Aiko, the only child of the Japanese emperor Naruhito, has come of age. But there was no big ceremony, which is due to their modesty on the one hand – and to the fact that women are still excluded from the line of succession on the other.
Aiko doesn’t have much time to be a princess right now. Emperor Naruhito’s daughter is a sophomore student of Japanese literature at Gakushuin University in Tokyo. And because her 20th birthday fell on a Wednesday on December 1st, her coming of age ceremonies had to take place later. It was not until Sunday that Naruhito solemnly presented her with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Noble Crown, which women of the imperial family usually get when they come of age. She showed herself to the public in the classic Japanese princess robe with tiara, fan and white robe. Met her grandparents, emperor emeritus Akihito and his wife Michiko, as well as other family members and leading statesmen. There was no press conference. Aiko should not give them until the semester break.
It is not easy for Aiko to reconcile imperial duties and secular training. Japan’s emperor is not only the symbolic figure of the state, but also the high priest of the national religion Shinto. What his only daughter does and doesn’t do is therefore always an issue in the island nation. And right now there is a need for messages that tell of fidelity to tradition. Because the imperial family is getting smaller and smaller.
Membership decline in the imperial family
It still has 17 members. Most recently, Aiko’s cousin Mako dropped out because she married the commoner Kei Komuro. The wedding was controversial because many in the country believed Komuro to be the wrong choice. There were no wedding ceremonies or celebrations. Mako emigrated to the United States with her husband. That was stress for the nation in need of harmony. Aiko should reconcile them again.
Aiko, here with her dog Yuri, has so far been an exemplary princess and is popular with the people.
(Photo: The Imperial Household Agency of Japan / AP)
She does it well. She smiles. She shows up every now and then with her old bitch Yuri. She diligently pursues her studies – at said Gakushuin University, as it should be for a daughter of the imperial family. The forerunner of the private elite institution was founded in the 19th century for the training of young noblemen; Mako was one of the few princesses who didn’t visit her. Princess Aiko has already expressly acknowledged her role as an adult princess. There was a statement on her birthday. In it Aiko says: “From now on, as an adult member of the imperial family, I would like to sincerely fulfill every duty and help the imperial couple as much as possible.”
Even the ceremony on Sunday could be seen as a sign of their selflessness. It had to do with the tiara she was wearing. The tiara is part of the basic equipment of an adult Japanese princess on official occasions. When they come of age, everyone usually gets their own. Such tiaras are expensive, the newspaper Tokyo Shimbun writes that each and every one of them cost at least 15 million yen in tax money in the past, around 117,000 euros. But Aiko did without her own diadem. She borrowed it from her aunt Sayako Kuroda, who belonged to the imperial family until her marriage as Princess Sayako. The court office announced that Naruhito, Aiko and their mother, Empress Masako, had decided together to forego a new diadem – out of consideration for people suffering from the hardships of the pandemic.
The heirs to the throne: the brother and nephew of the emperor
It has not yet been decided whether Princess Aiko will get her own tiara at some point. Perhaps that is not important to the princess either. There are greater desires than a diamond-studded browband. Aiko would succeed her father as empress if Japan’s law allowed women to sit on the chrysanthemum throne. But it still doesn’t. First in line to the throne is the emperor’s brother Fumihito, followed by his only son, Hisahito. And if Aiko falls in love with a commoner and marries him, she too has to leave the imperial family.