Hey, maybe the Japanese royal family's just putting too much pressure on her. She probably needs her space.

Will someone please tell these fuckers that the men determine sex, not women so it's her husband's "failure" to produce a male heir!?!

her crime was not squeezing out a male heir, while keeping the perma-happy face.

I wish I had some Mexican food right about now.

I'm sorry, that's the only thing I could contribute to this discussion.

so, wait--mexican food is for the elite in japan? (i'll feel very swank as i eat my five-dollar burrito at lunch, then.)

Maybe intense scrutiny of her every move contributes to her "illness"--what do you think of that, Japanese citizen?

This is why royalty is obsolete, and needs to go away. A seemingly unexceptional family of people is required to be completely useless and to run around going to all sorts of pointless events, even though it seemingly makes many of them miserable. The public is expected to pay for their uselessness, even though the money could probably be spent better elsewhere.

I suppose that in places where there isn't royalty we end up focusing our attention on equally useless people like Paris Hilton, but at least they volunteered for the duty and aren't living off my tax dollars.

Well I sure as fuck can't explain it. All I know is, psychological disorder or not, Japanese princess or not, if someone tried to prevent me from eating Mexican food, I would smack them within an inch of their life. Take my enchiladas away from me at your own peril, cuz I'm not above going loco on you, hombre.

I guess I'm among the "lots of Westerners" that Japanese citizen is talking about. Every report I've read about Princess Masako, her life, the expectations she's supposed to live up to, and the public scrutiny she undergoes, makes me feel quite sorry for her.

Wait, I thought there was a big kerfuffle as Japan wouldn't allow a female heir to the Chrysanthemum (sp?) throne. Did they change their minds?

you know what, I sort of agree with them. depression is not some mysterious teerminal illness, she can get help and deal with it.

and if she's well enough to eat expensive shit and go on shopping sprees she should be able to perform some of her "duties" too.

I see it like this: you have all this money to spend because you are a princess, so act like a damn princess. do your job. everyone needs to work in like (or should need to anyway.)

reminds me of jezebel's recent scolding of jenna for ostensibly planning a fancy wedding with a recession on. but conspicuous consumption is more of an art than a crime in the US. let them eat shark fin soup, Princess Masako!

Skipping important functions yet spending time on activities like shopping and traveling could just be symptomatic of her depression. Or she just doesn't care for the emperor.

Dude, they are saying that she "failed to produce a male heir." Last time I checked, it is the guy who has to supply that chromosome, so I think someone else had a "Failure."

@eseleth: What? They are descended from the god of the sun. Unexceptional. Fft.

@Macloserboy: Right, we've know this for years people. This isn't Henry VIII England anymore.

When I feel bad and not up to public events, I like to be pampered. Fancy food at a nice restaurant is pampering. Period. Can't we not learn from Fergie and how the press destroys these marriages.

@fulana.de.tal: Well, there aren't a ton of Mexicans in Japan, believe it or not.

I think any public figure anywhere would get the same reaction, fair or not. If Princess Di had been yatching around the world exclusivley, and never showed up to wave at people, they would have hated her too.

I'm sad about the shark fin soup, sharks rule.
But truffles mmmmmmm.....

Also, I can understand why the Japanese are pissed. This woman, as a member of their royal family, is literally paid by the taxpayers in order to do a particular job: i.e., be a princess. Attend ceremonies, participate in Japan's byzantine traditions.

If you can't actually do your job, you should not be spending the money that you get for it.

@iodine: *in life. excuse my spelling, I just woke up

It seems that the problem is not Mexican food as much as the fact that she bailed on her public duties. Those duties are basically the job that the Japanese tax payers fund her to do. Then she went out and ate a very expensive dinner the same day. In Japan a plate of truffles... I'd say she ate a U.S. $200 dinner at least.
It's a bit like calling in sick to work and then getting caught at a party, downing champagne by your boss.

@braak: Yeah, as much as I have empathy for this woman, I agree.

@hatepaperdoll: Forgive my slightly stupid phrasing, I haven't eaten all day.

You know what this reminds me of?
"I wonder... Why she could go out for dinner at a posh restaurant on the same day she cancelled a ceremony held by the emperor - she could stay home if she was too unwell to attend the ceremony."
Britney Spears. She's too "sick" to go to court, but Starbucks is ok.
I'm all for hatin on the no male heir=failure ideology, but if she really is taking Dinsey trips maybe it's time to prioritize?

Depression just hasn't caught on in the East. It's still seen as a Western cultural phenomenon. In fact, an extremity of emotional output is not understood or welcomed.

@TruculentandUnreliable: I have empathy for her depression, sure. I have a great deal of empathy for that.

I think, though, that if she really wants to get over that, she needs to abdicate her position as a member of the royal family (I think the Japanese can do that), and get a job that will actually make her feel that her life has meaning.

@katastic: Yeah, I'm fixated on the fact that truffles are such a delicacy. They taste like dirt.

@katastic: yeah, I was all "hmmm, burrito" and then I was done with this thread.

@Cry4Hemp: "any extremity of emotional..."

@katastic: touché.

@braak: Exactly! Like it or not, as a member of a royal family, one has obligations. Being a princess is her job and she was not blamed for eating. She was blamed for living the high life on the taxpayers money, while abdicating her duties. This is no different to, say, Dubya throwing a rager at Camp David, whilst skipping out on a state dinner.

@braak: i agree. as much as it SUCKS to be depressed, you still must force yourself to get up and do what you have to do. even when a good lot of us have been suffering from the disease, we didn't cop outta work, because we still have to feed ourselves.
@Macloserboy: THANK YOU.

@AbbyNormal: Can I get that diagnosis? Uh, sorry, I can't go to work or clean the house because I'm depressed, but expensive dinners and trips to Bloomie's are A-OK. It's always been my understanding that severe depression saps your desire for pretty much everything, not just the boring obligations.

@blondegrlz: Mmmmmm Bloomingdale's.

@blueskiesgoldensunshine: Nope, still the same. One of the younger princes recently had a son, so the line will continue through him.

@braak: That might help her. I know anytime I've been depressed, it is because I felt useless. It is probably hard to be very intelligent and your use to be see as only what comes out of your womb.

Well, I'd agree that if she is using her illness to cancel public events, which are her duties (and I can assure you that she knew these duties before she married into the Imperial Family), then she shouldn't be out having fun. It's not erratic, and it's not depression - it's laziness and not owning up to her responsibility as an important governmental public figure. It would perhaps be one thing if she were born into the Imperial Family - but she wasn't. She chose to marry into it, and if she couldn't deal with the responsibilities that came with that, she needed to not do it. Sad, but true.

a plate of truffles? that would most definitely cure any depression i had (well...temporarily). man i'm missing the truffle oil pizza from apizza scholls right now.

anyway, she is a princess and is paid by the government to do princess-ly things, but what choice did she have in it? maybe she doesn't want to do whatever it is she's supposed to do and that makes her depressed. and she deals with her depression with truffles and mexican food, like any normal person would.

ooo, I miss shark's fin soup

I remember reading a profile of her right after the marriage, focusing on how much she gave up (Harvard degree yada yada) to be Princess. It kinda seems like she played it just right, though; husbands forgive absenteeism, but bosses don't have to.

Agree with those who say she's taking advantage of the system. If you are sick--don't go out on extravagent vacations and dinners when you've skipped out on your obligations.

This made my burrito taste some what more yummy!

I had a "meh" reaction to this until I realize she was using the taxpayers money to entertain herself. I'd be pissed as hell if I had to pick up the tab for all of Britney's late night Rite-Aid trips.

@Leiakat: Yeah, I'm serious about that. Obviously, I don't know the princess of Japan. But I can totally see how anyone Harvard-educated who is essentially glorified breeding stock might be depressed.

@blueskiesgoldensunshine: They changed the constitution.

Personally, I don't really care what the royals (Dutch, in my case) do with my tax money, as long as they show off the pretty princesses and show their faces every once in a while. I'd probably be pissed if Princess Maxima (our crown princess) would shy away from her duties, but would continue shopping and going on holiday though. However, I'm doubting that's the case here. This one commenter touched on the fact that she travelled to The Netherlands. Yeah. That's what we call a "state visit". They're hardly done for fun. They're diplomatic trips, and can be very taxing. So the fact that she went actually shows that she is performing at least some of her duties.
Personally, I'd go barking mad if I had to live under any court protocol, and from what I've understood the Japanese protocol is particularly strict.

Imagine our taxes supported Paris Hilton. THEN you'll understand why they're pissed.

@Agrado: She had plenty of choice. If she didn't want the responsibility, she shouldn't have married a Crown Prince.

None of you know what her illness is, this is all very judgy and uncompassionate. Maybe she is taking advantage of the system, but maybe she married into something she can't handle. Should we force her to get divorced?

Honestly, if the worst thing they can say about her is she eats good meals and doesn't like public events then they should count their lucky stars.

@blondegrlz: I am not implying that it is okay to use depression as an excuse, simply that we would need more than this tiny bit of info to judge. Does she skip every function? Constantly shirking her duties? Yet always out shopping? Or is this perception? Is the media image of her shaped by her lack of male heirs or just her flaunting the advantages provided her by the nature of royal families?
And not everyone is affected the same way be depression. Yes, for many, the ability or desire to do anything, important or not, ebbs almost completely. But maybe the public, ritual functions are harder to bear than the private, social ones.
I thought my second sentence (in my above post) made clear that I was being kind of glib. Which I guess I shouldn't have been.

@Kataluna: Oh she CANNOT be THAT bad....can she?

If I remember correctly, this is the same woman who refused multiple marriage proposals from the crown prince because she was worried about the impact of losing her autonomuy and sense of self. I seem to remember reports at the time of her marriage speculating on what she would mean for women in Japanese culture. It looks like, instead of changing expectations, she was crushed under the weight of tradition. Her depression may very well be the result of those public calls for her to adhere to duty. So it's not a simple matter of the princess needing to suck up her melancholy and start cutting ribbons at community centers. Sheesh, people! A little sympathy!

Yeah. I've said it once, I'll say it again. I don't care if we're talking UK, Spain, Japan, Monaco, or wherever: FUCK THE ROYALS. Fuck them all right in the ear.

@PhillyLass: Totally agree. I see a very complicated women in a horribly difficult position. I'm surprised Jezebels are so quick to pile on her.

I'm with the whole "she should stop fucking around" party. It is the taxpayers' money, not hers to spend like that.

I also have little to no sympathy for people who pull that kind of bullshit.

"the Japanese consider the Princess to be a failure: She did not produce a male heir"

Ummm...isn't that HIS problem? It's the husbands contribution that would determine gender.

@LollyPops: Agreed. and @haguenite: Agreed. She's Harvard educated and so presumably had the intelligence to know there were other options if she didn't want a life in the public eye. And yeah - if I heard about Laura Bush skipping out of a public appearance in favor of dinner at Le Cirque on the tax payer's dime, I'd be pissed.

I see Princess Masako in a different light from Princess Diana, simply because Diana was young, naive, and relatively uneducated when she entered the royal family. Also, Diana was proactive about getting out of the royal family once she realized how that life was causing her to self-destruct.

@PhillyLass: I agree completely. I think part of the problem is that depression isn't even recognized as a legit illness in the East (as an earlier poster mentioned). All anyone can really evaluate her on is how she has adhered to tradition.
I realize that this lifestyle was her choice, but I imagine all her responsibilities are extremely overwhelming.

@J.D.regent: Dudes, I LOVE food. I will eat nearly anything. But the fact that this rich, well educated woman is eating fins cut from living sharks is more disgusting than the idea of monarchy. (Now that's saying something, I know...)

They say when you're depressed, the best cure is to get out and help someone. Well how about setting a good example to her people by NOT eating shark fins before the Japanese fishing fleet kills all the sharks, and whales, and dolphins, and just about everything else they can get their nets or knives on. Barf.

@AbbyNormal: I wasn't arguing with you, really. But since I don't think many of us have a deep understanding of the Japanese monarchy and/or political system, all our comments are based on this one story. I was joking about wanting that diagnosis, because although I am sure depression manifests itself in different ways to different people, I've never heard of someone who is only depressed when asked to do things they don't enjoy. Sure, sometimes a job makes me depressed but not in the clinical sense.

@Kataluna: Imagine our taxes supported Paris Hilton. THEN you'll understand why they're pissed.

Given the tax breaks and bailouts of big business (esp during Republican administrations), this is already somewhat the case.

@PhillyLass: Depression doesn't make you capricious. Imagine if Laura Bush was supposed to go to an important fundraiser White House prompted AIDS research or something, called out sick, and then was seen at a club. Now imagine you paid for her drinks.

@LaComtesse: "Fuck them all right in the ear."

I say that all the time! Greatest phrase ever! Yay!

Oh, and also, I agree with the actual, ya know, point you made.

@PhillyLass: It's not that I don't have sympathy for depressed people, since I know what it does firsthand. When you're one of the hoi polloi, at some point you DO have to get out of the house, or push yourself to go to work. If she is truly depressed about her self-worth or status as a woman in their system, she has all the means to remove herself from the situation.

If she was poor, and sans internet or newspapers not knowing another world was out there, I'd imagine she wouldn't have the tools to deal with this. I mean, she DID attend Harvard?

Okay, totally random and totally shallow, but she is super adorable.

@PhillyLass: I have no doubt her depression is not taken as seriously as it deserves to be. HOWEVER, her "antics" are not symptomatic of the type of depression she is reported to have. This just kinda seems to be a dick move.

@MsDirector: Why thanks! Yeah, South Park movie. It gave us so many useful phrases. ("Who's my creampuff?" "I am.")

@blondegrlz: Sorry, didn't mean to sound all bitchy! I think I'm a bit defensive about this topic (derpession not royalty) right now because I'm mired in family drama caused by depression and addiction. My sister stopped going to work (and taking care of her daughter, and bathing, etc.), but still hits the casino and the bar every night. But her problems are all-encompassing, and she thinks truffles are made from chocolate. (Trying to not be such a downer, here, not just being flippant.)

The media portrayals of this woman may be as as much gossip and rumor as fact, it's difficult to know from our vantage point. And, I for one know very little about the politics and dynamics of the Japanese royal family, its traditions and expectations, let alone Japanese culture in general.

Is it wrong to want flautas now? All these posts about Mexican food are making me hungry.

@taxbaby: Damn. Oh well, I already gave up on Japan.

I figured more of you guys would understand depression a bit more.
When you are that down, going to work (or in my case, class) can become difficult. You can spend days on the verge of tears for no good reason. So you do things to try to make yourself happy. Like have a nice dinner.

Whoever is giving her shit can DIAF. They're just pissed she hasn't squeezed out a male heir.

She should do her job. If she can go to dinners, shopping trips etc, then she can do her job as Princess. If she's too depressed to work, then she's too depressed for the rest of it too. Having gone through depression, I can tell you it is possible to still go through life, just not very easily. But that's just tough cheese.

And if she doesn't want to work as a princess, take a leaf out of the Countess of Wessex's book and get another job.

@ohgoodness: I understand depression - I've been there. But I've also sought help - and I'd hope she would have, too, given that it's been four years since she was diagnosed. It's not as though this is a new thing, or a one time thing.

@AbbyNormal: You weren't being bitchy, I just didn't want to fight. I'm sorry about your sister and obviously that's a completely real problem. I doubt the princess's depression is like that though, based on the quotes in the post. And some truffles ARE made of chocolate. The best kind.

Yeah I totally want Mexican food now. We've got nothing around her besides a Margaritas which IS NOT REAL MEXICAN.

@Macloserboy: while this is the case (the male's sperm determines the sex of the fetus), it is also possible for the pH levels of the vagina to destroy the weaker male sperm, allowing only the stronger female sperm to fertilize the egg. so, it could actually be her "fault", though blaming a person for the sex of their baby is still a very stupid thing to do.

I am, on some days, truly amused that all the women of the world haven't gone globally Lorena Bobbitt and shit. I mean, it's kind of amazing, right?

@katastic: chile rellenos pleeez...

@Thakadinskypapers
Please don't say you're serious about the shark fin soup. Doesn't matter how delicious, any partakers should have their arm cut off and be thrown back in the ocean still alive. Shark fin soup makes me sad (maybe that's the problem for the princess?)

I guess they're pissed because their taxpayers are paying for her to do all this (and other lavish expressions of consumption? Not that truffles are expensive, but trips to Disneyland sorta) and not doing the public duties her stipend is meant to cover. If that commenter is right and she goes skiing and to Disneyland but doesn't show up to a ceremony... I dunno, man. I feel bad for her, but it just doesn't seem like Japan is asking her to do that much, now that they're letting her daughter take the throne.

And I know they're damn thrifty about their royal family: royal kids who aren't the heir get cut off public stipends as soon as they get married. (And it's not just Japan -- I have a Spanish friend who went off on a half-hour rant about the royal family (the crown prince in particular!) being a waste of taxpayer money.)

@sybann: I love chile rellenos! And the jalapenos that have been soaking with the carrots and onions. Mmmmmmmm. Tengo hambre!

Well, at least I know what I'm making for dinner tonight.

I bet her marriage sucks. We know for sure that her "people", don't like her, she's isolated, and the only way to escape is to go on vacations and eat tasty food. Maybe she's not sick (but uses that excuse) because she'd just rather not be a princess anymore...but, she can't get a divorce as a royal (without causing hell to break loose).

@SeraSera: When they say black truffles they aren't talking about a Whitman Sampler...they are talking about the French Fungus.

@Poisonpixie: I just looked at the price of truffles online, and lordy! One pound of them is $2,200, but you can buy one truffle for the bargain price of $155. I don't even want to think about how much mark up a restaurant would put on a truffle dish.

Wow...if one truffle costs $155, how much would a "plate of truffles" cost? eep!

@PhillyLass:

Not too different from the late Princess Di.

@tulipsaki: I'll quote my mother "Too sick to go to school, too sick to play wit your friends when they get home." If she has depression, I understand the anxiety caused by a major state function would be a bit much. Fine. But more often than not takes just as much effort for someone with depression to do the things they WANT to do. That's the tragedy of the disease.

@TeeEmEff: Yeah, it's a massively expensive meal. Again. Fuck the royals.

@petuniacat: Do they still use pigs so sniff them out? I always thought that was the weirdest part.

I guess it would be like if Laura Bush were to never leave the white house but she orders in all sorts of Michael Jackson craziness--and the US has to pay for that sh*te.

I wonder...could she have a bank account of her own? Maybe...some money she inherited...so then, it wouldnt be a matter of spending the taxpayers money...I feel bad for her, even if she CAN eat truffles and I cant, sigh.

There is this GREAT book called "Shutting out the sun" about Japan and a lot of it's cultural, uh, issues, and in that book it is suggested that the Japanese royal family doesn't let her engage in official activities. Also, really interesting book,if anyone is interested in modern Japan.

I found this gem of info online at international herald tribune if anyone cares,"she enjoyed a sumptuous repast at a French restaurant where the US$300 (€200) course featured exquisite black truffles."

There's a very good chance that she's not on any medication--many medications available here (US) are not available in Japan(the pill was only legalized in Japan in the 1990s, as an examples). Depression and related illnesses are much more stigmatized there than in the US. So, she may not be getting drugs that will help her, and combined with public shunning, well, I'm sure that doesn't help.

Japan is also not a very woman-friendly country. It's expected that once a woman gets married, she becomes a housewife, and is expected to care for her husband and children. This is part of what is contributing to the very low birthrates--many women are opting out of marriage and babymaking altogether. Furthermore, it's expected that once a woman gets married, she leaves her family and takes care of her husband's family--she is responsible for taking care of her parents-in-law, for example. The man's role is to go to work and make money; the woman's to do everything else.

The general mindset is quite different than the US, also--in Japan, the group is more important than the individual. Even if it causes the individual pain, it's expected that the person will do what is needed for the group to thrive. The Japanese people might feel that Princess Masako doesn't have their best interests at heart and is acting selfishly.

Japan's an interesting country, but it has some rather twisted aspects. I feel so sorry for Masako for having to deal with this shit.

Her depression is a different issue, but I can understand if people are frustrated because they pay her to show up at events and wave, and she somehow can't find the energy to do that, yet can find the motivation to go on skiing trips and to fancy dinners.

From all I've read, she really does not enjoy her role, and would've been better suited to having a 'real' job. I don't know much about Japan at all, so could someone tell me if it's not possible for her to take on some kind of charity and NGO work, like Queen Rania? From all that I've read she seems to be depressed from what she perceives to be the uselessness of her role and the very unfair pressure to give birth to an heir.

I don't think she actually ate a plate of truffels. Seriously, the taste of them is so strong, I think your eyes would pop out of your head if you ate just one. I've had shaved truffle on pasta a few times, and in the right amount it's delicious. But I once had a sauce that was too heavy on the truffle, and I went home feeling sick to my stomach.

I don't care that the royals get my money. I'd much rather have a fun family to enjoy as 'public property' than the government going ahead with more idiotic plans like MORE FREEWAYS!

@haguenite: Yeah, it's like those people that eat a shit ton of fois gras. I'm like, really? It's like eating pure butter.

@TruculentandUnreliable: That, and I really dislike the taste of foie gras. I'll stick to paté, thanks. Also, the way foie gras is produced is absolutely sick. At least truffles grow by themselves.

@Kataluna: In a way our taxes do support some celebrity shit: how much did the most recent gargantuan police escort for Britney Spears' hospitalization cost? Or the fire stations in Malibu that can only feasibly protect 3 celebrity mansions because the houses are so huge and a fire breaks out EVERY YEAR (not to mention the mudslides). Us shmucks are constantly subsidizing the rich and famous.

@eys: @spikenard: You both make good points. I would just add that it is likely that Masako did not want to marry Naruhito but felt forced to for the good of the group. I have no idea what's happened since but I do know that the imperial family is so stuffy they make the Windsors look like Lindsay Lohan's family so no, as the wife of the crown prince and future empress she can't get a job. Too bad, seems like she was super capable before the household got to her. She may be protesting through the only avenue available to her.

If this depressed person is actually vacationing all over the world and enjoying her private life, on the tax payers' money, while ignoring public responsibilities than yah that would be a problem.

I'll admit I skimmed these comments, but it doesn't seem like the possibility that she actually -loved- this Naruhito guy has been considered. Maybe some of you are better informed enough to discount this possibility. But if she hypothetically did have such feelings what should she have done? Let someone else marry the guy like Camilla PB? That might have ended as well as it did with the Windsors. If she really did keep rejecting him because she didn't want to be constantly subject to public scrutiny--and god that sounds like hell--but was still feeling mooshy about the guy, am I the only pathetic sentimentalist who would feel totally sorry for her? Also: def in the sympathy for the depressed crowd. & p.s. Really? No Japanese jezebels want in on this? Too bad. (&sorry, not normally this long-winded.)

I thought it was illegal to eat shark fin soup (because they cut off the shark fin and then throw them back into the water), or maybe that was chocolate.

mmmm...I'm a fan of Masako's, but no dice. I'm a bit disappointed in her actions.

The kind of depression she supposedly has....is crippling on every level. She would need all of her strength just to make it through the day. And the highlight would be lying down at night to go to sleep and escape for several hours. Skiing and vacations would just not be possible. Maybe once in awhile, but certainly not on a regular basis...

I certainly understand why she would be depressed. While she expected the strict and unforgiving environment, I'm sure she never expected to spend 10 years just trying to deliver one child. The problem is not that she gave birth to a daughter, the problem is that she cannot get pregnant again to provide the required male heir.

So I'm thinking her depression is not nearly as severe (at least not anymore) as reported. If she is strong enough to go on vacations, she is certainly strong enough to make some sort of contribution to her public duties.