A book by a female member of the royal family sold 300,000 copies within three months of its release! Behind the Scenes of Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko’s Hit Book on her Study at Oxford

Buzz on SNS… A book published 9 years ago is now available in paperback.

Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko of the Prince and Princess Mikasa family studied at the University of Oxford in England for five years from 2004, where she earned her doctorate. On April 3, 2012, “Red and Blue Gowns,” a collection of essays describing her days as an exchange student, was published in paperback. As of July 11, only three months later, the book had sold 300,000 copies and was a huge bestseller. (The following quotations are from the same book.)

I am honestly surprised at the current response. It was ’09 when she finished her study abroad. In 2012, I started a series of articles in our monthly magazine “Voice,” which I compiled into a book and released in 2003. Now, it is selling like hotcakes. The number of inquiries and requests for interviews has been increasing, and I am very grateful for that.

Mr. Yushi Nakamura of PHP Research Institute, one of the editorial team that worked on the paperback edition, says excitedly, “We are very grateful for the increase in inquiries and requests for interviews.

The book, which was published nearly 10 years ago, was first brought into the library by a post on X (formerly Twitter) by a certain person.

A contributor named “Kayo-san,” who lives in Germany, captured a passage from the electronic version of “Red and Blue Gowns” and posted it on SNS with the sentence “PRINCESS PRINCESS’s daily life is too funny. It was a huge buzz.

The sales of the electronic version skyrocketed, and it became a hot topic of conversation within the editorial department. Naturally, we considered reprinting the hardcover edition. But then we discovered a problem. We had been so particular about the work, using special paper that is not often used in general books, that the paper for the text had become out of stock,” Nakamura said.

In the meantime, however, Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko asked us about reprinting the book at …….

After careful consideration, she said, “We will change the form of the book and make it a paperback edition. If possible, we would like to publish it as one of the main works of PHP Bunko, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in April 2012.

Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko readily agreed. Since the author is a member of the royal family and the production period was short, a three-member team was formed for the publication of the book. We then went to Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko for a meeting at …….

I was indeed nervous because I was meeting her for the first time. We were taken to the reception room, and all three of us stood erect and waited for His Highness,” said Mr. Nakamura.

However, when Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko smiled and spoke to us in a friendly manner, we gradually relaxed,

I was so excited that I couldn’t help talking about what I found interesting about the book,” said Nakamura.

She sometimes uses “budget airline tickets” when traveling in Europe.

Nakamura says that the reason why “Red and Blue Gowns” has been read so many times is because the personality of Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko is reflected in her writings.

The daily lives of the royal family, which are not easily accessible to the general public, can be easily accessed in the paperback edition. I think the reason for the success of the book is that the paperback edition makes it easy for the public to learn about the daily lives of the royal family, which are not easily accessible to the general public. The book is full of intelligence, culture, and of course humor, and is so fascinating that you will find yourself reading it over and over again,” says Nakamura.

Although she is currently engaged in a wide range of activities, including many official duties and a recent unofficial visit to Bhutan by invitation from the royal family, we were surprised to learn that she spent her days as an exchange student in Bhutan with the same sense of lifestyle as an ordinary foreign student.

For example, the ticket he purchased to attend a research meeting in Germany was a low-cost airline ticket.

In addition, “I am not proud of it, but when I travel, some sort of incident usually occurs,” wrote Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko, and it seems that there were indeed various happenings.

For example, when I bought a ticket for “Hamburg-Lubeck Airport” to go to Hamburg, I found that the airport was not Hamburg Airport, which is only 20 minutes away from the city, but Lubeck Airport, which is 70 minutes away from the city. No way.

By the time I realized it, it was already too late. He said, “I had saved a lot of money up to that point, so I will never forget the sad feeling I had when the hundred-euro bill disappeared from my hand. He later learned that there was actually a bus from Hamburg to the airport, and that it cost only 5 euros, which made him “feel very sad.

For students, cooking for themselves is both a pleasure and a hardship, but it is also written that when Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko started cooking for herself and found shimeji mushrooms at a supermarket, she was so happy that she brought them to the cashier, but was told they cost 5 pounds (more than 1,000 yen at that time), so she gave up crying.

On the other hand, she was invited by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (who died in 1947) to afternoon tea at Buckingham Palace, and when she missed Japanese bath salts, she asked a Japanese lady-in-waiting to send them to her, and they came in a paulownia wood box. She also introduced an episode of “a member of the imperial family”.

A touching episode of father-son love with the late His Imperial Highness Prince Tomohito

The episode that left the greatest impression on me was when he wondered whether he should attend the degree conferment ceremony at Oxford,” said Mr. Nakamura.

The award ceremony will be held on May 28, 2011. It was only about two months after the unprecedented natural disaster of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and it was easy to imagine that some people might have wondered whether it was appropriate for the royal family to go abroad for a celebratory event.

At such a time, His Imperial Highness Prince Tomohito said, 《If you don’t attend this once-in-a-generation, once-in-a-lifetime ceremony, you will regret it. I will suppress any noises that might appear in a written announcement or press conference, so go ahead and do so without anxiety,” he said.

Among his many interactions with the father, “I was particularly moved by this scene, which is told at the beginning of this book,” Nakamura said.

In a “Special Contribution” to Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko, the story of how she came to write a book about her study abroad is described.

When she asked Her Imperial Highness Prince Akiko to extend her period of study at Oxford University so that she could continue her doctoral studies, one of the conditions she was given was “to publish an account of her study abroad.

At the time, Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko apparently accepted this condition, saying, “As long as I was not abroad for a long period of time to perform official duties, I felt that as a member of the Imperial Family, I had an obligation to report my achievements to the people who had supported me.

Unfortunately, His Imperial Highness Prince Tomohito passed away in 2000, and we were not able to see his study abroad report.

In addition, this special contribution also mentions “a present for my father” that Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko made when she was in kindergarten. It was a wallet made of origami, with a round piece of paper cut out inside that was supposed to be a coin, and a square piece of paper cut out inside that was supposed to be a banknote. More than 25 years after the gift, it came out of the wallet of His Imperial Highness Prince Tomohito.

Several other episodes with His Imperial Highness Prince Tomohito came up, but it was the episode that brought tears to my eyes, showing the deep emotional connection between His Highness and His Imperial Highness. The editor in charge of “Voice” at the time of its serialization, who also had a young daughter at the time, was so moved that his voice trembled when he told His Highness how he felt after reading the manuscript. ……

When I met with him, I was impressed to see a picture of His Imperial Highness hanging in the reception room. I think he is a special presence who is always watching over us even now,” said Nakamura.

Possibilities for a new collection of essays?

Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko grew up in an environment where she was always accompanied by a personal guard when she went out. The first time in her life that she walked the streets alone was not in Japan but in Oxford,” which may have reminded some readers of the story in the movie “Roman Holiday.

She has tried buying cheap airline tickets on the Internet and cooking for herself every day after coming to Oxford, but her biggest challenge will probably be her research for her doctoral degree.

In this book, he talks about the pain of writing his doctoral dissertation, saying, “I never want to write again. However, it was precisely at such times that the “red and blue gown,” the title of this book (a special gown that only those who have completed a doctoral program are allowed to wear), suddenly came to mind and became a “goal” that brought him back to his original “self.

The five years at Oxford University’s Merton College must have been invaluable to Her Royal Highness Princess Akiko.

There are some people who are looking forward to a sequel to this book, but since it is a book about studying abroad, it seems that they think it is impossible at this point.

There are still some people who do not know about this book. I secretly hope to deliver this book to as many people as possible and make it a national bestseller,” Nakamura said.

But,” he says,

I am currently discussing with His Highness about overseas publication and making the book available as an audiobook. The three of us on the editorial team share the belief that it would be our responsibility as editors to repay our loyal readers by publishing the next book.

(Mr. Nakamura). The day when we can come across a new book may not be far off.