ...more...

[Captain Japan]

David McNeill reports on a nation gripped by baby fever

Unless you count GB scouting in Shibuya I have no idea what this means.

[Captain Japan]

In 2001, after more than seven years of marriage she finally had a girl, Aiko, which bitterly disappointed conservatives. The birth, after IVF treatment, was traumatic as was adjustment to life...

Was this really confirmed officially?

[Captain Japan]

Pregnant princess bullies share prices
Financial Express

TOKYO, SEPT 4: Shares in Japanese baby goods makers climbed ahead of the expected birth of a possible imperial heir, which some hope may lift the country’s slumping birthrate.

Princess Kiko, 39, wife of the emperor’s younger son, Akishino, will undergo a Caesarean operation on Wednesday following complications, an official at the Imperial Household Agency said on Friday, possibly giving birth to the country’s first imperial male in more than four decades....more...

I love the pink border of this rag. Is the FT going to sue at some point?

[Taro Toporific]

http://www.financialexpress.com/
Financial Express

I love the pink border of this rag. Is the FT going to sue at some point?

[floatl][/floatl]

WTF? Is beige the new pink?




Ok, ok. When I think of the FT , I think pink. But now I see what you're taking about.

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