Author of book on Masako slams Kodansha for backing out

The author of a book on Crown Princess Masako criticized a Japanese publishing house Saturday for its decision to cancel a translation of his biography following protests by the government, calling the step a "blatant attack on freedom of speech."

Kodansha Ltd. said late Friday it has canceled plans to publish the translation of "Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne," written by Australian journalist Ben Hills and released by Random House in December.

The tartly worded biography is billed on the cover as the "tragic, true story" of the 43-year-old Crown Princess, a Harvard graduate who abandoned a diplomatic career to marry royalty. The book describes her as a virtual captive of the Imperial Palace who has been bullied by bureaucrats into depression.

Hills said in an e-mail Saturday that he was "very surprised and disappointed" by Kodansha's decision. "We regard this as a blatant attack on freedom of speech."

He also condemned the Japanese government for exercising "censorship that would be totally unacceptable in any other advanced country" and pressuring Kodansha to surrender.

"I do not worry whether people love my book or hate my book, but they should be given the chance to read it for themselves and make up their own minds," he said. "The Japanese people have the right to know what is going in their royal family."

He said he hopes to publish the book through another "courageous" publisher -- one of three that have contacted him recently.

The Imperial Household Agency and the Foreign Ministry have demanded an apology from the author for "disrespectful descriptions, distortions of facts and judgmental assertions with audacious conjectures and coarse logic."

But government officials have declined to cite most of the passages they find problematic. The government also protested to Random House in Sydney.

Criticizing an emperor was regarded as serious crime in the first half of the 20th century. There is still a strong tradition in Japan of respect for the Imperial family, who are shielded from view by secretive palace officials.

The book details the Crown Princess' life in the palace, during which she has come under grinding pressure to produce a male heir to the throne. She and Crown Prince Naruhito were married in 1993. After suffering a miscarriage in 1999, she had a daughter, Princess Aiko, in 2001.

Hills said last week he has no intention of apologizing and that the government was trying to pressure publisher Kodansha to shelve the planned Japanese version of the book.

Kazunobu Kakishima, an editor at Kodansha, denied the company was scrapping the translation because of the government's protest. The decision, he said, came after Hills refused to acknowledge making factual errors during an interview with Japanese television earlier Friday.

"We have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to maintain trustworthy relations with the author and thus we were forced to cancel the book," he said.

Kakishima said a "substantial number of factual errors" have been corrected through fact-checking and meetings with interviewees quoted in the book. Kakishima declined to describe any specific errors, citing privacy.

Hills, Kakishima said, acknowledged the errors in discussions with Kodansha, approved corrections in a translated draft and even thanked the publisher for the changes.

A Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity as required by protocol, denied contacting Kodansha over the book but refused to comment on the cancellation.

Emperor Akihito's chamberlain, Makoto Watanabe, wrote to Hills earlier this month that a veteran palace reporter told him "almost every page seems to contain an error."

In one example, Watanabe said, the book erroneously called the Emperor's duties "all undemanding formal appearances at uncontroversial events."

Another passage, Watanabe said, incorrectly said members of the Imperial family would be unlikely to take up a cause as Princess Diana did with the Leprosy Mission.