Word: japanism
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...CHARGED. Takafumi Horie, 33, founder and former CEO of Livedoor, one of Japan's largest Internet companies; with violating securities law, by a Tokyo district court; in Tokyo. Horie, whose arrest in January sparked a stock swoon that wiped out 80% of his company's market value, pleaded not guilty to allegations that he and other top executives falsified accounts and spread false information to boost share prices. An estimated 2,000 spectators lined up at the courthouse to see the tycoon, whose case has been widely covered in Japan...
...When Japan's Princess Kiko gave birth to a 5-lb. 10-oz. baby boy on the morning of Sept. 6, ensuring the survival of the Japanese imperial line for at least another generation, the entire country appeared to twinkle with joy. Newspapers printed millions of special supplements, titans of industry issued congratulations, imperial enthusiasts gathered in front of the palace bearing flags and shouting "Banzai!" But Fumiko Wada, a housewife from Chiba, just outside Tokyo, wasn't celebrating. Wada is a dedicated fan of Crown Princess Masako, 42, and feels Kiko's miraculous pregnancy was just...
...Japan is divided into opposing camps of royal watchers: Team Kiko and Team Masako. It is an unusual development. The imperial family, the oldest royal line in the world, is also the most tightly controlled. Its members aren't allowed to have last names, personal wealth, opinions or, for the most part, lives. But the behind-the-scenes tug-of-war over the future of the dynasty has made the royals unexpectedly human--and made Masako and Kiko living symbols of the intense pressure on Japanese women to be both modern and traditional...
...modern sense, you couldn't ask for a more qualified crown princess than Masako. Daughter of a Japanese diplomat, educated at Harvard, Oxford and the University of Tokyo, Masako was so dedicated to her budding career in Japan's Foreign Ministry that she rebuffed Crown Prince Naruhito's engagement proposal for five years before finally marrying him in 1993. "I thought she was so striking and cool," says Harumi Kobayashi, a fan who has published three books on Masako...
...even if the traditional Kiko is lionized, the country's plummeting birthrate shows that Japanese women--regardless of their princess preference--are increasingly choosing modern lives. So the big loser in all this could be the baby. As Japan continues to change while the dynasty stands still, the prince may find it surprisingly difficult to find a Japanese woman willing to become his princess...