Emperor Naruhito's Words on the Issue of Mako's Marriage
What Did Emperor Say?
For a long time, His Majesty the Emperor
has not said anything about the issue of his niece Princess Mako's marriage. In
a sense, this is only natural, as it is a matter for the Akishino family, a
different family, and not something that the Emperor should bother to talk
about. As His Majesty knows the weight of his own words better than anyone
else, he must have had to be cautious even though he had many thoughts on the
matter.
It was at his birthday press conference in
February of this year that the Emperor broke his silence. It was reported early
on that the media would be asking questions about the issue of Mako's marriage
at this time. However, since the Imperial Household Agency would be in charge
of the press conference, it was expected that the Agency would restrain them
from doing so. Nevertheless, the Emperor, perhaps of his own volition, dared to
answer the question.
What was that statement?
The full text is here: https://www.kunaicho.go.jp/page/kaiken/show/43
“many people be satisfied and happy”
In response to the reporters' third
scheduled question, His Majesty the Emperor replied:
I am aware that there are various opinions among the people regarding the marriage of Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako. I hope that Mako will discuss this matter with her parents and, as Crown Prince Akishino has said, come to a situation where many people will be satisfied and happy.
In addition, the media went even further
during the free question period.
When a reporter asked, "What do you
think it would take to get to a situation where many people would be satisfied
and happy? His Majesty answered:
“I'd like to refrain from answering any further questions on this matter beyond what I just said.”
He avoided mentioning specifics.
Severe Hurdles and Current Situation
How do we interpret these words of the prudent Emperor of Japan?
Many media outlets were reporting that this
was a very harsh term.
“Come to a situation where many people will be satisfied and happy.”
This is a very high hurdle to overcome when
there is a deep-rooted distrust of this marriage among the people. His Majesty,
knowing this, dared to impose a high hurdle. However, the fact that he added
"as Akishino said," suggests that he wanted to respect the
independence of Mako's father and his younger brother, Akishino, in solving the
problem.
He also said: "I hope that Mako will discuss this matter with
her parents.” It has been pointed out by many that the
Emperor was concerned about the fact that the Akishino family is currently not
having any discussions at all, and that even though they are living under the
same roof, they are not having any conversations with each other.
And that he refrained from answering about
what exactly they should do. This could be interpreted as simply throwing the
ball to the Akishino family to solve the problem, but there are also those who
believe that he was suggesting that there was an option to break off this
engagement. Since there is freedom of marriage in the Constitution, the Emperor
could not have said out loud that he would prefer to break it off.
On the Internet, not a few people are saying, "The only conclusion that will satisfy and please most of the people is a breakup!” But this may be overstating it.
However, as I have already mentioned in another article, the current situation is that Mako's intention to marry Komuro is so adamant that many of the Imperial Household Agency and the Akishino family want to have her married and out of the imperial family by the next Akishino birthday (November 30) or Aiko's birthday (December 1), if possible.
The situation may be progressing without
clearing the hurdle imposed by His Majesty the Emperor, which is that many
people will understand and be pleased with the situation.
Summary of Mako&Komuro problem is here
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