The fight of Naruhito, the new emperor of Japan, to withdraw his wife Masako from the depression

Naruhito, 59, who will inherit the throne in May, does not hide his criticism of the suffocating lifestyle of the Japanese imperial family., in particular as regards suffering of Princess Masako, who is struggling to adapt to this environment.

Born on February 23, 1960, Naruhito was the first prince who grew up under the same roof as his parents, instead of being educated by governesses and guardians. In the 1980s, he studied for two years at Oxford University in the United Kingdom after graduating with a degree in history in Japan. Thus, he managed to free himself a little of the rigidities imposed by the imperial life in his country, mingling with other students and the British royal family.

In 1993, he married Masako Owada, born in 1963 into a family of diplomats and trained at Harvard and Oxford Universities. This one Polyglot, accustomed to traveling the world, resigned himself to a promising diplomatic career to enter the imperial family.

But Masako is struggling to endure an existence subject to the strict rules of the Imperial House Agency. Among other things, He is under enormous pressure to have a child because the imperial succession in Japan is patrilineal. The stress increased when, in 2001, she gave birth to a daughter, Princess Aiko, the couple's only daughter.

About a decade after their marriage, it has largely disappeared from public view. In 2004, Naruhito, who had promised to "protect her at all costs," accused the protocol of stifling his wife's personality, which caused unrest at the court.

"In the past 10 years, Princess Masako has made an effort to adapt to the life of the imperial family.I was a witness, this company has totally exhausted her", a- she declared.and before Japanese and foreign journalists add: "It must also be said that his former career and his personality traits have in fact been denied. "

The same year, the palace revealed that Masako was under medical treatment almost since his marriage for an illness described by the Imperial House as an "accommodation problem". Masako suffers from depression.

The effusive defense of his wife shocked the country and, after the blame of his relatives, Naruhito gave in, apologized for his statements, but He never stopped expressing compbadion for his wife and asked for "new imperial obligations adapted to the evolution of society".

Naruhito and Masako "will not be able to carry out as many activities as the current imperial couple" because of Masako's health condition, said Hideya Kawanishi, a history professor at the university. from Nagoya, about the new emperors. "Masako will fulfill his obligations gradually," warned the prince at a press conference last year, before a visit to France where his wife had not accompanied him.

In a statement released for his birthday in December, Masako announced that he was recovering gradually and felt that he could "fulfill more obligations than before".

With information from AFP and Reuters

The future of the Imperial House of Japan depends on a child28