Prince Hisahito is the first male heir born into the Japanese imperial family in 58 years, and because the imperial tradition has always favored male succession, he is seen as the sole hope for the future of the imperial family.
At first, the Japanese imperial family portrayed Hisahito as extraordinarily talented, claiming that he could write professional articles at a young age and was even hailed as a genius comparable to Einstein.
However, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. Bearing the responsibility of the future of the Japanese imperial family, Hisahito has not grown into a smart and brave elite but has instead behaved like an ordinary child.
In fact, the term "ordinary child" might even overestimate his intellectual abilities.
Recently, the media revealed Hisahito's exam scores, showing that he received zero or just a few points in several subjects, with a total score of only twenty across all subjects.
Hisahito's intelligence has been questioned more than once.
Years ago, the Japanese public gradually realized that this so-called genius heir to the throne was not truly a genius but rather someone whose intelligence might be below that of an average child.
Hisahito was born in 2006, the only boy among his generation of the imperial family.
Clearly, his birth was not accidental but the result of careful planning by his parents.
Hisahito's father, Prince Fumihito, is the younger brother of the current Emperor Naruhito and the second son of the former Emperor.
Traditionally, the throne should not pass to Fumihito's line.
However, since Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako have only one daughter—Princess Aiko—and because Emperor Naruhito refused to have a second child due to Masako's health issues, Fumihito's family saw an opportunity.
They used in vitro fertilization to conceive a male child; at that time, Princess Kiko was already 39 years old, considered an advanced maternal age.
Although Japan's medical technology is highly advanced, Princess Kiko still faced a risk of massive bleeding due to placenta previa and ultimately chose to have a cesarean section.
Before this, Prince Fumihito and Princess Kiko already had two daughters.
If not for the throne, there was no need to risk her life to have this child through in vitro fertilization, but for the throne, they decided to take the gamble.
The couple had high hopes for their hard-won son, wanting to mold him into a brilliant prodigy.
It was reported that Hisahito invented a traffic device similar to a traffic light while in elementary school, even surpassing the abilities of many professional researchers.
During his elementary school years, Hisahito also frequently published articles with beautiful writing and deep content, resembling a second Kawabata Yasunari of Japan.
However, these descriptions all came from Prince Fumihito and Princess Kiko, and no one really knew what kind of child Hisahito truly was.
But the truth eventually comes to light.
As long as Hisahito appears in public, whether he is truly a genius becomes evident.
In 2014, Hisahito participated in a variety show; Princess Kiko intended to use this opportunity to establish Hisahito as a friendly figure, but things did not go as planned.
There was a segment called "Identify the Person in the Picture," where Hisahito was asked to identify his father, Prince Fumihito, from several photos.
At that time, Hisahito was already an eight-year-old child, so it should not have been difficult to recognize his father's photo.
However, surprisingly, Hisahito pointed at a photo of his uncle, Emperor Naruhito, and shouted "Dad."
If the two were identical twins, such a mistake might be understandable, but in fact, they look quite different.
Princess Kiko's face darkened immediately, while Hisahito seemed completely unaware of his mistake, still happily calling Emperor Naruhito's photo "Dad."
This incident made the Japanese public realize that Hisahito was far from being a genius and appeared to be someone with intelligence below the average level.
Even so, Princess Kiko was unwilling to accept the possibility that Hisahito might not be intelligent and continued to live in her fantasy.
When Hisahito was in middle school, he wrote an award-winning essay, and Princess Kiko proudly showed off the trophy everywhere.
However, it was soon revealed that the so-called excellent essay had been plagiarized from an online article, with even the punctuation marks barely changed.
In response, Princess Kiko and Prince Fumihito had to publicly apologize, shamelessly arguing that Hisahito had only borrowed from excellent works and had accidentally forgotten to cite the source.
Hisahito himself made no comment on the matter; perhaps he did not wish to deceive himself and the public in this way, but he seemed to have no other choice.
Hisahito might also be in great pain, as he bears responsibilities beyond his abilities, yet cannot escape them.
In 2022, on Hisahito's 16th birthday, the Imperial Household Agency released a video of him inspecting rice fields.
The agency originally hoped to use this to promote Hisahito's concern for agriculture and present him as a prince who cares about the people's livelihood.
However, in the video, Hisahito appeared expressionless, like an emotionless robot, mechanically walking through the fields according to a set program.
His expression was not that of a typical 16-year-old boy but more like that of a monk who had seen through the world.
In public, Hisahito rarely shows any emotion.
He doesn't like to smile, nor does he often get angry; he always maintains a blank expression.
For someone like Hisahito, being born into a normal family, living as a carefree child, might have been happier.
However, he was born into the Japanese imperial family and is the only male heir of his generation.
The Japanese public also has very high expectations for members of the imperial family.
Hisahito has been heavily criticized for his intelligence, while Emperor Naruhito's only daughter, Princess Aiko, has long been criticized for her appearance.
Princess Aiko was quite cute as a child, but during adolescence, her weight fluctuated, and her appearance varied, leading netizens to criticize her for failing to inherit her mother Empress Masako's elegance.
Now, Princess Aiko has graduated from university, and her appearance and demeanor have improved; online evaluations have suddenly turned positive, with many people beginning to support her as a future Empress.
The Japanese public believes that Hisahito is truly unfit to be emperor and might even damage the imperial family's image, and they think it would be better for the smart and capable Princess Aiko to succeed to the throne.
However, such concerns might be somewhat excessive. After all, there have been emperors in Japanese history with below-average intelligence.
A hundred years ago, Emperor Taisho suffered from severe mental illness and even had an episode in the Diet.
Therefore, Hisahito, with slightly average intelligence, might still be able to take on the role of emperor, though it remains to be seen what kind of jokes might arise then.
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