Hills writes about the travails of Princess Masako — a fast- rising diplomat when she married Crown Prince Naruhito — pressures she suffered, particularly from the Imperial Household Agency, her breakdown in 2003 and speculation that her daughter Aiko was conceived by IVF methods.

“I find this offensive,” Hills said. “They did not specify factual errors. There was nothing they produced to us that warranted an apology. I told the ambassador’s representative Australians were very proud of their freedom of the press and we strongly resisted any attempt by any government, particularly a foreign government, to tell us what we can read. Princess Masako should get an apology from the Imperial Household Agency for bullying her into a state of severe depression.”

THE Japanese Government has complained to Canberra that an Australian book about Crown Princess Masako denigrates the Imperial family and the Japanese people.

A Japanese edition of the book, Princess Masako, the prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne by Sydney journalist and author Ben Hills, has been postponed after the Imperial Household Agency posted a complaint on their website.

“We are studying the facts and content of the book,” said a spokesman for Japanese publishers Kodansha. He said the book’s publication, scheduled for this month, could depend on the response to demands for apologies and corrections.

“If the book is published (in Japanese) as an exact translation of the original book, we are are not happy at all,” Ministry of Foreign affairs chief spokesman Mitsuo Sakaba said yesterday.

Hills writes about the travails of Princess Masako — a fast- rising diplomat when she married Crown Prince Naruhito — pressures she suffered, particularly from the Imperial Household Agency, her breakdown in 2003 and speculation that her daughter Aiko was conceived by IVF methods.

The author was a Tokyo correspondent in 1993 when Masako married and recalls “being flabbergasted that a smart, articulate woman would bury herself in that medieval monastery, the palace”.

Hills said a senior member of the Japanese embassy, Shinichi Hosono, travelled to Sydney on Monday to speak with him and his Australian publishers Random House. He said he was given a letter claiming he had insulted the Imperial family and the Japanese people and they were seeking unspecified damages, apologies and corrections.

“I find this offensive,” Hills said. “They did not specify factual errors. There was nothing they produced to us that warranted an apology. I told the ambassador’s representative Australians were very proud of their freedom of the press and we strongly resisted any attempt by any government, particularly a foreign government, to tell us what we can read. Princess Masako should get an apology from the Imperial Household Agency for bullying her into a state of severe depression.”

Hills said the book had been on sale in Australia for four months and the only reason the Japanese Government was complaining now was because the book was about to be published in Japanese.

“The Japanese government is trying to prevent its own people from reading the truth about what is going on inside the palace.”