Princess Akiko said she values the opportunity to use her position in the imperial family to pass on traditional culture to Japanese children as she highlighted the importance of engaging with the general public in an exclusive interview with Kyodo News.
The 40-year-old eldest daughter of the late Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, who was a cousin of former Emperor Akihito, credited her experience studying abroad in Britain for a year at the age of 19 as the inspiration for her life work. She spent the 2001-2002 academic year at Oxford University while enrolled at Gakushuin University in Tokyo.
"I was the only Japanese student in my year, so I was asked many questions about Japan. The experience made me keenly aware of the need for knowledge that would enable me to properly talk about my country to people overseas," the princess said in the May interview.