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It's a 'boy' for Japan
31/08/2006 11:14 - (SA)
Tokyo - Japan's Prince Akishino has confided to a friend that his wife Princess Kiko will have a boy, who would be the first male heir born into the royal family in four decades, a magazine reported on Thursday.
The Shukan Bunshun quoted an unidentified friend who said the prince told him the tightly guarded news three months ago.
"A close friend asked Prince Akishino, 'After having two daughters, Princesses Mako and Kako, would the next baby be a boy?'" the weekly said.
"Prince Akishino smiled and clearly responded: 'Yes, it seems that way'," the magazine said.
The 39-year-old Princess Kiko is expected to give birth by Caesarean section next week.
Japan has been holding its breath for months, with much of the public holding high hopes for a boy to maintain the male-only succession of the royal family.
The palace is yet to announce the gender of the foetus, only saying it is developing healthily.
But ruling party lawmakers, medical experts and journalists who cover palace affairs already talk as if the baby will be a boy, the magazine said.
The friend of Akishino told the magazine, however, that there is still room for uncertainty.
"The comment was said at a time when it was possible to tell the sex of the baby, but he is not the type of person who would casually disclose such an important piece of information," the friend told Shukan Bunshun.
The magazine said it was possible that Akishino was not confirming the sex of his long-awaited baby but instead was trying to avoid disappointing his friend's hopes for a boy.
If the baby is a boy, it would be the first male born to the imperial family since Akishino himself in 1965.
- AFP
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South Africa
