Posted on 09/06/2003 6:06:56 PM PDT by blam
Book lifts the lid on Emperor's high living
By Colin Joyce in Tokyo
(Filed: 07/09/2003)
The imperial Palace in Tokyo used to declare its budget on a single piece of paper, with only the barest of details. Now a new book has given the Japanese an unprecedented glimpse into royal life - and how Emperor Akihito spends his annual £150 million of public money.
Revealed for the first time is a staff list that includes four doctors on call 24 hours a day, five men who attend to his wardrobe and 11 who assist him in Shinto rites. In all, Japan's royal family commands a legion of more than 1,000 people, including a 24-piece orchestra, 30 gardeners, 25 cooks and 78 plumbers, electricians and builders.
Emperor Akihito The main imperial palace, in Tokyo, home to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, requires 160 servants to keep it running - partly because of rules like one that a maid who wipes a table cannot also wipe the floor, according to The Imperial Family Purse. Meanwhile the emperor and his family run up a monthly water bill of £50,000.
The book, which is opening up public debate about the role of the imperial family, draws on some 200 documents made available for the first time under a new public information law. Until now, facts about spending were hidden behind the so-called Chrysanthemum Curtain, which keeps secret much of the Japanese royal family's life.
"Compared to the time when no information was available, this is an epochal step forward," writes the book's author, Yohei Mori, former royal correspondent for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
Even so, the Imperial Household Agency refused to consider follow-up questions until they were supplied in writing, in Japanese, and was then unable to respond last week.
Mr Mori points out that in addition to the emperor's own doctors, his palace has a £2 million-a-year clinic with 42 staff and eight medical departments, but only 28 visitors a day. The room in which Crown Princess Masako gave birth to Princess Aiko two years ago was redecorated beforehand at a cost of £140,000.
A special 961-strong police force guards the imperial family and their residences at a cost of £48 million.
The emperor spent £140,000 building a new wine cellar, which stores 4,500 bottles of 11 types of white wine and seven types of red. When President Mbeki of South Africa visited Japan in 2001 he was served Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1982, which today costs more than £300 a bottle, and Dom Perignon 1992 champagne.
The Japanese imperial family consists of an inner court of six: the emperor and empress; Princess Sayako, their unmarried daughter; Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako and their daughter.
But the civil list covers a further 19 family members who also live in imperial residences, although they are not forbidden to hold other jobs or run businesses. Prince Tomohito, a cousin of the emperor, and his wife and two daughters, both university students, receive a total of £310,000 a year, even though their royal duties are light and few Japanese even know who they are.
Mr Mori says discussion about the imperial purse has been stifled by secrecy and a lack of scrutiny by the politicians who approve the budget. "Immediately after the war, there was some level of debate," he writes. "But a sense of taboo means that people have come to avoid peering into the imperial household's economy."
The book, which has sold some 36,000 copies so far, reveals that imperial men outside the direct line of succession receive twice as much money from the civil list as their wives.
The system was devised in an era when imperial women stayed largely within the palace grounds, but Princess Sayako has visited 12 countries on official trips since her father succeeded to the throne in 1989.
Among the imperial properties is a 622-acre farm which provides milk, meat and vegetables for the imperial family at an annual cost to the taxpayer of £3 million. The farm once ran at a profit because it bred prizewinning racehorses but this was stopped in 1969.
Much of the imperial family's wealth was confiscated after the Second World War by the American occupation authorities, who viewed it as a barrier to building a democracy. By the time Emperor Hirohito died, he left personal property worth £11 million. The imperial palaces are all owned and paid for by the state.
There is some restraint in spending, at least. When the emperor travels, his entourage pays just £110 a night, no matter how expensive the hotel. Owners put up with this because none will risk losing the honour of hosting the imperial family.
Actually they are very low. In total, they are very close to the USA - one factor that is usually overlooked in Japan's economic success.
Just over a decade ago, one of the last royal princesses of one of the royal lines passed away in Minneapolis. She had come to America as a picture bride earlier in the century. One of her sons won a Silver Star in France fighting for America. Another son was with the first American landing party after the surrender.
Just plain folks as far as I could ever tell but her brothers lineage was probably better than that of Hirohito.
Trajan88
rules like one that a maid who wipes a table cannot also wipe the floor
That actually makes a lot of sense. Ever been in a fast food emporium where the table wiper comes around with a gray (once white) rag and wipes the seats, THEN cleans the table? Ewwww.....
Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Royalty has it's priveleges, while trailer trash has to scavenge for what's left :)
Wow! The labor unions are everywhere.
Actually they are very low. In total, they are very close to the USA
How can that be? I would not call the tax rates here in the US "very low".
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