It`s a boy!

This morning at 9am Princess Kiko gave birth to a baby boy by ceasarian. (She had placental previa throughout her pregnancy) This little baby has put an end to all hopes of a female succeeding to the Japanese throne and maybe a change in the times. The staid old-fashioned royalists have got their way and for the time being, all talk of changing the laws of succession has been put on hold, perhaps permanently. This makes me sad because I think that a change in the law and an Empress in Japan`s future could have made a big difference to the country that seems stuck in the ice age as far as gender roles is concerned. Much speculation surrounded the pregnancy and I was definitely one of the people who believed (and still believe) that this pregnancy was planned and engineered to stop a female from succeeding to the Japanese throne. Many of you are probably reading this and thinking "Why does she care?" The answer is that as a Brit I have always had a closet obsession with royal families. The other answer is that I don`t really care but am disappointed that what could have been an exciting time for Japan has come to an end and I am saddened that yet again Japan has proved me right and been incredibly predictable. Obviously I am very happy that both mother and baby are healthy as Kiko-sama looked really worn out and overwhelmed by it all towards the end of her pregnancy (she also had the world`s smallest bump.. I think I watched too much Sunset Beach as a teenager but I was telling my husband this morning that she probably wasn`t even pregnant in the first place and this is someone else`s baby... he told me I was being crazy.. he was probably right!!) The one thing I am happy about is that this will mean the end of pressure on the Crown Princess Masako to provide a male heir. Maybe she and her family can now live in peace until her husband succeeds to the throne in the future. They were in Europe over the summer and she and her daughter looked so happy and like completely different people away from the scrutiny of the japanese media.. or is it because they knew that the end of the pressure on them was close!?! Who knows...;-)