Empress Masako of Japan: the story of a delicate monarch

Closing a year with ups and downs, Empress Masako of Japan has turned 58. She witnessed her daughter Aiko's coming of age ceremony in early December, which was a happy occasion. However, she also dealt with bad news in a year of Covid-19 pandemic.

This is the story of one of the most beloved monarchs of our time.

The future Empress Masako was born in Tokyo on December 9, 1963. Her last name was Owada.

(Photo released by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan)

Her family was common, without any royal ties. Here's Masako at age 13, with her father Hisashi Owada and her younger twin sisters Reiko and Setsuko.

(Photo released by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan)

Masako studied in the United States and Great Britain. Here she's posing after graduating from Belmont High School in Massachusetts, USA. She would later get a degree at Harvard University and study international relations at Oxford University.

(Photo released by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan)

Masako worked as a diplomat when she met Prince Naruhito. They got engaged in 1993 and at that moment, Masako was introduced to the world.

The couple married in the same year. Once she entered the royal family, Masako gave up her professional career.

(Photo released by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan)

Eight years into their marriage, Masako and Naruhito had a daughter: Princess Aiko. The girl was to be their only child.

In 1999, Masako had been expecting a child. The pregnancy was so advanced that the royal house had even made an official announcement about it. Unfortunately, she prematurely lost the child. It's one of those tragedies in life that one rarely forgets.

After Aiko's birth, Masako and Naruhito still hoped to have more children and especially, for the sake of the throne, a son. Since Japanese law prohibits women from imperial rule, Masako endured much pressure while trying to have a son.

Meanwhile, she built a happy home for her daughter Aiko. They always posed for Imperial Household photos with their family dogs.

Underneath it all, however, Masako had a hard time as Crown Princess of Japan. Several media reported that she endured stress and signs of a depression. She stayed outside the limelight for a number of years, roughly between 2002 and 2014.

In 2008, as Crown Prince Naruhito was making a state visit to Spain on his own, he asked the public for respect and understanding for his wife.

"I would like the public to understand that Masako is continuing to make her utmost efforts with the help of those around her," he said in a statement recorded by GMA News. "Please continue to watch over her kindly and over the long term."

In 2012, Masako herself spoke out about her condition. She issued a statement on her 49th birthday, apologizing for being ill and absent from public life for so many years. The Daily Telegraph reported on this remarkable revelation in a country where mental illness is often taboo.

Masako could count on the support of her family, including the then-Emperor Akihito and her brother-in-law Akishino and his wife Kiko. On this photo her in-laws are portrayed with their daughters Mako and Kako and their son Hisahito.

(Photo released by Imperial Household Agency)

In addition, the young family found peace in a far away place: The Netherlands. Masako's parents lived there, and the Dutch royal couple, Willem Alexander and Maxima, became close friends over the years.

(Photo released by Imperial Household Agency)

When Aiko was young, and Masako suffered from stress, they made a private, unofficial visit to The Netherlands. The Dutch Crown Prince also had young daughters at the time, and they bonded quickly.

Having been out of the spotlights for years, Masako returned to attending state events and trips in 2014. (Her first official visit outside the country was in 2013. The couple went to.... The Netherlands.)

It's not difficult to imagine that it could be hard for a young professional to switch from diplomacy to palace life.

People Magazine notes that Naruhito had proposed three times to Masako before she finally agreed to marry him. The Crown Prince convinced her by saying that her new role would simply be "another form of diplomacy."

(Image: Akishino, Kiko and their children, Imperial Household Agency)

But, of course, it is much more than that. The Chrysanthemum Throne comes with much more than international relations and discussions about the present and future. There's a history and ceremonial aspect to it.

Masako has taken on the modesty that women traditionally portray in the Japanese royal house. She and the other female members of the family tend to wear pastel-colored, high-necked dresses and hats of the same teint. In this photo, Kiko, Mako and Kako are wearing different shades of blue.

Independently from palace traditions, Masako has always appeared as a modest, calm, and sensible woman herself.

She's a charming and open monarch as well. When meeting ordinary Japanese citizens, Masako always has a friendly word with them. She makes a joke to break the ice.

In 2019, it was decided for her and Naruhito that they would become Emperor and Empress. Naruhito's father Akihito abdicated that year. He was the first royal since 1817 to leave the throne on his own initiative before dying.

In October of the same year, Naruhito and Masako took part in the traditional enthronement ceremony. The traditional Japanese ceremony, the Sokeuirei-Seiden-no-Gi, took place in the imperial palace in Tokyo.

The ceremony was witnessed by approximately 2,000 guests from 180 different countries. For someone who preferred to remain in the background, like Masako, this live-broadcast and greatly attended ceremony must have been stressful. The whole world was watching.

During the celebratory parade for the imperial succession, in late 2019, all eyes were once again on Masako. Ever since her rough patch in the 2000s, people love to see that the monarch is doing well.

Masako made a touching appearance as she greeted her people during a celebratory motorcade in Tokyo. She even shed a tear.

It was a parade reminiscent of the one Naruhito's predecessor held in 1990. Emperor Akihito, Naruhito's father, drove through Tokyo with his wife Michiko to greet the Japanese people.

Almost 30 years later, the scene looked nearly the same.

With the reign of Naruhito, a new era had begun. His younger brother Akishino became Crown Prince.

Naruhito's daughter Aiko remains outside the line of succession, as the tradition prescribes. She celebrated her coming-of-age at the Imperial Palace on December 5, 2021, after she had turned 20 on the 1st of that month.

In any case, it is not expected that the leadership of the Japanese empire will change any time soon. Naruhito is in his early sixties and could stay on the throne until he dies.

The first year of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako has been overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. It was difficult for them to keep in touch with their people, the Japanese Times reported.

(Photo released by Imperial Household Agency)

However, around the time of Masako's 57th birthday, in late 2020, new vaccines against the virus became available. There was some light at the end of the tunnel, although 2021 was not going to be easy.

In her message to the people, on the occasion of her 58th birthday, Empress Masako remembered the achievements of the Tokyo Olympics of the past summer, but she also acknowledged that the pandemic had made this another 'heartbreaking' year.

"My heart aches to hear that many people have been faced with hardships such as reduced income, or having to abandon higher education," Masako said. Let's hope that her 59th year brings a solution to the crisis.

Read also: The Japanese imperial family, between tradition and modernity