Japan's Crown Princess Masako has taken part in her first public engagement outside Tokyo since retreating behind closed doors a year-and-a-half ago.
She accompanied her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito, to central Japan for the World Exposition technology show. Masako withdrew from public view in December 2003 suffering from depression and anxiety. The ailments were said to be due to the strains of palace life and intense pressure to produce a male heir.
Masako gave up a diplomatic career when she agreed to marry Naruhito. The couple have one child, three-year-old Princess Aiko, but under imperial law only a male heir can ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne.
The succession crisis is the most serious in Japan in centuries, and has forced the government to consider changing the male-only succession law.
