Kiko earned a PhD in humanities from Ochanomizu University. Her marriage to Fumihito in 1990 furthered the trend of Japanese imperial males marrying middle class commoners of academic prominence in earlier and current generations. The couple has three children: Mako, Kako, and Hisahito. Preceding Fumihito and Kiko's investiture as Crown Prince and Princess, the ongoing Japanese imperial succession debate had resulted in some politicians holding a favorable view on rescinding agnatic primogeniture imposed by World War II allies on the constitution of Japan. However, once Kiko and Fumihito had their son Hisahito in September 2006 he became next in the line of succession following his father. Hisahito's cousin and Emperor Naruhito's only child, Aiko, Princess Toshi remains at present legally ineligible to inherit the throne, while debate about the possibility of having future empresses regnant as female monarchs continues.[2]
As active working members of the imperial family, Kiko and Fumihito's schedule includes attending summits, and organizational and global event meetings. The couple has particularly represented the Japanese imperial house in ceremonies involving heads of state and VIPs abroad. Kiko's imperial patronages cluster around medical, science and children's causes.
Early life
Kiko was born at Shizuoka Saiseikai General Hospital in Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, Japan. She is the eldest daughter of Tatsuhiko Kawashima (1940–2021) and his wife, Kazuyo Sugimoto (1942). The family moved to Philadelphia in 1967 while her father attended the University of Pennsylvania.[3] He earned a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971 in regional science and later taught there.[4]
Crown Princess Kiko and Crown Prince Fumihito in 2016, the year after their silver wedding anniversary (25 years)
Bristle-pointed beachhead iris Iris setosa (hiougi-ayame, 'cypress fan' iris (檜扇菖蒲)), designated imperial personal emblem of Kiko
Prince Fumihito first proposed marriage to Kiko Kawashima on 26 June 1986 while they were both undergraduates at Gakushuin. Three years later, the Imperial Household Council announced the engagement on 12 September 1989[5][6] and the engagement ceremony was held on 12 January 1990. No marriage date would be set until the official one-year mourning period ended for Fumihito's grandfather, Emperor Hirohito, who had died in January 1989.[4]
The wedding took place at an exclusive shrine at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on 29 June 1990.[7] The Imperial Household Council had previously granted the prince permission to establish a new branch of the Imperial Family and the Emperor granted him the title Akishino-no-miya (Prince Akishino) on his wedding day. Upon marriage, his bride became Her Imperial Highness The Princess Akishino, known informally as Princess Kiko. As tradition dictates, upon her entry into the imperial family and like other members, she received a personal emblem (o-shirushi (お印)): the blossom of the bristle-pointed beachhead iris Iris setosa (hiougi-ayame, cypress fan iris (檜扇菖蒲)) which blooms in intense shades of dark lavender to blue.[8]
The engagement and marriage of Prince Akishino to the former Kiko Kawashima broke precedent in several respects. At the time, the groom was still a graduate student at Gakushuin and he would be married before his older brother, Crown Prince Naruhito. Officials at the Imperial Household Agency were opposed to the marriage, and so was Prince Akishino's paternal grandmother Empress Dowager Nagako.[5] As the second woman from a middle-class and academician background to marry into the imperial family after her mother-in-law Empress Michiko, she was given the nickname "the apartment princess" by the media.[5] Although Empress Michiko was also born a commoner, she was from a very wealthy family; her father was the president of a large flour-milling company.
The Princess had said repeatedly that she wanted to finish her master's degree if circumstances permitted.[4] She completed her post-graduate studies in psychology between her official duties and received her master's degree in psychology in 1995. She is known for her continuing interest in deaf culture and the Deaf in Japan. She learned Japanese sign language and she is a skilled sign languageinterpreter.[9] She attends the "Sign Language Speech Contest for High School Students" held every August, and "Praising Mothers Raising Children with Hearing Impairments" every December. In October 2008, she participated in the "38th National Deaf Women's Conference."[10] She also signs in informal Deaf gatherings.[11]
In March 2013, Kiko was granted a PhD degree in Psychology at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University, for her dissertation entitled "Knowledge, perceptions, beliefs and behaviors related to tuberculosis: A study based on questionnaire surveys with seminar participants of the National Federation of Community Women's Organizations for TB Control and female college students."[10]
While pregnant with her third child, Kiko was diagnosed with placenta praevia.[12] The princess also had carpal tunnel syndrome osteoporosis aggravated by child-nursing, a symptom common among middle-aged women, her doctor revealed on 14 December 2007.[13]
Children
Fumihito and Kiko with their two daughters
Since 1997, Prince Fumihito and Princess Kiko and their children have maintained a principal residence on the grounds of the Akasaka Estate in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo. The couple have three children (two daughters and one son):
Mako Komuro (小室 眞子, Komuro Mako, born 23 October 1991 at Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo Imperial Palace); formerly Princess Mako (眞子内親王, Mako Naishinnō); following her civil marriage to lawyer Kei Komuro on 26 October 2021, Mako gave up her imperial title and left the Imperial Family as required by 1947 Imperial Household Law.
The Prince and Princess are called upon to meet with important overseas visitors to improve diplomatic relations. The Princess was chosen as one of the Young Global Leaders for 2007, drawn from a poll of 4000 candidates.[15]
The Prince and Princess have made numerous official visits to foreign countries. In June 2002, they became the first members of the Imperial Family to visit Mongolia, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations.[16][17] In October 2002, they visited the Netherlands to attend the funeral of Prince Claus of the Netherlands.[18] In September 2003, the Prince and Princess made goodwill visits to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, again, the first time ever members of the Imperial Family had visited these countries.[19][20] In March 2004, the Prince and Princess returned to the Netherlands for the funeral of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.[18] In January 2005, they visited Luxembourg to attend the funeral of Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte.[18] From October to November 2006, they visited Paraguay to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Japanese emigration to that country.[21] In January 2008, they visited Indonesia for a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Republic of Indonesia.[22]
In June–July 2019, the couple carried out the first official overseas visit by the imperial family following the accession of Emperor Naruhito. They visited Poland and Finland to participate in the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between Japan and the two countries.[35] In August 2019, the couple and their son, Hisahito, arrived in Bhutan for a visit.[36] In 2023 they were guests at the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.[37]
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