by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2014
Crown Princess Akishino of Japan; Credit – Wikipedia
Crown Princess Akishino, sometimes called Princess Kiko, is the wife of Crown Prince Akishino, the second son of Emperor Akihito of Japan. On December 1, 2017, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that Emperor Akihito would abdicate on April 30, 2019, and that his elder son Crown Prince Naruhito would become Emperor. In accordance with legislation passed allowing his father’s abdication, Prince Akishino became heir presumptive to the throne and Crown Prince of Japan. Crown Prince Akishino is followed in the line of succession by his son Prince Hisahito. Unless Emperor Naruhito has a son or the laws of succession are changed, it is very likely that Prince Hisahito will one day inherit the throne.
Kiko Kawashima was born on September 11, 1966, in Shizuoka, Japan. She is the eldest daughter of Tatsuhiko Kawashima, an economics professor at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, Japan, and Kazuyo Sugimoto.
In 1967, when she was still a baby, Kiko’s parents brought her to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States where her father enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania as a graduate student. Kiko’s family stayed in Pennsylvania for six years while her father earned his doctorate degree and taught at the University of Pennsylvania. As a result of her early years in the United States, Kiko speaks fluent, accentless English. The first school she attended was the Henry C. Lea Elementary School, a Philadelphia public school.
Kiko then attended elementary and high school in Vienna, Austria, when her father became the chief researcher at The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, and she became fluent in German. In 1989, Kiko received her undergraduate degree from the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Letters of Gakushuin University in Tokyo, Japan. Next, she entered graduate school at Gakushuin University with the goal of obtaining a doctorate in psychology. In 1995, she completed the first part of her doctorate in psychology at the Graduate School of Humanities of Gakushuin University. Kiko was granted a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences at Ochanomizu University in 2013.
Kiko met Akishino while they were both undergraduate students at Gakushuin University. He first proposed to her in 1986. The Imperial Household Council announced the engagement on September 12, 1989, and the engagement ceremony, called Nosai-no-Gi, was held on January 12, 1990.
The couple married at the shrine at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on July 29, 1990. Kiko was only the second commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family. Her mother-in-law Empress Michiko was the first.
Photo Credit – Photo: Corbis
Crown Prince Akishino, Crown Princess Akishino, and their children reside at the Aoyama Detached Palace within the grounds of the Akasaka Estate in Motoakasaka, Minato Ward in Tokyo. The residence was the former home of Prince and Princess Chichibu and has been in use by the family since March 1997, after it had been redesigned.
The couple has three children:
- Mako Komuro, formerly Princess Mako of Akishino, born October 23, 1991, married Kei Komuro, lost her title and become a commoner upon marriage as required by Imperial Household Law
- Princess Kako of Akishino, born December 29, 1994
- Prince Hisahito of Akishino, born September 6, 2006
Princess Kiko and her family in 2011; Photo source: Japan Times
Crown Princess Akishino accompanies her husband to many events both in Japan and in other countries. She plays active roles in the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association, Imperial Gift Foundation Boshi-Aiiku-kai, Japanese Red Cross Society, and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. In addition, she learned Japanese sign language, is a skilled sign language interpreter and has also learned American Sign Language.
Princess Kiko signing “I love you” with a student at the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults in the United States; Photo source: Helen Keller National Center For Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults
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