It’s Official in Japan: Princess Is Pregnant

The Imperial Household Agency confirmed Tuesday that Crown Princess Masako is pregnant with a long-awaited heir to the 2,600-year-old Chrysanthemum Throne.

No announcement has yet been made on the sex of the child. But recent calls by the prime minister for legal changes allowing women to ascend the throne have fueled speculation that the child will be a girl.

Women’s groups and social critics say having an empress could help improve women’s profile--and give Japan a better monarch. “Men always seem to be starting wars,” said Midori Watanabe, a professor at Bunka Women’s University and expert on the royal family. “So we definitely need a female ruler as a symbol of peace in the 21st century.”

The news was hinted at by the agency last month. The official announcement that Masako is pregnant suggests her doctors believe she is out of immediate danger of a miscarriage. Assuming all goes well, the child will be born in late November or early December.

Masako, a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Tokyo, has been under enormous pressure to deliver, and preferably a boy, since she married Crown Prince Naruhito in June 1993.

No male children have been born to the royal family since the arrival of Naruhito’s younger brother 35 years ago.

In 1999, after years of scrutiny by the media, Masako became pregnant but had a miscarriage that was blamed on stress. Kiyoshi Furukawa, grand master of the crown prince’s household, on Tuesday asked reporters and the public to avoid disturbing her.

Companies were quick to cash in on the hoopla surrounding the royal pregnancy, which is expected to give commoners the same idea. On Tuesday, trading in Pigeon Co., a maker of baby products, was halted after huge numbers of investors rushed to buy its stock.

One Tokyo shop that sells box lunches, which are known in Japanese as “bentos,” announced the introduction of a “stork bento.” After the birth, it plans to rename it the “Royal Baby Bento.” A liquor shop announced sales of “Echigo Crane Turtle Tale of Sweetbrier” sake for $24 a bottle, named after Masako’s designated flower.

Last week, newly elected Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed a change in Japan’s Imperial Household Law allowing women to become emperors and royalty to abdicate. Currently, they have the job for life whether they want it or not.

Social critics say allowing women to become rulers under Japan’s extremely conservative imperial system is not only long overdue but also a matter of precedent.

“Japan has a long history of women rulers, so this law is ridiculous,” said Ryoko Ozawa, a social critic and author. “Regardless of gender, the eldest child should succeed.”

Japan’s first recorded female ruler, Empress Suiko, reigned for 36 years beginning in the 6th century and helped spread Buddhism to Japan. The reign of the eighth and last empress, Gosakuramachi, ended in 1770. According to legend, the imperial family is descended from a goddess, the sun deity.

During the Meiji era, which started in 1868, a law was enacted allowing only male heirs to become rulers. The system was kept in place by the Americans immediately after World War II.

Even if the sex of Masako’s child has not been determined, there may be enough doubt that officials decided the law should be changed now. It took nearly a decade for Masako to get pregnant, she’s 37 years old, and there’s a good chance this will be her only offspring.

The prospect of a female ruler raises several questions. If she married, would her husband be expected to walk three steps behind her--as wives of the emperor and crown prince must do? And if the law were changed but a boy came later, would the younger male be first in line?

Some women say their primary concern is only that Masako have her child as safely and stress-free as possible. Others think that Koizumi’s sudden call for allowing women to ascend the throne was driven by a desire to attract votes for July elections.

Still others say the proposal suggests necessity rather than a genuine desire for equality. “It’s so sudden,” said Teiko Kihira, head of the League of Women Voters in Japan.

“It makes it look as though Masako is just an emperor-producing machine,” Kihira said.

Public support for Japan’s imperial system remains strong, although it has eroded slightly over the past decade.

Some who do not support the institution still see the proposed reforms as a step in the right direction. “The hereditary emperor system is totally undemocratic, but we don’t have any objection to women ascending the throne,” said Shigeyuki Izumi, vice director of the policy committee of Japan’s Communist Party. “And if the law is revised allowing people to abdicate, it means there’s a little more respect for individual will.”

Allowing royals to abdicate is also intended to strengthen the institution. One concern is that a ruler might be forced to remain at the helm despite senility or incompetence.

The strongest advocates of Japan’s imperial system often are right-wing political groups.

Makoto Yamazaki, spokesman for the conservative group Nippon Seinensha, says he sees no problem with a woman leading the royal family if there’s a choice between a female heir and none.

“If it’s a girl, we need to look at changing the law because the emperor’s seat must be filled,” he said. “The emperor is a sacred, fundamental part of the nation.”

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Rie Sasaki in The Times’ Tokyo Bureau contributed to this report.