ion to cancel a translation of his biography following indignant protests from Japan's government, calling the step a "blatant attack on freedom of speech." Japanese publishing house Kodansha Ltd. said late Friday it has canceled plans to publish the Japanese translation of "Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne," written by the Australian journalist Ben Hills and released by Random house in December.
The tartly worded biography is billed on the cover as "tragic, true story" of the 43-year-old princess, a Harvard graduate who abandoned a diplomatic career to marry royalty. The book describes her as a virtual captive of the imperial palace who has been bullied by bureaucrats into depression.
Hills said in his e-mail to The Associated Press on Saturday that he was "disappointed" by Kodansha's decision.
"We regard this as a blatant attack on freedom of speech." He also condemned Japan's government for exercising "censorship that would be totally unacceptable in any other advanced country" and pressuring Kodansha to surrender.
"I do not worry whether people love my book or hate my book, but they should be given the chance to read it for themselves and make up their own minds," he said, adding that he hoped to publish the book through another "courageous" publisher _ one of three that have contacted him recently.
Japan's Imperial Household Agency and its Foreign Ministry had demanded an apology from the author for "disrespectful descriptions, distortions of facts and judgmental assertions with audacious conjectures and coarse logic." But government officials declined to cite most of the passages they found problematic. The government also protested to Random House in Sydney.
