Exciting Question

Japanese were glad and publicly made merry when the official gazette announced last week that the three royal obstetricians have pronounced Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Nagako to be with child, and hazarded the prognostication that accouchement would take place either in August or September.

Keenest interest as to the sex of the forthcoming imperial infant was felt by the heir apparent, Prince Chichibu, eldest brother of the Emperor Hirohito. Should the Empress give birth to a girl, as she did at her first accouchement (TIME, Dec. 14, 1925), Prince Chichibu must remain in Japan, ready to assume the Throne immediately, should Death come to the Emperor.

But if the imperial infant is a manchild, then Prince Chichibu may say farewell to Empire, order the packing of his baggage and return to Oxford in time for the autumn term. As everyone knows, he abandoned his studies, hurried from Oxford to Tokyo upon the death of his father, the Emperor Yoshihito (TIME, Jan. 3).