Official birthday photos released celebrating Princess Aiko's 5th birthday on Dec. 1, 2006.
From
Kunaicho
Aiko looks very cute going horse back riding.
Larger photos from Polfoto , Profimedia and Yahoo
Princess Aiko celebrates 5th birthday
...In one scene, Princess Aiko was seen feeding a carrot to a pony. As the pony's head drew near, the princess stepped backward apparently in fear but smiled in the end, the footage shows.
According to the Board of the Crown Prince's Household, Princess Aiko, who began attending Tokyo's Gakushuin Kindergarten this spring, sometimes helps her 42-year-old mother prepare her school lunchbox.
The young princess also practices riding her bicycle and plays with stuffed animals as if she were taking care of them, the board said. As proof of her strong interest in sumo wrestling, Japan's traditional sport, the princess sometimes watches it on TV after she comes back from kindergarten, it said....
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/061130/kyodo/d8lnk0s81.html
Princess Aiko celebrates 5th birthday
...Prior to her birthday, the Imperial Household Agency released video footage and photos of Princess Aiko enjoying horseback riding in the grounds of the Akasaka Estate in Tokyo's Motoakasaka district.
http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/392061
Japanese princess turn 5 with future in the balance
Japan's Princess Aiko celebrated her fifth birthday on Friday with few clues as to whether the future will see her ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne or bargain-hunting at the local supermarket.
The September birth of her cousin Prince Hisahito, the imperial household's first male heir in more than 40 years, effectively halted progress on a planned change in the law to allow women to take the throne.
But many commentators say the law should still be revised to avert a future succession crisis.
"The birth of Prince Hisahito did not fully solve the heir problem," said Kenneth Ruoff, a professor at Portland State University and author of "The People's Emperor", a study of the modern-day Japanese monarchy. "There is no additional male child, no 'reserve' if you will, to ascend to the throne if something should happen to the prince," he added.....
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-12-01T073541Z_01_T31890_RTRUKOC_0_UK-JAPAN-PRINCESS.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage2
Videos reporting about Aiko's birthday showing her going horseback riding (will expire soon)
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