The Imperial Household Agency was miffed last weekend when the Asahi Shimbun "scooped" the rest of the media in reporting that Princess Nori was engaged to Yoshiki Kuroda, an employee of the Tokyo metropolitan government. The original plan was to make the official announcement on Nov. 9, but the Emperor felt it would be inconsiderate to the victims of the recent typhoons and earthquakes. They decided to postpone the happy news until late December, but the Asahi jumped the gun. Consequently, the rest of the media had to cover the non-announcement as well.

Since the IHA reported that it was the Imperial family who decided on the postponement, it thought it could vilify the press without making itself look like the wet blanket it usually resembles. The Emperor, of course, was exercising jishuku (self-restraint), because it's considered bad form to celebrate something in the midst of a larger tragedy.

However, the Emperor didn't actually say the rest of the nation should also exercise jishuku. That would also be in bad form. However, the IHA's attitude seems to indicate that if the media is supposed to restrain itself, it's assumed that everyone must. Nevertheless, the public is delighted with the news, which isn't surprising since it's the media that's reporting the delight and the media like nothing better than to thumb their noses at the IHA, whose adherence to formality is so humorless as to be hilarious.