Japan's Princess Aiko at Tokyo's Gakushuin University as she attends her graduation ceremony. - Reuters
TOKYO: Japan’s Princess Aiko, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, is set to work with the Japanese Red Cross Society after graduating from university.
The 22-year-old princess attended the graduation ceremony at the Gakushuin University in Tokyo on the morning of March 20.
From April, she will work as a “non-regular employee” of the Japanese Red Cross Society, while performing official duties as a member of the imperial family. The princess had asked for a job at the Red Cross due to her interest in welfare activities, The Japan Times reported.
Princess Aiko had enrolled in the Department of Japanese Language and Literature at the university’s Faculty of Letters in 2020. The department had 99 graduates in 2024, including the princess.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the princess arrived at the university at about 9.20am on March 20, dressed in traditional Japanese garments – a light pink long-sleeved kimono and a navy blue hakama.
When asked by the press about university life, The Japan Times quoted her as saying: “I studied in the first three years in online classes and the last year on this campus. I gained a lot of new learnings and had a fulfilling four years.”
She added that she was “happy and grateful to have met wonderful teachers and friends”.
In a statement released through the Imperial Household Agency, she said that she “fondly remembers” online classes taken during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In her fourth year, she took classes with friends and made “unforgettable memories for a lifetime”, she added. - The Straits Times/ANN
