Pic courtesy-Wikipedia
Princess Aiko of Japan (敬宮愛子内親王殿下 Toshi no miya Aiko naishinnō denka), born on December 1, 2001, is the only child of Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Prince Naruhito, heir apparent to the Japanese throne, and Crown Princess Masako. Her formal title is Her Imperial Highness The Princess ToshiIs she a cutie or what!
Her mother, Princess Masako seems an amazing woman. After refusing her beau twice, she finally succumbed to the pressures of marrying into the Royal family, and to bear an heir. After 8 years -which is long by any cultural standards I suppose – she had this cutie Aiko. You’d think this should be celebration enough, well, it was, but nope, they want a son to succeed the throne. By “they” I mean the Emperor [read father-in-law] and all the other guys who make rules and legislatures possible.
Did you know she actually had to sign a pre-nup resigning all rights over the Royal assets [ok, fine, it’s the property of ancestors, understandable] but even over her kids [so they become royal property too?!]. What bothered me was she underwent a fertility examination to prove she could bear children! What the hell is that? I mean, this is 1999 we talking about.
Because of her apparent inability to produce an heir, the Japs are thinking of re-writing their laws to let this Princess ascend throne. Quite accomodative eh?
Pic courtesy-GoogleImages
..and where is this Masako lady from? – Well-travelled, daughter of a Japanese Diplomat, she graduated High School from Belmont, Massachusetts, yes USA. Went on to get an economics degree from Harvard, and a post-graduate from Oxford.
Her life is extremely interesting to say the least.
Read more from Wikipedia
Another conflicting portrayal
You never would really know now would you?
…..and I thought the villagers in India are still hung up on a son.
engerunthu intha info ellam thedi pudikkareenga??
Wow…she is very educated. What abt the Prince ?
Somethings never change..and thats sad !
From what folks at my office tell me, it looks like Japan is an even more male-dominated soceity than India (and now, who would have thought that possible)?
The princess seems to be a smart lady :-)!
lol KC – this is what I call complete “vetti” info 🙂 Yahoo said something about ‘princess aiko’ being the most searched buzz word today. My curiosity got the better of me. :-))
Shilpa – The prince is of course from Oxford! Sometimes I donno who opposes change…
Archana – That’s intersting rt? Male-dominated society – Japan. I guess it’s an eastern thing? Yeah, she seems smart. Sad that she doesn’t use it that much.