BY THE unhappy standards of the House of Windsor, Japan’s Imperial Family is a model of modesty and tranquillity. Since Emperor Akihito succeeded to the throne in 1989, he has gone out of his way to present the image of an ordinary Japanese family, serious, concerned and in touch with the aspirations of common people.

Family members venture out from time to time to attend school athletic events, ceremonial tree plantings and to support charitable causes.

A stream of diplomats, academics, artists and foreign visitors make their way to the Imperial Palace to pay their respects and enjoy a few minutes of polite chat. Every few days, dressed in the garb of a Shinto priest, the Emperor pays his respects at a shrine to his claimed ancestor, the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu no Omikami.

But although they bear the burdens and duties of royalty, Japan’s Imperial Family enjoy few of its perks. There are no Windsor Castles or Balmorals; the palaces they occupy in the centre of Tokyo have vast grounds but simple interiors.

Apart from a modest seaside villa and a house in the mountains, there are no grand retreats. The family are never photographed careering down the ski slopes, drunkenly dancing or sunbathing on tropical beaches. In the absence of a home-grown aristocracy, and vigilantly watched by courtiers, they have few playmates at all.

The Imperial Family’s good behaviour is as much a necessity as an expression of good manners, a survival mechanism by an institution that is lucky to exist. The blandness and predictability of most imperial utterances avoid anger from the Right and the Left. But the Crown Prince’s remarkable statements of dissatisfaction have changed all that.

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