IMPERIAL COUPLE FACE HEAVY BURDEN

Japan’s emperor calls for new royal duties to fit modern times

JAPAN’S new Emperor Naruhito, 59, begins his reign facing the delicate task of balancing modernity with the traditions of the world’s oldest monarchy, including protecting his family from the palace’s rigid rules.

He has not been shy about criticising the stifling lifestyle imposed on royals, particularly given the struggles his wife, Masako, faced adapting to imperial life even before becoming empress.

And like his father, Akihito, he has warned of the need to remember World War 2 “correctly,” without downplaying Japan’s early 20th-century militarism.

Born on Feb 23, 1960, Naruhito was the first Japanese prince to grow up under the same roof as his parents and siblings — royal children were previously raised by nannies and teachers.

He studied for two years at Oxford University in the 1980s after graduating with a history degree in Japan, and reportedly adorned his residence with a poster of American actress Brooke Shields.

In Britain, he was able to shed some of the strictures of royal life in Japan, mingling with students as well as the British royal family, and he has spoken fondly of that period.

In 1993, he wed Masako Owada, who became empress when Naruhito assumed the Chrysanthemum Throne.

The daughter of a diplomatic family and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Masako left behind a promising diplomatic career to marry into the royal family.

Naruhito promised to “protect her at any cost” as she made the transition, and Masako said she had sacrificed her career to “make myself useful in this path”.

But she struggled to adjust to cloistered royal life, punctuated only by occasional and choreographed public appearances.

She came under pressure to bear a son because Japan’s imperial succession excludes women. This scrutiny intensified after she gave birth to Princess Aiko in 2001 — the couple’s only child.

In 2004, Naruhito accused palace minders of stifling his wife’s personality, in unprecedented public remarks.

He described her as “anguished” by the travel restrictions she faced after her previous diplomatic life.

The same year, the palace disclosed that Masako had been undergoing treatment for stress-induced “adjustment disorder” for almost her entire marriage.

Naruhito apologised for his remarks, but he has called for “new royal duties” to fit modern times.

The pressure on Masako eased when her sister-in-law gave birth in 2006 to a son, the now 13-yearold Prince Hisahito.

Naruhito and Masako are expected to pursue the role of comforters-in-chief crafted by the previous emperor and empress, who won public support for meeting with victims of natural disasters.