Travel, Study Broadened Prince Hisahito’s View

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:44 JST, September 6, 2025

Prince Hisahito was born on Sept. 6, 2006, as the son of then Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, who are now Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko. He was the first male born into the Imperial family in 41 years.

Prince Hisahito entered Ochanomizu University Kindergarten in April 2010, rather than the Gakushuin Kindergarten that many Imperial family members had attended.

In addition to learning about the living creatures and plants that the prince was already interested in, he visited many places to broaden his perspectives in line with his father’s view that he should come into direct contact with various aspects of culture in the country at a young age.

In summer when he was 8 years old, the prince visited the town of Yuza, Yamagata Prefecture, to watch a performance of kagura Shinto dance with live music. In the winter when he was 10, the prince visited a craft studio in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture, to watch the making of traditional writing brushes. In the winter when he was 11, the prince visited a museum dedicated to naturalist Kumagusu Minakata in the town of Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture.

Prince Hisahito has also deepened his views on war and peace. The prince has been visiting war-related museums since he was small. In the summer when he was 11, he was lectured about the history of the Showa era (1926-1989) by the late novelist Kazutoshi Hando. He also visited Okinawa, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and heard from survivors of the atomic bombings.

In February this year, Prince Hisahito visited the Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum in Kyoto Prefecture to learn facts about such history as the internment of Japanese in Siberia. At a press conference following month, he said, “It is so painful and beyond words that many people lost their lives and endured profound suffering by war.”

In the same month, the prince graduated from the Senior High School at Otsuka, the University of Tsukuba, and in April he advanced to the College of Biological Sciences of the university’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences.

While taking such classes as genetics and molecular cell biology, Prince Hisahito is enjoying his campus life, participating such events as sports meets and dorm festivals.

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