Son of Son of Sun

More than sheltered has been Japan's little Crown Prince Akihito; he has lived in a positive vacuum. At the age of three he was removed even from his own family, shut up in a house of 774 mats (3,096 square yards of floor space) on the Palace grounds, under the constant surveillance of four tutors, two governesses, three physicians and 60 retainers. At the age of five he was permitted to meet eight hand-picked noble moppets, who visited his compound on Saturdays and squabbled over his princely bicycle and sandbox, while Akihito stood by and gaped.

On rare occasions, he is taken unannounced into the public world. In the hope that he had inherited his father's passionate interest in "biology," he was taken to Uyeno Park Zoo one day last autumn. There he observed that the hippopotamus, unlike his toy hippo at home, was supplied with a tail; also (there being no one with the audacity to hinder his demi-divine will) he fed the sheep to satiety on small pieces of paper.

Recently six-year-old Akihito's day has begun at 6:30 a.m., when he rises to meditate on his ancestors and bow to photographs of his parents. Then he romps all day in the Palace grounds. Once a fortnight he attends the peers' kindergarten, where he outbellows all his little comrades in patriotic songs.

But last week the carefree life was drawing to a close for Akihito. His cute rice-bowl bob was shaved right to the pate. He was given last fittings for a navy blue serge uniform trimmed with red cord, a cap with a bright brass cherry blossom badge. The Prince was ready for school.

To protect Akihito on his daily passage to the exclusive Peers' School would have required whole battalions of police to line the streets. The Imperial Household totted up the cost, found it would be cheaper to build a new schoolhouse next to the Palace grounds. They did--complete with twelve classrooms, auditorium, laboratories, music hall, handicraft room, gymnasium, library, offices, private dining and sitting rooms for the august youngster. This week for the first time, the son of the son of the Sun, with shining morn ing face, romped across the Palace grounds, across one public street, to school. On rainy days he will ride--in a red lacquered, charcoal-burning car. After six years, a special educational institution will be built around Akihito, and professors will lecture a one-man class on The Art of Becoming an Emperor.

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