The Cautious Banzai

Had members of the imperial family not been glued to their radios, they might have been the last people in Tokyo to hear the news. When Crown Princess Michiko was delivered of her 5-lb. 9-oz. son last week, a chamberlain at the hospital solemnly telephoned the residence of the grand chamberlain. The grand chamberlain in turn telephoned the Emperor's personal chamberlain, who daintily brushstroked the news onto a scroll. Then the grand chamberlain telephoned Crown Prince Akihito's chamberlain, who immediately went to work on a scroll of his own. By the time the frazzled Akihito finally got to the palace hospital, his princess was already fast asleep.

The Emperor was not permitted to see his grandson for 48 hours, but sent traditional gifts--a papier-mache dog with amulet to ward off diseases, a wooden doll to symbolize the coming of a "heavenly child," a seven-inch "sword of protection" wrapped in red brocade. At the Naming Ceremony, a chamberlain presented the Emperor with a specially woven sheet of paper containing the three possible names submitted by the grand chamberlain (final choice: Naruhito Hironomiya). It was almost as if nothing had changed since Akihito himself was born 27 years ago.

But this time the sirens did not wail, the cannons did not roar, and few families bothered to deck their houses with flags. In contrast to the excitement in London the week before, only a small crowd gathered outside the imperial palace to shout "Banzai!"' Japan seemed to be waiting.

Would Akihito, the first heir to the throne ever to marry a commoner, bend to the stifling ritual that is gradually isolating his father, the Emperor? Would he allow his son to be taken from him at the age of three to be raised by chamberlains in a separate palace? Akihito had said no, and his princess had even declared that she wanted her son to attend a kindergarten with "ordinary children." It was enough to make a conscientious imperial chamberlain wince. Protested one last week: "It is untrue that we resist change. Why, this prince was bathed in a duralumin basin that will be used again! At all previous imperial births, a tub made specially from fresh cypress wood was used, and it was afterwards buried deeply and secretly in the imperial compound."

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