The implication was clear. It was the press’s fault. But not everyone believed that. Had the empress suffered a stroke, as many people speculated? Was it “anemia,” as one cabinet member suggested? Or had she had a nervous breakdown, as she reportedly did some 30 years ago? A day earlier, her annual birthday message to the people talked of how distressed she was at press reports “not based on facts.” Whatever her true malady, one thing was perfectly clear: whether her swoon was the press’s fault or not, the Michiko-bashing era is over.
