Welcome to Issues in Japan.
I would like to share the article contents of Daily Shincho magazine website posted on February 9, with the title: A collection of rare photos of Masako being photographed as a "high-profile career bureaucrat" just before she met the Crown Prince.
On February 9, 1993, about 30 years ago, a career bureaucrat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed up to give his retirement greetings.
That bureaucrat's name was Masako Owada.
Needless to say, she is the current Empress Masako.
She had resigned the month before when she was offered the position of Crown Princess, and her visit that day was merely to give her retirement greetings.
Because of the future Crown Princess's movements, this matter was naturally reported in the newspapers and on TV.
In addition, since Masako had already been mentioned many times over the years as a " candidate for princess," it was not unusual for her to be interviewed directly by the media.
However, in fact, Masako had been in the spotlight even before she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1986, the weekly photo magazine "FOCUS" (no longer in publication) reported an interview with Masako before she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
If the editorial department had spotted her at that stage as a "future princess candidate," it would have been very prescient, but that was not the case.
It was an article to the effect that a new bureaucrat with an amazing career had been born.
Incidentally, in those days, articles on the real faces of new bureaucrats from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were sometimes published in the magazine as well.
That is how much attention was paid to career bureaucrats at that time.
It is obvious from the photos that the article was based on an interview with the consent of the interviewee, not on a hidden camera or a direct interview without an appointment.
The photos were taken at her home in Meguro, Tokyo.
The title of the article is:
"Kiyohara-class" rookie diplomat, Harvard graduate Masako Owada, perfect.
Some may find the expression "Kiyohara-class" uncomfortable, but in 1986, it was the highest form of praise.
That year, Kazuhiro Kiyohara had achieved an unprecedented performance for a rookie baseball player.
Here are some excerpts and quotes from a valuable article that gives us a glimpse into the true face of Masako, before she met the Crown Prince (now Emperor Akihito). (The following quotations are from the October 17, 1986 issue of "FOCUS")
The article begins with a description of Masako (then 22): "To put it bluntly, she is a complete and utter superwoman.”
The article then goes on to explain her upbringing.
Her father was a diplomat who served as Japanese Minister to the Soviet Union and became Director General of the Treaty Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs the year before last.
He is also well known as a researcher of international law and was once sent to Harvard University as a lecturer.
Touching on Masako's own career, the article goes on to explain the reason for her perfection.
By the time she was seven, she had lived in Moscow and New York.
After attending a well-known private Christian (Catholic) school for girls in Japan, she moved back to the U.S. in her first year of high school and chose to attend Harvard University's Department of Economics, a university with which her father also had close ties.
She received an honors degree there and considered working for the IMF, the UN, the World Bank, etc., but she wanted to work for her country and decided to become a diplomat.
She enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in April this year (1986) to study law, and two months later, she easily passed the diplomat exam. He is fluent in English and can speak German and French.
●My favorite baseball player is Takada, and his defensive position is third.
When she was a junior high school student, she admired Takada of the baseball team Giants at that time and started a softball club with her friends and won the Setagaya ward tournament playing cleanup at third.
She also plays tennis, and is said to be good at skiing.
She is also an accomplished calligrapher under the guidance of her grandmother.
She is also an excellent cook as she used to organize home parties with her mother when she was abroad. Anyway, she is an amazing lady.
When they heard that Masako was an excellent cook, the reporters and photographers must have pressed her for a photo of her cooking.
And Masako, who wasn't used to dealing with the media at all, probably couldn't refuse.
She even agreed to be photographed with a frying pan in her hand.
The magazine, which had a rather ironic tone, probably couldn't be stingy against such a partner..
The article, which was written in a positive tone, touched on her future as a "diplomat" and concluded with comments from her and her father.
Surprisingly, she is only the second diplomat who is not a graduate of a Japanese university.
Normally, junior diplomats undergo training in Japan before going abroad to study, but in the case of Ms. Owada, there seems to be no need for it.
However, it is hard to be a female diplomat.
The career advancement is equal, but of the 15 female diplomats who have joined the Ministry since 1957, only three have married.
Even when they do marry, it is almost impossible for them to be posted together with their husbands, unless the husbands are unemployed.
She said, "I'm not the type to work hard on my own, and I'm mentally weak, so I want a family."
Her father, who seemed to be expecting her to become a scholar, said, "I can't force her, but I want her to be happy with her life."
Her father seems to have mixed feelings.
The week after this issue was released, Masako attended a reception for the Spanish princess.
It is reported that this was the first time she met the Crown Prince there.
It is probably not necessary to go into the details of what happened after that.
It goes without saying that Empress Masako has continued to show a great presence in imperial diplomacy with Her Majesty the Emperor.
That’s all for now.
Thank you for your visit and interest.
https://youtu.be/Bov0t1eyLqQ
