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Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan 徳仁皇太子 (Naruhito Kōtaishi) (born February 23 1960 at Togu Palace, Tokyo) is the eldest son of HIM Emperor Akihito and HIM Empress Michiko. Titled Prince Hiro (浩宮 Hiro-no-miya) as a child, he became heir apparent to the Japanese throne upon the death of his grandfather, the Showa Emperor (Hirohito), on January 7 1989. The Crown Prince is well known for his extensive charity work. He also carries out a full schedule of royal duties.
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Education
He received bachelor's and master's degrees in history from Gakushuin University in 1982 and 1988, respectively. In 1983 he studied in England at Merton College, Oxford.
Hobbies and interests
Prince Naruhito plays the viola and practices jogging, hiking, and mountaineering in his spare time. He has written several papers and a book, The Thames And I: A Memoir Of Two Years At Oxford (ISBN 1-905246-06-4).
Engagement and marriage
The Prince pursued and eventually proposed (reportedly twice) to the 29-year-old Masako Owada (born December 9 1963), a diplomat in the Japanese Foreign Ministry working under her father Hisashi Owada who is currently judge on the International Court of Justice, former vice minister for foreign affairs and former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations. The Imperial Palace announced their engagement on 19 January 1993. On June 9 1993, The Crown Prince of Japan and Masako Owada were married at the Imperial Shinto Hall in Tokyo before 800 invited guests and an estimated media audience of 500 million people around the world. Many of Europe's crowned heads attended. So, too, did most of Europe's elected heads of state. By marriage to the heir-apparent, Masako Owada received both a title (Crown Princess of Japan) and the style of "Her Imperial Highness." She is popularly known as Princess Masako, although this form of address is technically incorrect. The couple make their home in the Togu-gosho Palace, on the Imperial compound in Tokyo.
Family and succession
Princess Aiko
The Crown Prince and Crown Princess have one child, HIH The Princess Aiko (her official title is Toshi no Miya, or Princess Toshi), born on December 1 2001.
Debate
The child's birth, which occurred more than eight years after her parents' marriage, sparked lively debate in Japan about whether the The Imperial Household Law of 1947 should be changed from that of agnatic (i.e. male-only) primogeniture to equal primogeniture, which would allow a woman to inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne. A government-appointed panel of experts submitted a report on October 25 2005, recommending that the Imperial succession law be amended to permit equal primogeniture. On January 20 2006, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi used part of his annual keynote speech to address the controversy when he pledged to submit a bill to the Diet letting women ascend to the throne in order that the imperial throne be continued into the future in a stable manner. Koizumi did not announce a timing for the legislation to be introduced nor did he provide details about the content but he did note that it would be in line with the conclusions of the 2005 government panel.
Nephew
Plans to change the male-only law of imperial succession were shelved temporarily after it was announced in February 2006 that the Crown Prince's younger brother, Prince Akishino and his wife Princess Kiko were expecting their third child. On September 6 2006, at 8:27 a.m. (Japan Standard Time), Princess Kiko gave birth to a son, Hisahito, who is third in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne under the current law, after his uncle, the Crown Prince and his father, Prince Akishino. The prince's birth not only provides the first male heir to be born in the imperial family for 41 years, but could also mean plans to allow female succession will not go through.
Work and royal duties
Crown Prince Naruhito is an honorary member of the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century and patron of the Global Water Partnership, a body established by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Swedish Agency of Development. The prince is a member of the Council of State, the highest council to the Japanese government that is chaired by his father, Emperor Akihito. As part of his Royal duties, he holds commissions in the Japanese Army, Navy and Air Force and was a patron of the Japanese Olympic Games Committee until 1998 when he was made a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). On behalf of the Crown, the Prince carries out various representative duties both within Japan and abroad.
See also
| Styles of The Crown Prince of Japan | |
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| Reference style | His Imperial Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Imperial Highness |
| Japanese | denka 殿下 |
External links
| Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan Born: February 23 1960
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| Japanese royalty | ||
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| Preceded by Akihitocurrent Emperor | Line of succession to the Japanese throne 1st position | Succeeded by Prince Akishino |
