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Japan’s royals are joining Instagram – with Kate Middleton’s cancer saga in Britain top of mind?
- Britain’s Princess Kate faced wild claims about her health online and the media before she recently revealed her cancer diagnosis
- By finally joining social media, Japan’s monarchy aims to get ahead of any bad news before it becomes fodder for the tabloids, observers say
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Japan’s monarchy will soon enter the social media space with a new Instagram account, in a move seen as giving the Imperial Household Agency control over its narratives following the online woes of the British Windsor family.
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The Japanese imperial family’s official Instagram account is due to go live next month, with media observers agreeing the timing is notable given the social media frenzy surrounding Kate, the Princess of Wales, before and following her announcement about her cancer diagnosis on Saturday.
The agency – widely regarded as the power behind the Japanese throne – may have learned from the local media’s frenzy in 2021 over the wedding of former princess Mako, niece of Emperor Naruhito, and Kei Komuro, a commoner, the observers said.
Japan’s tabloids went into lurid details over the couple’s courtship, Komuro’s repeated failures to pass the bar examinations in New York, his divorced mother’s former relationships and questions about money provided by one of her former boyfriends to pay for Komuro’s university fees.
“I think the palace learned a lot from that experience,” said Garren Mulloy, a British professor of international relations at Daito Bunka University in Tokyo.
“The story was so unusual and had so many elements that just kept the story going for the tabloids that it became like a 12-part television drama,” he told This Week in Asia.
“But now I am sure they are looking at the British royal family and the nightmare they have had to endure over the last few weeks,” he said. “On the plus side, I do not think the Japanese media or social media will get as bad as it has been in the UK, but they will be watching that as the worst-case scenario.”
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