Cover of the book Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne (ISBN 1585425680) is a controversial 2006 book by Australian investigative journalist Ben Hills. Billed as "The Tragic True Story of Japan's Crown Princess", the book drew criticism from the Imperial Household Agency and the government of Japan over its supposed inaccuracies, and Hills' claims to have received death threats.[1] The English version was released in Japan in September 2007. A translation was to be published in Japan by the country's largest publisher, Kodansha. But Kodansha demanded that some of the contents which was pointed out by Imperial household[2] to be revised due to "substantial number of factual errors". Hills refused and Kodansha, in response, decided not to publish the book. A small publishing company, Dai-san Shokan, later published the book in August 2007, along with a companion book by investigative journalist Mineo Noda titled The Truth about 'Princess Masako' – Mystery of the Contents Which Were Censored, which claims to reveal the ways the Japanese Establishment tried to prevent Hills' book being published
