TOKYO - Prince Hisahito, the nephew of Emperor Naruhito and second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne, turned 20 on Sunday, a year after a series of traditional ceremonies commemorated his coming of age.
As an adult member of the imperial family, the prince has taken part in royal events and performed official duties, often alongside his parents, Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko, and his elder sister Princess Kako, while prioritizing his studies at the University of Tsukuba, northeast of Tokyo.
The prince feels grateful for the various support he has received from people, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
In April, he began his second year at university. He takes English classes to read biology papers and has also enrolled in specialized courses for lectures and laboratory work in the field of biology.
The prince participated in fieldwork in the summer and is active in club activities with friends.
He has a place to live in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture that is close to his university. When he returns to Akasaka Estate in Tokyo, where his family resides, he cultivates vegetables and rice and continues to observe the habitats of creatures such as dragonflies.
After completing the coming-of-age rites in September last year, the prince renewed his commitment to fulfilling his responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family, according to the agency.
He attended imperial ceremonies such as the New Year's Greeting and the New Year's Poetry Reading for the first time and debuted at a state banquet hosted by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako in May to welcome Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his wife Louise Araneta-Marcos.
At the dinner, the prince exchanged words in English with the Philippine guest seated next to him, the agency said.
Over the past year, he has visited six prefectures, including Mie and Kyoto, for trips related to the coming-of-age ritual and other purposes.
During a solo visit to Hiroshima Prefecture in August, he laid flowers at the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, commemorating the victims of the U.S. atomic bombing in 1945.
Visiting an exhibition about an elementary school where many children lost their lives, the prince was once again struck by the tragedy of the atomic bombing, according to the agency.
He also attended a boy scout camp gathering in Jinsekikogen in Hiroshima Prefecture and delivered a speech for the first time at an official ceremony.
In November last year, his entire family attended the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Deaflympics, an international sporting event for the deaf and hard of hearing.
He visited Izu Oshima Island in the Pacific with Crown Princess Kiko to watch a competitive event and said he was delighted to be able to interact with the athletes using the sign language he had learned, the agency said.
A close aide said the prince "carries out each event with care and converses wholeheartedly with the people he meets."
After turning 18 in September 2024, the prince became the imperial family's first male member to reach adulthood since his father, Crown Prince Fumihito, in November 1985.
But the official coming-of-age ceremonies were postponed by a year to avoid disrupting his university entrance exam preparations.
