Masako assures that she will continue making efforts to fulfill her public duties as her accession to empress looms.
Crown Princess Masako, who has long struggled with depression, vowed on her 54th birthday Saturday to continue efforts to fulfill her duties, as she is now set to become empress in May 2019.
“When I think about the future, I feel a sobering sense of awe,” she said in a statement, referring to Friday’s Cabinet decision finalizing April 30,2019, as the day Emperor Akihito will relinquish the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Crown Prince Naruhito, Emperor Akihito’s eldest son, will ascend the throne the next day.
“Following… the Emperor and Empress as my guide, I will step up efforts to be able to fulfill my duties while supporting” my husband, she said.
The Harvard- and Oxford-educated former diplomat is still suffering from a stress-related illness but has shown signs of recovery in recent years, appearing in public more frequently.
According to the Imperial Household Agency, the Crown Princess took part in 64 public duties and Imperial rites that required her to leave her residence over the past year. That’s the most since 2012, when such data became available.
This year, the Crown Princess attended both biannual Imperial garden parties and traveled to regional cities six times.
“I am thankful and glad that things that I can perform increased gradually,” she said.
In 2004, the Imperial Household Agency said the Crown Princess was diagnosed with “adjustment disorder.
