Father of Japan’s Crown Princess Kiko dies at 81

Jiji Press

November 4, 2021

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Tatsuhiko Kawashima, the father of Japan’s Crown Princess Kiko and a professor emeritus at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, died at a Tokyo hospital on Thursday. He was 81.

Kawashima was admitted to the hospital on Oct. 19. He had since been visited several times by the Crown Princess and her two daughters, Princess Mako, who married commoner Kei Komuro on Oct. 26, and Princess Kako.

Born in 1940, Kawashima became a professor at the university in 1976 after graduating from the University of Tokyo and serving as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s graduate school.

He had served as professor emeritus at Gakushuin University since 2011. He engaged in volunteer activities in northwestern Thailand for over 10 years while working at the university.