Press Conference by Her Imperial Highness The Crown Princess on the Occasion of Her Birthday
5 December 2002
Question 1
This question is to Your Imperial Highness the Crown Princess. As this is the tenth year since you became a member of the Imperial Family, it must surely be a significant milestone year in your life. From meeting His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince until your marriage, from the birth of Her Imperial Highness Princess Aiko up to her first birthday, I imagine that there have been many profound experiences marked by both joy and difficulty. Please tell us, by reflecting upon the course of your life until now, about your hopes and expectations for the future.
Answer 1
When it was pointed out that ten years are passing, I thought, “Yes indeed, ten years have really gone by?” I had the feeling that it was nine years, but it was pointed out that it is almost ten years. People say that “ten years is an epoch,” or that “ten years goes by like the passing of a day.” When I come to think about it, with the opening of the new year, on 19 January it will indeed be ten years since the convening of the Imperial Household Council which resulted in my engagement and I feel deeply nostalgic when I think about it.
After that time and after entering the Imperial Family, I have tried to do what was expected of me to the best of my ability, but I believe that there were many occasions when my abilities were really not up to the mark. However, I always received the warm support of His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, taking his advice and receiving his encouragement. I am truly thankful that I have been able to spend my time to now in such a happy way.
When I look back to the time when I first met His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, it was the autumn of 1986. Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress, who were Crown Prince and Princess at that time, were holding a reception in this very room for the Infanta Elena of Spain and I had been invited to the reception with my parents. This was my first occasion to meet His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince and subsequently a variety of events took place, and I never even in my dreams thought that one day I would enter the Imperial Family. It is for this reason that, years later, when I say that the marriage became a real issue, I was greatly surprised and I think that was a really big decision. In addition, there were many things that I did not understand, and in the midst of insecurity, I was able to learn many things from His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince and be so warmly watched over by Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress. I am really grateful for all that. Then last year, with the birth of our child, I have been filled with heartfelt gratitude for the truly warm felicitations that were extended by many people in Japan at that time.
Also, in the process leading to our marriage, His Imperial Highness Prince Takamado treated me very kindly, and after our marriage also he was always a truly caring presence, and like an elder brother, being five years older than His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, he would always warmly encourage us and provide advice. I am truly saddened and pained by his sudden passing.
I cannot even begin to imagine how His Imperial Highness Prince Takamado’s passing has crushed the spirits of Her Imperial Highness Princess Hisako and her three children, and also His Imperial Highness Prince Takamado’s parents, Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Mikasa. I remain eternally grateful to His Imperial Highness Prince Takamado for the warm encouragement he provided me in life, and I pray that he may rest in peace.
With regard to His Imperial Highness Prince Takamado, I have one memory that has remained with me. On the day of our marriage, we were driven in a parade, and after leaving the Imperial Palace grounds, we drove along Shinjuku-dori Avenue, and passed the Gakushuin Primary School, and entered the Akasaka Imperial Palace through the Samegahashi-mon Gate. At that time, we were being taken to the temporary Togu Palace, which is on the opposite side of the Akasaka Imperial Palace grounds to this residence, and as we passed the Akasaka Imperial Gardens, where garden parties are always held, completely unexpectedly Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Takamado, with their daughter, Her Imperial Highness Princess Tsuguko, who was still only a young elementary school student, came down to the pond there and welcomed us with a warm and kind gesture. It was an encounter that was entirely unanticipated, and the memory of the joy of it is something that has remained with me.
As I look back on the course of this year, I became a parent for the first time and I felt that the first few months of the year passed by very slowly. Until that time our official duties had taken precedence and with duties and their preparation and other things in that regard, the pace of our lives as a couple had been very routine. However, with a child, your life becomes centered upon that child and time-keeping becomes irregular. I imagine all parents will have had this experience, but becoming a parent for the first time kept me busy day after day, and it was in that sense that I felt that in the first half of the year the time had somehow passed by slower than before. Subsequently, Aiko began to grow and become more active in her movements. She also came to have a wealth of expressions and started to move around, and would demonstrate a variety of responses. It was in this way that the time began to pass more quickly and in the blink of an eye, or so it seemed, her first birthday arrived only the other day, and in this way she has safely welcomed her first birthday.
Thankfully, Aiko is very healthy, and has a placid character very much like that of His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, and?how should I put it?is very relaxed and calm, and I feel very lucky in that regard. I also feel truly blessed and thankful that I have a child who enjoys such robust health, when there are many children who do not enjoy this blessing. In addition, I receive the consideration and help of my staff in caring for our child and I am most thankful that when, due to official duties and other times, I am personally unable to care for Aiko, there are staff members who will care for her in my stead.
In the future, I believe that through our child I will be able to see many new things in the world, and as these new experiences mount one by one, and I think of the things that we are able to do, I would like to endeavor to be of some help to His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, and while watching over the growth of our child, go on to do the things that I am able to do.