SHE'S been cloistered for seven years suffering from depression, but Japanese Crown Princess Masako has been reluctantly drawn back into the public eye.
The princess has started taking her daughter to school and even sitting with her in class, following the Imperial Household Agency's announcement last week that eight-year-old Aiko was refusing to attend because of bullying.
Some commentators h
ave suggested this latest twist in the story of the ancient and secretive monarchy will fuel growing calls for Princess Masako's husband, Crown Prince Naruhito, to step aside as the successor to his father, Emperor Akihito, 76.
"Many people won't want such an unhealthy family to become emperor and empress," said Akira Hashimoto, a former schoolmate of the emperor who has written several books about the imperial family. "If Aiko's problems continue, this will only put more pressure on the crown prince."
Aiko is the couple's only child and is widely known to be one of the few sources of joy for Princess Masako, 46, a Harvard-trained former diplomat. Some have even speculated whether her mother's problems have made Aiko overly sensitive or emotionally frail.
The media portrayed Princess Masako's 1993 wedding as the fairy-tale marriage of a commoner to a prince, but then grew increasingly critical of her inability to bear a male heir for the Chrysanthemum Throne.
The mounting pressure is widely seen as contributing to what appears to have been a breakdown. It remains to be seen whether her daughter's troubles will make the Japanese public more sympathetic to the princess's plight, or only add to criticism of her.
Some court watchers, such as Hashimoto, have started to ask how the crown prince would be able to fulfil his duties as emperor with his wife incapacitated and his daughter unable to attend school on her own.
Naruhito, 50, has also shared the blame for the princess's failure to have a boy, which prompted a politically charged debate about whether to break with centuries of tradition and allow a woman to assume the throne, one of the world's oldest hereditary monarchies.
This debate was halted three years ago when the wife of the crown prince's younger brother, Prince Akishino, bore a son, ensuring a male successor for at least one more generation.
Others, however, said the school incident might have the opposite effect of making the public feel more compassionate towards Princess Masako. They said it could make the crown princess seem less distant if she was seen as a concerned mother facing down her child's persecutors, with bullying being an all-too-common problem in Japan's high-pressure educational system.
Takeshi Hara, a professor specialising in the monarchy at Meiji Gakuin University, said: "This will impress upon the public psyche that Princess Masako has problems just like the rest of us. This could generate more support for her and the crown prince.
The renewed attention began when the Imperial Household Agency's grand master, who manages the affairs of the crown prince and his family, said at a regular news conference that Aiko was staying at home because of stomach aches and anxiety attacks.
The grand master, Issei Nomura, then revealed that the agency believed that the princess had suffered "violent acts" by boys in her elementary school, but did not elaborate.
The apparently unscripted outburst was unprecedented from someone in the usually tight-lipped inner circles of Japan's tradition-bound imperial family, and it immediately set off a frenzy of coverage in the Japanese media. Some reports have criticised the grand master for overreacting to a common problem faced by parents of other social classes.
However, the harshest words have been reserved for Tokyo's elite Gakushuin Primary School, which was created more than a century ago to educate Japan's pre-war aristocracy.
Tabloid weeklies have reported in scandalised tones how the school had allowed students to run, yell in class and tussle on the playground – behaviour common at other schools but unacceptable at one patronised by the imperial family.
Responding to the grand master's comments, a director at the school, Motomasa Higashisono, said that Aiko was scared after two boys nearly collided with her by accident as they rushed down the hallway to get lunch.
"My understanding is that we have heard nothing about any acts of violence or bullying directed at Her Highness Princess Aiko," Higashisono said. However, there has been talk of whether the incident may prompt the imperial family to cut its ties to the school.