CNNより抜粋。
Japan's crown prince, who turned 47 on Friday, asked for patience as his wife recovers from a form of depression, saying she needs to regain her confidence before she can fully return to her official duties.
Naruhito, heir to Japan's ancient Chrysanthemum Throne, said his wife, Masako, is improving slowly but is not yet ready to resume official appearances and other public duties.
Masako, 43, withdrew from virtually all of her public duties four years ago after being diagnosed with a stress-induced illness called "adjustment disorder."
"I think Masako is, though gradually, getting better compared with a year ago," the crown prince said at a pre-birthday news conference, the transcript of which was released on Friday. Members of the foreign media were excluded from the conference, which was restricted to a small group of Japanese newspaper and television reporters.
"What's important from now on is ... for her to widen the scope of her activities and gain confidence," the crown prince said.
Naruhito's comments come amid a furor in palace circles over the recent publication of a book on Masako by Australian author Ben Hills. The book, "Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne," has been slammed by the palace as disrespectful, and a Japanese publisher announced last week that it has decided to scrap plans to translate it into Japanese.
Naruhito said he has not read the book, but had heard from his staff about its contents. He refused to comment further.
Books critical of the royal family and its palace handlers are rare in Japan.
Japan's Imperial Household Agency and Foreign Ministry have demanded an apology from Hills for "disrespectful descriptions, distortions of facts and judgmental assertions with audacious conjectures and coarse logic." The government also protested to Random House in Sydney.
Criticizing the emperor was regarded as a serious crime in the first half of the 20th century and there is still a strong tradition in Japan of respect for the royal family, which is shielded from view by secretive palace officials.
Masako's illness has created a serious dilemma for the palace, however.
Masako, a well-liked former diplomat who was educated at Harvard and Oxford, and Naruhito were married in 1993. After suffering a miscarriage in 1999, she had a daughter, Aiko, in 2001. With no other male heirs in the generation after Naruhito, Aiko's birth generated a movement to revise imperial law to allow the girl to assume the throne after her father.
But that effort has been put on hold since the birth of a son to Naruhito's younger brother.
Naruhito refused to comment on whether he thinks the law should be revised.
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