AP News, July 6th, 2007
Crown Princess Masako is not likely to be joining her husband, the heir to Japan's ancient throne, on any trips abroad in the near future.
Crown Prince Naruhito, speaking to reporters Friday ahead of a trip to Mongolia, said Masako is still recovering from a stress-induced ailment that has kept her from fulfilling most of her official duties for several years.
"She is gradually recovering," he said. "It will take some time before she can make trips abroad."
Naruhito is to leave alone for Mongolia on July 10 for an eight-day visit. He said the length of the trip was one of the reasons why Masako won't be joining him.
"Our doctors suggested that it might be difficult," he said. "Taking all things into consideration, we decided that I would go alone."
Masako, a rising star in Japan's Foreign Ministry before she wed the prince, withdrew from most of her public duties four years ago with a form of depression officials said was likely caused by stress and has only rarely emerged from the palace since then.
Pressures to produce an heir and to conform with the ancient traditions of palace life are believed to be behind her illness.
Masako came under grinding pressure to produce a male heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne after she and Naruhito married in 1993. After suffering a miscarriage in 1999, she had a daughter, Aiko, in 2001.
No male had been born to the family since Naruhito's younger brother, Prince Akishino, was born in 1965. But on Sept. 6, 2006, Akishino's wife, Princess Kiko, gave birth to a boy, forestalling a succession crisis.
