Princess Masako

At the time I finished this book, a memoir of Princess Masako (Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne) written by Australian journalist, Ben Hills and suddenly gloomy feeling spread all over me. I feel so sorry for Princess Masako. As a brilliant woman, a diplomat, graduated from Harvard, speaking 6 foreign languages, finally get depressed, mentally and physically, not able to appear in public, not even can manage herself. It turns out that it's so hard to adapt from a modern woman into a traditional one. How poor you are.

Living in a palace of course a totally different life compared to ordinary people's life, but it could be worse when it comes to Chrysanthemum Throne. They're so mysterious. A lot of pressure from the palace people, especially from Imperial Household Agency (Kunaicho). Stressful for not having a son as the successor of the emperor, after 9 years of marriage. Princess Masako finally gave birth of a baby girl, Princess Aiko, with the help of IVF (In Vitro Fertilization).

This book is prohibited in Japan, considered as insulting Japanese people and the Imperial family.

It's already translated into Bahasa Indonesia by Pustaka Alvabet on March 2009 (3rd edition). If you're curious about life in a mysterious palace, check this out and trust me it's absolutely not a nice one.