Word: shoda
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Years ago Mrs. Elizabeth Gray Vining, the American Quaker who tutored Akihito during his childhood, said to Dr. Koizumi: "She who marries the crown prince must be a girl of spirit who will not be a doormat; she must not be someone who will be easily overwhelmed." Michiko Shoda, standing straight and slim beside her devoted prince, seems precisely that girl...
Police Guard. Prim, convent-bred Michiko Shoda had no part in any such shenanigans. But, just as in the eyes of many Japanese women she is the most successful symbol of their emancipation, so has she to some extent become a symbol of the hated modern world to Japanese traditionalists-mostly men over 30. Some of the kazoku (noble) families make no secret of their chagrin that their own blue-blooded daughters were passed over as a bride for the crown prince. A court lady angrily describes Michiko Shoda as "that little upstart." Recently, as a guest at an exclusive...
...loved her summer vacations at the mountain resort of Karuizawa, where the Shoda villa lies within sight of the smoking crater of the Asama volcano. Michiko lived in tennis shorts, was on the courts nearly every day, enjoyed dropping into the little village shops for rice balls and noodles-a passion that absorbed nearly all her monthly allowance of $2.78. The reddish tinge had vanished from her hair, but she seemed ashamed of its persistent and un-Japanese curliness, and confessed that her childhood nickname had been "Temple-chau," after Shirley Temple...
...Matchmaker. The Shoda family gave thought to Michiko's future, and there is evidence that she formally met selected prospects at a miai, or a meeting arranged with a view to a possible match. One candidate is said to have been the son of a soap-company president; reportedly he backed away, declaring Michiko's personality "too cold." Michiko seems to have been drawn to a Japanese diplomat and was disappointed when he was sent to a post in Europe. He wrote her long, graceful letters dealing mostly with the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen...
...Koizumi was distantly acquainted with Michiko Shoda before she met the crown prince, and subsequent investigation, he said, "showed her to be far better than anyone." In fact, her name had been included on the first, very large list of prospective brides that had been drawn up by the imperial household, but it had been excluded-with all other commoners-from the small, final list. But there was no longer doubt where the prince's inclinations...