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monarchy
Jonathan Watts in Tokyo
Friday June 21, 2002
The Guardian
The Japanese emperor and empress are not known for moving with the times, but in a rare softening of their staid public appearance they hinted yesterday that the imperial family might one day have the freedom to cycle in Tokyo.
The suggestion that future heirs to the Chrysanthemum Throne could follow in the tyre tracks of the bicycling royals of Europe was made during the second joint press conference to be given by the imperial couple in four years.
"I like riding a bicycle", said Empress Michiko in response to a question from a journalist about the comparative freedoms enjoyed by monarchs in Europe and Japan. "But the traffic in Tokyo is so heavy that I think I would be scared, and probably make people around me nervous too."
She said she and her husband were rarely free to travel casually where they wanted.
But she had hope for her grandchildren: "I can only hope that for them it will not be a time when restrictions are placed on them too excessively, deforming the children's character and posing obstacles to their development as humans," she said. "It is not beyond the bounds of imagination that some day one of our grandchildren will be riding a bicycle freely through the busy streets of Tokyo."
Planning two generations ahead for a switch to pedal power is an indication of how slowly change happens in the imperial family, which claims an unbroken 2,400-year line.
Their press conference, arranged to mark a forthcoming imperial visit to central Europe, was equally low tempo and highly controlled.
A month in advance, invited journalists were asked to submit questions, which were carefully vetted for controversial content - including even the royal couple's opinions about the World Cup.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><STRONG><FONT size=5>monarchy</FONT></STRONG> <BR><BR><FONT face=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif size=2><B>Jonathan Watts in Tokyo<BR>Friday June 21, 2002<BR><A href="
http://www.guardian.co.uk/">The Guardian</A></B> <BR><BR></FONT><FONT face=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif size=2>The Japanese emperor and empress are not known for moving with the times, but in a rare softening of their staid public appearance they hinted yesterday that the imperial family might one day have the freedom to cycle in Tokyo.
<P>The suggestion that future heirs to the Chrysanthemum Throne could follow in the tyre tracks of the bicycling royals of Europe was made during the second joint press conference to be given by the imperial couple in four years.
<P>"I like riding a bicycle", said Empress Michiko in response to a question from a journalist about the comparative freedoms enjoyed by monarchs in Europe and Japan. "But the traffic in Tokyo is so heavy that I think I would be scared, and probably make people around me nervous too."
<P>She said she and her husband were rarely free to travel casually where they wanted.
<P>But she had hope for her grandchildren: "I can only hope that for them it will not be a time when restrictions are placed on them too excessively, deforming the children's character and posing obstacles to their development as humans," she said. "It is not beyond the bounds of imagination that some day one of our grandchildren will be riding a bicycle freely through the busy streets of Tokyo."
<P>Planning two generations ahead for a switch to pedal power is an indication of how slowly change happens in the imperial family, which claims an unbroken 2,400-year line.
<P>Their press conference, arranged to mark a forthcoming imperial visit to central Europe, was equally low tempo and highly controlled.
<P>A month in advance, invited journalists were asked to submit questions, which were carefully vetted for controversial content - including even the royal couple's opinions about the World Cup. </FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><p><br><hr size=1><A HREF="
http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mail.yahoo.com/"><b>Yahoo! Mail</a></b>: 6MB di spazio gratuito, 30MB per i tuoi allegati, l'antivirus, il filtro Anti-spam
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