by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2019
Credit – By 防衛省 – mod.go.jp – 横浜開港記念祭, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67867893
The widow of Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, Nobuko Asō was born on April 9, 1955, in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, a stronghold of the Asō family and its industrial activities. Her father Takakichi Asō was the chairman of the Aso Cement Company. Her mother Kazuko Yoshida was the daughter of Shigeru Yoshida who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1946 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1954. Nobuko’s brother Tarō Asō was Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009. He has held the positions of Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and State Minister for Financial Services since December 2012. Nobuko’s family is Roman Catholic and she was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church.
Nobuko attended the exclusive Shoto Kindergarten in Tokyo and then attended primary and secondary school at the Sacred Heart School, a Roman Catholic all-girls school in Tokyo, graduating in 1971. For university, Nobuko went to England where she attended Rosslyn House College in Walton-on-Thames. After her graduation in 1974, she returned to Japan where she taught English at the Shoto Kindergarten which she had attended.
Prince and Princess Tomohito; Credit – http://www.kunaicho.go.jp
While studying in England, Nabuko met Prince Tomohito of Mikasa who was studying at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. Prince Tomohito was the eldest of the three sons and the second of the five children of Prince Mikasa of Japan and Yuriko Takagi (Princess Mikasa). Tomohito’s father Prince Mikasa was the youngest son of Emperor Taishō, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito (Shōwa), and the uncle of Emperor Akihito. The prince first proposed marriage to the 18-year-old Nobuko in 1973 but was turned down because of her young age. Finally, on April 18, 1980, the engagement of Prince Tomohito of Mikasa and Nobuko Asō was announced. The formal engagement ceremony was held on May 21, 1980, and the wedding ceremony took place on November 7, 1980. After her marriage, Nobuko was styled Princess Tomohito of Mikasa.
The couple had two daughters:
- Princess Akiko of Mikasa (born 1981)
- Princess Yōko of Mikasa (born 1983)
Along with her husband, Princess Tomohito supported many Japanese and international organizations dealing with cancer research and the promotion of the welfare of people with physical or mental disabilities. Since 2004, she has served as President of the Tokyo Jikeikai, a foundation to fund the Tokyo Jikeikai Hospital and the Jikeikai University School of Medicine. Princess Tomohito is the Honorary President of the Japan Rose Society and like all Imperial Family princesses, is an Honorary Vice President of the Japanese Red Cross. The princess is an excellent cook and has published two cookbooks.
Princess Tomohito had a transient ischemic attack (TIA) in May 2004, which forced her to withdraw for a while from her commitments. In 2008, she suffered from bronchial asthma and was repeatedly admitted to the hospital.
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Princess Tomohito’s daughters attend their father’s funeral: From left to right- Crown Princess Masako, Crown Prince Naruhito, Princess Yoko and Princess Akiko
However, her husband Prince Tomohito had more serious health issues. In 1991, he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer which went into remission. Over the years, he was treated sixteen times for various forms of cancer including larynx cancer, throat cancer and recurrences of the cancers. In 2007, Prince Tomohito made a public announcement that he was an alcoholic. From 2010 – 2012, he was quite ill and often hospitalized. On June 6, 2012, Prince Tomohito died at the age of 66 at the hospital at Sasaki Institute Kyoundo Hospital in Tokyo, Japan from multiple organ failure due to the cancers. After taking some time off after the death of her husband, Princess Tomohito finally returned to her commitments in November 2013.
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Works Cited
- En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Princess Tomohito of Mikasa. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Tomohito_of_Mikasa [Accessed 29 Jan. 2019].
- Kunaicho.go.jp. (2019). Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Mikasa and their family – The Imperial Household Agency. [online] Available at: http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e-about/activity/activity05.html [Accessed 29 Jan. 2019].
- Ja.wikipedia.org. (2019). 寛仁親王妃信子. [online] Available at: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AF%9B%E4%BB%81%E8%A6%AA%E7%8E%8B%E5%A6%83%E4%BF%A1%E5%AD%90 [Accessed 29 Jan. 2019].