January 24, 2024 15:18
Mariko Oi, BBC News
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Princess Aiko (file photo)
Princess Aiko (22), the only daughter of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress, will begin working as a contract employee at the Japanese Red Cross Society in April after graduating from university. The Imperial Household Agency announced this on the 22nd.
Details of the job have not been disclosed. He will continue to perform his official duties within the imperial family.
Under Japanese law, only men can inherit the imperial throne, and Princess Aiko will not inherit the throne.
Japan’s imperial family is hereditary and is said to be the oldest in the world.
Princess Aiko said in a statement that she has “always taken an interest” in the work of the Japan Red Cross. The Japanese Red Cross Society issued a statement saying, “We would like to proceed with thorough preparations so that employees can work with peace of mind.”
The Japan Red Cross has close ties to the imperial family, with successive empresses serving as honorary presidents.
Last October, Princess Aiko visited the Japan Red Cross with her parents to see an exhibition about the organization’s relief efforts following the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923). Princess Aiko has shown concern for the victims and victims of natural disasters that have occurred in the country in recent years.
Princess Aiko is currently a fourth-year student at Gakushuin University’s Faculty of Letters, majoring in Japanese language and literature. She is loved by many people and her new role has been welcomed.
Mother of “career woman”
Princess Aiko’s mother, Empress Masako, is known in Japan for her career as a career woman.
He was educated at Harvard University in the US and Oxford University in the UK, and worked as a diplomat. He is fluent in several languages.
In 1993, she married then Crown Prince Naruhito (currently Emperor). She became the second person from a normal family to marry a member of the royal family who is first in line to the throne.
After the marriage, there was much speculation about when the couple would give birth to a male heir.
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[Explanation]Why can’t a woman become the Emperor of Japan?
Princess Aiko’s birth in 2001 was a great celebration. However, the issue of imperial succession was not resolved.
The Japanese government then began debating whether to revise the law to allow women to inherit the throne.
Five years later, a son, Prince Hisahito, was born to Prince Akishino, the younger brother of the current Emperor. The crisis of imperial succession was averted.
However, it was clear that Princess Masako, who was Crown Princess at the time, was under a lot of pressure. For more than a decade, she was invisible in public.
In 2004, then-Crown Prince Naruhito made an unusually strong comment at a press conference about Crown Princess Masako, saying that she seemed “exhausted” as she tried to adapt to life in the imperial family.
The Imperial Household Agency later announced that the Crown Princess had been diagnosed with an “adjustment disorder.” It was widely assumed that she was suffering from depression.
Tabloid media coverage
In recent years, the family of Prince Hisahito, who is second in line to the imperial throne after his father, has been featured extensively in Japanese tabloid media.
Prince Hisahito’s eldest sister Mako married Kei Komuro, who comes from an ordinary family. She left the imperial family and went to America.
It was said that there were financial troubles between Komuro’s mother and her ex-fiancée, which worsened the public perception of Komuro and Mako, and even threatened to threaten their marriage (Komuro) ‘s mother’s ex-fiancé claimed that mother and son did not repay the debt).
When Komuro took the bar exam in New York, the results were reported as news in Japan. Komuro passed the exam on his third attempt in 2022.
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Former Imperial Princess Mako (left) and her husband Kei Komuro
As the Akishino family began to attract tabloid media attention, Japanese media often featured Mako and Princess Aiko side by side.
At a press conference in 2022, when asked about her cousin Mako’s marriage, Princess Aiko answered, “Marriage feels like it’s still a long way off for me, and I’ve never thought about it until now. I don’t have anything special about my partner, but I think the ideal relationship is one where we can both smile when we’re together.”
2024-01-24 06:20:19
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