Princess Masako to bust out!

[Taro Toporific]

Japan's courtiers considering rare foreign trip for stress-hit princess
Mon Aug 16,11:08 PM ET
TOKYO (AFP) -Japan's royal minders took the unusual step of announcing that a rare foreign trip is being considered for Crown Princess Masako in a sign they may be doing more to help her cope with a mental disorder brought on by rigid palace life.
In early August Brunei invited Crown Prince Naruhito, 44, and Princess Masako to the September 9 wedding of Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah, an official from the Imperial Household Agency said Monday

[GridReaper]

Geez, Japan needs to get old skool and allow empresses again. That should take a lot of pressure off this talented woman.

As long as the Emperor/Empress isn't in charge of the military again, what could possibly go wrong, besides her having a secret affair with a young and dashing FG who then get her pregnant with a son, which then divides the nation on who should reign next, where the son gets exiled and raised in secret by shinto priests in the wild, who comes back many years later with an army to take the throne and Excalibur.... whoops, got my isolated female royalty mixed up there.

[gkanai]

Geez, Japan needs to get old skool and allow empresses again. That should take a lot of pressure off this talented woman.

Agreed.

The Japanese Constitution does not differentiate based on gender. So Aiko-sama can be Empress by the current Constitution.

See the Beate Sirota Gordon op-ed in the NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/12/opinion/l12japan.html

[canman]

If the people in charge think that one trip abroad is going to change everything with por Masako-sama they are greatly mistaken. I think they are just trying to cover their backs. Both she and the crown prince said she needed more time away etc., but they wouldn't let her. Now that there is a crisis and they come off looking bad they will let her go on this trip. What a bunch of shmucks.

[torasan]

If she goes overseas, she might not come back.

[Taro Toporific]

If she goes overseas, she might not come back.

No sweat. The Collective has vetoed her trip.

Fri Aug 20, 7:39 AM ET
AFP - - Japan's Crown Princess Masako, who is suffering from a psychological disorder, has decided to skip a trip to Brunei on doctors' advice.

[American Oyaji]

She used to be SO pretty.

Look what 10 years of stress can do.

[AssKissinger]

At least she agrees with me about work (it sucks).

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040906/ap_on_re_as/japan_princess_1

Japan Princess Unlikely to Return to Work

Mon Sep 6, 1:17 PM ET

By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO - Palace doctors believe Japan's Crown Princess Masako, who has spent the past eight months in seclusion fighting a stress-induced illness, will not likely resume her royal duties until sometime next year, officials said Monday.

BTW, that's a great argument against forcing people to smile against their will.

[dingosatemybaby]

She used to be SO pretty.

Look what 10 years of stress can do.

No kidding. Her face seems to be settling into that frozen rictus of barely-supressed psychosis that Kuniacho long ago caused her mom-in-law Michiko to develop.

At least Masako hasn't started wearing those Cinnabon-inspired hats that Michiko always looks so, uh, special in. (Speaking of Michiko, a couple years back dingo was browsing some sensationalist book about the Japanese royal family in which an early encounter between Michiko and HER mother-in-law, Hirohito's wife Sadako (Sachiko?), was described. Apparently, Michiko was standing in a receiving line, and when it came time for Sadako to greet her, Sadako simply ignored her and moved on to the next person. The writers of the book said that, in the context of Japanese cultural norms, this kind of snub was the equivalent of being "urinated on.")

[gaijinzilla]

My wife thinks she's a candidate for permanent residency at the funny farm. A crying shame----another intelligent person (who had a pretty darn good career) reduced to rubble while millions of bubbleheads roam the streets freely

[dimwit]

You would think with the IHA being so worried about image that they would buy the woman some teeth whiteners.

http://www.manekineko.us/catalog/images/product/5MinuteTeethWhitenGel3pk_enlarge.jpg

[American Oyaji]

Her teeth used to be white.

What happened to make them so yellow?

[Taro Toporific]

Hey, it looks like Masako did bust out in a way...she run off and "recently took refuge in her parents' home."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=559234
.....The doleful Crown Princess Masako of Japan, whose court physicians advised against her attending the royal wedding because it would interrupt her treatment for stress, made headlines when she sent her regrets last week. Her situation may be seen as a cautionary tale for the newest princess bride in Asia]Bored, lonely and increasingly unhappy, Princess Masako recently took refuge in her parents' home.[/b]