Women aren't allowed to be emperors in Japan. Does it matter?
SEOUL, South Korea - Japan's Imperial Palace has a new resident who earned an economics degree from Harvard, speaks at least five languages and has negotiated complicated trade deals as a diplomat.
It's not Emperor Naruhito, who took the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday. It's his wife, Empress Masako.
With millions of Japanese watching on television, she stood silently by Naruhito's side in a tiara, sash and long white gloves as he addressed the Japanese people for the first time after assuming the position his father had held for nearly 30 years.
She wasn't permitted to attend the ceremonial rites that came earlier in the morning, from which royal women
