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FumihitoThe youngest son of Emperor Retired Akihito and Empress Michiko
Date of Birth: 30.11.1965
Country:  Japan |
Content:
- His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Akishino
- Early Life and Education
- Accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne
- Marriage and Family
- Princess Mako (Mako-naishinnō), born October 23, 1991
- Public Duties
His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Akishino
The second son of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko, younger brother of the reigning Emperor Naruhito, and first-in-line to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Early Life and Education
Born on November 30, 1965, at the Aoyama Palace in Tokyo, he was named Fumihito and given the title Prince Aya (Aya-no-miya). Fumihito received his primary and secondary education at Gakushūin. In April 1984, he enrolled in the Department of Law at Gakushūin University, where he studied law and biology.
Upon graduating from the university, Prince Aya studied fish taxonomy at St. John's College, Oxford, from October 1988 to June 1990. In 1996, he was awarded a PhD by the National University for his extensive research.
Accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne
In January 1989, upon the death of his grandfather, Emperor Shōwa, he became second-in-line to the throne after his elder brother, Crown Prince Naruhito. After his marriage in June 1990, he received the title Crown Prince Akishino (Akishino-no-miya), heading his own sovereign branch of the Imperial Household.
On May 1, 2019, with the ascension to the imperial throne of his elder brother, Naruhito, who has no sons, he became the heir presumptive to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
Marriage and Family
On June 29, 1990, Prince Fumihito married Kiko Kawashima, the daughter of Tatsuhiko Kawashima (a professor of economics at Gakushūin University) and his wife Kazuyo. The couple met while both were freshmen at Gakushūin. Like his father, Emperor Emeritus, the prince married a commoner who was not of imperial or aristocratic blood. Upon his marriage, he received the title Crown Prince Akishino and permission from the Imperial Household Economic Council to establish a new sovereign branch of the imperial family.
Crown Prince and Crown Princess Akishino have two daughters and one son:
Princess Mako (Mako-naishinnō), born October 23, 1991
Princess Kako (Kako-naishinnō), born December 29, 1994Prince Hisahito (Hisahito-shinnō), born September 6, 2006
As the third child is a male, he is second-in-line to the Chrysanthemum Throne and will inherit it (after the death of his father, Crown Prince of Japan) if his uncle, Emperor Naruhito, does not produce a son or if the laws of succession are not changed.
Public Duties
Crown Prince Akishino serves as President of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology and the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums. He is also Honorary President of the World Wildlife Fund Japan, the Japanese Tennis Association, and the Japan-Netherlands Association.
Crown Prince and Crown Princess Akishino also foster friendly relations with foreign states and represent Japan at various international events. For example, they visited the Netherlands in August 2009 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of trade relations between the Netherlands and Japan. They were invited by the Dutch government and were hosted by Queen Beatrix in The Hague. Their official engagements included meeting with Japanese-language students, visiting Siebold House, a university hospital, and two museums. At the Dutch National Archives, they attended the opening of a major exhibition on Japan-related items called "From Here to Tokyo, 400 Years of Trade with Japan"; they were accompanied by Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, who lived and studied in Japan as a teenager. In addition, their official visit included discussions with the Dutch Prime Minister.
