Crown Prince Akishino, the younger brother of Emperor Naruhito, stressed on the occasion of his 57th birthday Wednesday the need for the imperial family to provide "accurate information in a timely manner," and the importance of making trustworthy sources better known to the public.
The comments, made at a news conference in Tokyo ahead of his birthday, came after the controversial marriage of his eldest daughter former princess Mako Komuro resulted in a slew of news articles that could be considered libelous.
Although the crown prince had touched on the need to establish criteria to refute fake news at a similar news conference held before his birthday last year, he acknowledged that after examining such news himself it "would require a great deal of effort" and may not be feasible.