| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
advertisement | ||
Wednesday June 14, 12:01 AMWelsh officials felt banquet was too coarse for Akihito(Kyodo) _ Officials feared they had embarrassed the then Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko by subjecting them to a rather unrefined medieval banquet during their trip to Britain in June 1976, according to files released to Kyodo News under freedom of information laws.In a review of the visit sent to the British Embassy in Tokyo from the Far Eastern Department in London, officials said that while the couple was impressed with the entertainment at Cardiff Castle in Wales, "they found it rather strange to have to eat with their fingers, with bibs round their necks, and to drink sweat mead while the compere made occasionally risky allusions." The "friendly and informal" evening of folk dancing and singing was held in the cellars of the castle and was hosted by Foreign Office Minister and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Goronwy-Roberts. The Foreign Office dispatch was sent to the Welsh Office and resulted in the department's chief bureaucrat deciding that this would be the last time a medieval banquet was laid on for important visitors. An official from the Welsh Office tells the Foreign Office that his boss had had reservations about the event in advance, believing that it could be "rather too sensual for the Japanese." Foreign Office officials were surprised that the rather light-hearted remark had caused such a stir, but were told not to say anything in case they exacerbated the already tense situation. Despite the bureaucratic strife, the visit was deemed "a great success" by British officials. Akihito, who is now the emperor of Japan, encountered none of the hostility which his father, Hirohito, had received in 1971 when he visited Britain, the documents note. However, the files suggest that there had been some tension between the royal couple and the imperial household in the planning stage, with the latter favoring a more serious and business-like itinerary. Imperial household officials feared that if the crown prince and princess were seen to be enjoying themselves too much there would be criticism in the Japanese media. In its review, the Far Eastern Department wrote, "The crown prince and princess have clearly made great progress in escaping from the stuffy atmosphere of the old imperial household. "They seem determined to follow as far as they can the example of our own royal family and to overcome shyness and excessive protocol." Throughout the planning stages of the trip, the files reveal that there was much concern about the cost of the trip to the British taxpayer. Officials at the British government's hospitality fund -- which is used to finance the visits of foreign dignitaries to Britain --said they would only fund the expenses of those in the official Japanese party of around 12 people. Those unofficial members of the entourage would have to pay for themselves. The Japanese were not particularly happy at this proposal, reminding British officials that they paid for all of Queen Elizabeth's entourage on an earlier trip to Japan. There was also a disagreement over whether the royal couple should have a police motorcycle escort during the visit. The Japanese officials and Foreign Office wanted the prince to have an escort due to concerns over security, notably from the Japanese Red Army which carried out several high-profile attacks in the 1970s. But the officials in charge of protocol said only visits by heads of state merited a police escort, and extending this privilege would only further irk ordinary members of the public who resented the practice. Roger du Boulay, from the Foreign Office's protocol department, wrote, "Arguments about reciprocity won't wash. It may be the custom in Japan to provide all royals, or indeed all visitors, with motorcycle escorts. "I seem to remember it used to be (the practice) in Korea, and I have seen my escort there physically push overloaded cyclists off the road and, in one case, off a bridge into a river. But I imagine you would not wish to urge reciprocity of this kind." |
|||
|
2005 Kyodo News © Established 1945. All Rights Reserved.
|