What's behind the weekly magazines' current infatuation with Japan's royals?

Each Saturday, a column named "The decline of Japan, as seen by weekly magazines" appears in Nikkan Gendai, an evening tabloid newspaper. The columnist, Masahiko Motoki, was formerly editor of two weekly magazines, Shukan Gendai and Friday.

With that sort of resume, we can safely assume Motoki knows his stuff.

In the issue of June 10, Motoki delves into the strained relations between the weeklies and members of the imperial family. He begins by pointing out that in January 2022, two new laws were proposed in the Diet: One, would provide that female members of the imperial family would remain in the imperial family after marriage (at present they do not); and the other, adoptions of a male descendant of a former imperial family would be recognized.

Conservative legislators appeared to take little interest in the two bills, although former Emperor Akihito, who abdicated in 2019, was said to favor such measures. When a weekly magazine reporter telephoned the director of the Imperial Household Agency (IHA) to ask for more details, he was met by stony silence, followed by the click of the line being cut.

"The media in Japan that covers the imperial family has had a rather unpleasant relationship from some time ago; but recently I've noticed that things have further deteriorated," writes Motoki "What gave me this impression was an article that appeared in the May 30 issue of Shukan Shincho."

That particular article had carried the headline, "After much uneasiness, Empress Emerita Michiko is moved to action."

Yasuhiko Nishimura, a former police official newly appointed to head the IHA, denied the article's allegations at a press conference on May 23, the same day the Shincho article had appeared.

The Asahi Shimbun's website on May 23 reported that Nishimura had complained, "It's a bit unfair that the media didn't mention any of our replies."

Media reporting has also begun heating up regarding a potential suitor for 29-year-old Princess Kako, second daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito. Reported to be one year older than Kako, the gentleman is said to belong to the powerful Shimazu family of Kagoshima, part of Japan's former aristocracy.

Behind the above story was the attendance by the emperor emeritus and empress emerita and Kako's parents, Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko at an event held by the Shimazu family on April 13.

As Motoki describes it, the weekly magazine reporters descended on the story like a "pack of hyenas," "ambushing" Kako's potential suitor, who fended them off by insisting, "I don't know anything about it." But it was clear that if he was to be the chosen one, he could count on intensified coverage by the media.

"I wonder what sort of countermeasures the Imperial Household Agency will take to keep the media at bay," Motoki wonders.

Also on the firing line is Fumihito's teenage son, Prince Hisahito (colloquially known to his intimates as "Hii-kun").

Even though Hisahito was accepted for admission to the elite University of Tokyo, the magazines have voiced skepticism over his academic qualifications.

"One can't believe he came up with the project of recording the lives of dragonflies from the age of six," Motoki remarked.

A palace insider brushed off as false accusations that Hisahito lacks the academic ability to pass the university's general entrance exam.

"As was the case with Kako's elder sister, now the commoner Mako Komuro, it is the weekly magazines that are driving public opinion," sums up Motoki. "One can only say that it's unfortunate for the nation that the royals and the IHA have chosen to either mutually disregard the weeklies or to adopt an adversarial stance toward them."

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