Press Conference on the Occasion of the Visit of Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Prince and Crown Princess Akishino to Poland and Finland (1st year of Reiwa) (2019)

Press Conference

Press Conference by Their Imperial Highness Crown Prince and Crown Princess Akishino on the Occasion of His Visit to Poland and Finland（2019）

Questions from the Imperial Household Agency Press Club

Question 1
This will be your first official overseas visit since becoming entitled Your Imperial Highness Crown Prince Akishino, the first in line to the Imperial Throne, and Your Imperial Highness Crown Princess Akishino upon His Majesty the Emperor’s Accession to the Throne. Would you please tell us about your impressions of Poland and Finland, which are the countries that you will visit, and about your aspirations for the visit in your new title. Would you please tell us also about your thoughts on the significance and the role of international goodwill performed by the Imperial Family upon entering the Era of Reiwa.

Crown Prince Akishino

From the end of this month, we will be visiting Poland and Finland.
I will be visiting both countries for the first time. As they are countries that I have not visited before, it is quite difficult to share my impressions of those countries.
To speak about Poland first, these are childhood impressions, but I loved reading biographies when I was a child. I remember reading several biographies, including for instance those of Fryderyk Chopin and Maria Skłodowska-Curie. So then with regard to Poland, since biographies also describe the surrounding circumstances of the country at the time, I’m not sure whether these were my first impressions, but certainly these biographies had left an impression on me. As I grew up, I learned, for instance, that Poland suffered severe damage during World War II, but their society united in restoring the cities, and the restored historic center of Warsaw, the Old Town district, was inscribed as a World Heritage site, probably in the year 1980.
Next on Finland, this is also a childhood memory, but my generation were growing up just around the time when an animation version of Tove Jansson’s Moomin series was aired. Therefore, of course, Moomin from Finland is certainly one of my early impressions. Another memory from my childhood is that there were “kanteles” at our house. This is a well-known Finnish musical instrument that I think also appears in the epic poem “the Kalevala”. The extremely beautiful tone of “the kantele” left a strong impression on me. Although I cannot recall when it was, as it was quite a long time ago, I remember an occasion when Finnish performers recited “the Kalevala” epic while playing “the kantele”. And over the ensuing years I learned that Finland as a country is extremely advanced in such areas as welfare and also in education. Another impression from my childhood is that it is a country with many forests and lakes, which is an impression that many people share. I have just mentioned welfare and also education, but I also have an impression that Finland has made great achievements in areas related to information and telecommunications technology in recent years. These are my impressions.

What was the next part of your question?

Interviewer

Would you please tell us about your aspirations for the visit in your new title.

Crown Prince Akishino

The Reiwa Era started this May. Accordingly, the titles of both myself and my wife have changed. But as an individual, I remain the same person as before. So as in the past, I would like to cherish each and every visit that I have made and will make, and would like to deepen exchanges with the people of the countries we visit. Of course, I think that human beings need to strive for constant improvement. In this sense, I would like to be always thinking about how to make these visits better, and how to promote international goodwill and mutual understanding.

What was the next part of your question?

Interviewer

Would you please tell us also about your thoughts on the significance and the role of international goodwill performed by the Imperial Family upon entering the Era of Reiwa.

Crown Prince Akishino

The role of promoting international goodwill and mutual understanding performed by the Imperial Family is somewhat vague, so I feel it is difficult to give an answer in a single sentence. Basically, the Imperial Family cannot engage in diplomacy. So our role is one of promoting international goodwill and mutual understanding. Promoting international goodwill and mutual understanding includes learning about the culture, society, and history of the countries that we visit. And our visits may also provide an opportunity to learn about the culture, the history, and other aspects of Japan for the people of the countries that we visit. Also, if our visits are reported in the Japanese press, this may also enable Japanese people to learn about the places, countries, and areas that we are visiting. I think that these are some of the functions played by our visits. Furthermore, if I may add another point, I would be happy if our visits can play even a small role in promoting goodwill and mutual understanding between Japan and the countries that we visit.

Crown Princess Akishino

I have visited Poland and Finland in the past and have memories from my childhood.
With regard to Poland, I often practiced Chopin waltzes with a friend of mine when I was in junior high school. And I traveled to Poland when I was in college, during the summer holidays, and visited the house where Chopin was born. I have also walked the streets of the historic center of Warsaw, the Old Town district, and Krakow, the ancient capital. From the stories that I heard in these cities, the passion and pride of the Polish people towards Poland and their determination to preserve its culture, amid the various difficulties that they have faced, left a strong impression on me. I also climbed to the peak of one of the mountains in the Tatra range in the south of Poland, and I cannot forget the refreshing wind and the panoramic view from there.
With regard to Finland, I traveled there with my family when I was a sixth grader in primary school living in Austria. We stayed in a log house, built in a coniferous forest by a friend of my father. Although the house did not have electricity or running water, it did have a wood-fired sauna. I have memories of swimming in a lake, picking and eating wild blueberries in the forest, and watching the sun slip gently beneath the horizon. Even today, I remain attracted to this Finnish lifestyle in the midst of nature. Furthermore, I have visited the home of Sibelius, and afterwards, I encountered the beautiful tone of the kantele, which His Highness talked about earlier.
It is a great pleasure to be offered an opportunity to visit these countries again, and I also feel the heavy responsibility of my new position.
At the present time, there are relationships between Japan and these two countries built on various exchanges, and on learning about each other’s culture.
In Poland, I have heard that people are keenly studying Japanese and Japanese Studies, and that many people are actively pursuing lessons in tea ceremony and martial arts. In Japan, many Polish works of literature have been translated into and are being read in Japanese. Moreover, it appears that an increasing number of people are becoming more interested in Polish traditional crafts such as woven clothes, lace, wooden crafts, and ceramics, and I am one of them.
On Finland, although this overlaps with what His Highness has said, the works such as Tove Jansson’s Moomin series and Topelius’s “Star-eye” have been translated into Japanese and these translations I think have been read by a large number of people, including myself, in our childhood. I have heard that there have been bilateral exchange meetings not only of those involved in Finnish literature, but also of those involved in other areas, including support for child-rearing, and educational systems.
I believe that for us to play our part in deepening mutual understanding and exchanges, and promoting friendly relations between Japan and the countries that we visit, is an important part of the overall international goodwill work carried out by the Imperial Family. I would like to put my whole heart into performing my duties as well as I can during this upcoming visit.

Question 2
Both Princess Mako and Princess Kako will also make official overseas visits. Princess Mako will leave the Imperial Family upon marriage, which would lead to a smaller number of Imperial Family members able to perform duties aimed at promoting international understanding. Would you please tell us about the outlook for Princess Mako getting married, and your thoughts on the way activities are performed amid the declining number of Imperial Family members.

Crown Prince Akishino

A decline in the number of Imperial Family members may of course result from members advancing in age, and also from female members leaving the Imperial family upon marriage.
This would lead to a smaller number of Imperial Family members able to perform duties aimed at promoting international goodwill and mutual understanding, but I think this is inevitable in a sense. I think that those among us who are able to perform duties should just do the best we can.
On the outlook for our daughter’s marriage, I have not heard from her on this, so I do not know the current state of the matter, nor about what my daughter currently thinks about it.

Crown Princess Akishino

I believe that promoting international goodwill is one of our important duties, and that we will perform these duties to the best of our abilities in the circumstances. As in the past, I wish to perform each and every activity with great care, making efforts to deepen my understanding of each of the countries that we will visit.

Crown Prince Akishino

(Confirming the Question with the interviewer.)
Could you kindly repeat the question once again?

Interviewer

Both Princess Mako and Princess Kako will also make official overseas visits. Princess Mako will leave the Imperial Family upon marriage, which would lead to a smaller number of Imperial Family members able to perform duties aimed at promoting international understanding. Would you please tell us about the outlook for Princess Mako getting married, and your thoughts on the way activities are performed amid the declining number of Imperial Family members.

Crown Prince Akishino

Thank you for repeating the Question.
(Looking towards the Crown Princess)
Do you have anything to add?

Crown Princess Akishino

My thoughts are similar to those expressed by His Highness.

Crown Prince Akishino

If you do not have anything to add, (the Crown Prince looking towards the interviewer) thank you.

Interviewer

I would like to address this question to Your Imperial Highness Crown Princess Akishino.
Have you heard anything from Princess Mako on the outlook for her marriage?

Crown Princess Akishino

My answer is the same as the answer of His Highness.

Question from The Foreign Press in Japan

Question 3
I would like to address this question to Your Imperial Highness Crown Prince Akishino. The social participation and active involvement of women in the countries that Your Highness will visit is very advanced, with Finland ranking fourth in gender equality for last year and Poland ranking slightly lower. On the other hand, amid Japan being urged to make further efforts, what role is expected of the female members of the Imperial Family, which is respected and supported by many Japanese people? What are your thoughts on how official duties are performed, including also on the system for stable successions to the Throne?

Crown Prince Akishino

I too have heard that, as you just mentioned, the social participation of women is at a high level, I think especially in Finland.

As regards the role expected of female members of the Imperial Family in Japan, my understanding is that the role expected of male members and female members of the Imperial Family is basically the same. Or in any case, at this moment I cannot imagine any specific different role for female members.

With regard to how kōmu*(translated into English as “official duties” for Question 3) are performed, kōmu, or shall we say, the Emperor’s acts in matters of state, are governed by the so-called “Act on Temporary Delegation of the Emperor’s Acts in Matters of State”, which enables the Emperor to make overseas visits. While the Emperor is abroad, His acts in matters of state are delegated to the Crown Prince* to perform in the Emperor’s name. And while the Emperor is abroad, when the Crown Prince is also unable to perform His acts in matters of state, for instance because he himself is overseas or otherwise absent, the Imperial Family member next in line following the Crown Prince performs the Emperor’s acts in matters of state, in the order stipulated in the Imperial House Law. It follows that of course it is possible for a female member of the Imperial Family to perform the Emperor’s acts in matters of state. However, as this pertains to the Emperor’s acts in matters of state, it is prescribed by law. As such, I think that the question of how kōmu are performed is not something for me to make any comment on.

And on the other point, the system for succession to the Throne, I refrain from giving an answer, because this matter also relates to the legal system.

Notes:

*1.
The interviewer asked Question 3 using the Japanese word “kōmu” (translated into English as “official duties”), which Crown Prince Akishino understands to mean the Emperor’s acts in matters of state, among the many public activities of the Imperial Family, so His Highness answered the Question by mentioning the temporary delegation of the Emperor’s acts in matters of state.

*2.
There is currently no position of Kōtaishi (literally Crown Prince in Japanese). Crown Prince Akishino, the second son of Their Majesties the Emperor Emeritus and Empress Emerita, has assumed the title of Kōshi (Imperial heir in Japanese) translated into English as Crown Prince.

Related Question 1
Thank you to Your Highnesses for this press conference today.
I would like to address this question to Your Imperial Highness Crown Prince Akishino. In fact this is the first time in the modern age, except for a short period in the early Showa era, that the Prince who is the first in line to the Imperial Throne is the younger brother of the Emperor. Your Imperial Highness is five years junior to His Majesty the Emperor, however, as both of You advance in age from now onwards, the scope or amount of Your activities is also anticipated to gradually narrow and decrease going forward. Based on this, would you please tell us about your thoughts on the future situation of the activities of the Imperial Family.

Crown Prince Akishino

Advancing in age is an inevitable fact of life, and it is quite natural for the scope of one’s activities to decrease as one advances in age. Taking this into account, although this does not relate to the Emperor’s acts in matters of state, which I mentioned earlier, naturally when thinking about the future, I believe that there may be some review of the scope of activities, other than kōmu, to be shouldered or performed by the Imperial Family. Of course if there is a new generation of Imperial Family members, the scope of activities may naturally broaden again. As a matter of fact, however, looking at the existing situation, I think that how things may evolve in the future is something that needs to be considered not only by us ourselves, but also by various people around us.

As there appears to be another question, please ask your question.

Related Question 2
I would like to address this question to Your Imperial Highness Crown Prince Akishino. On this visit you will fly not on a special government plane, but on commercial aircraft. Since Your Highness became the Crown Prince, the arrangements for escorting and guarding Your Highness and your family have changed, but there was nevertheless an incident involving a security breach at the school attended by Prince Hisahito. Would you please tell us about your thoughts on future security arrangements for Your Highnesses.

Crown Prince Akishino

It is quite difficult in some ways to say “this is what the security arrangements should be”. This is because I believe that the appropriate arrangements will naturally vary depending also on the state of society at any given time. One thing I will say, though, is that of course security may be important, but I would like to avoid a situation in which our security arrangements cause inconvenience to the daily lives of citizens. Is this an adequate answer to your question?

Related Question 3
Thank you for this press conference today. Your Highness has mentioned earlier in your answer to Question 2 that Your Highness has not heard any particular thoughts from Princess Mako on the matter, so Your Highness does not know about the state of the matter. At the press conference in November of last year, however, Your Highness said something like “there should be a suitable response”. On this point, have you heard anything from, or has there been any correspondence from, either Mr. Komuro or from Princess Mako over the subsequent period of nearly half a year?

Crown Prince Akishino

On whether there has been a suitable response, although I suspect that probably some response might be under way,
but if you are asking about the specific details of what might be under way, I do not know.