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Japan's Imperial Family Fact sheet released by the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs U.S. Department of State, June 26, 2000

According to legend, Japan was founded in 600 B.C. by Emperor Jimmu, a direct descendent of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, and ancestor of the present ruling dynasty. While the Japanese emperor lost much of his power during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, his authority was reestablished in the Meiji Restoration of 1868. During the American occupation following World War II, the emperor renounced his divinity and Japanese sovereignty, embodied in the emperor before World War II, is now vested in the Japanese people. The emperor is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state.

Emperor Akihito (Heisei)

Emperor Akihito was born December 23, 1933, the first son of Emperor Hirohito (Showa). In 1952, he entered the Department of Politics and Economics of Gakushuin University. His Coming-of-age and Ceremony of Investiture were celebrated on November 10 of the same year. He married Michiko Shoda on April 10, 1959. When Emperor Showa died on January 7, 1989, he ascended to the throne as the 125th emperor of Japan.

Empress Michiko

Empress Michiko was born the first daughter of Eizaburo Shoda, honorary chairman of the board of Nisshin Flour Milling Co., Ltd., on October 20, 1934. In April 1953, she entered the Department of Literature of Sacred Heart Women's University to study English literature. She met the then-Crown Prince at a tennis club in the resort town of Karuizawa in the summer of 1957 after graduating from university, and they were married in 1959. After the enthronement of Akihito, she was appointed Honorary President of the Japan Red Cross Society in January 1989.

Empress Dowager Nagako

Empress Dowager Nagako, the mother of the present emperor, was born the first daughter of Kuninomiya Kuniyoshi on March 6, 1903. She became Crown Princess on January 26, 1924, and Empress upon Hirohito's enthronement on December 25, 1926. When Hirohito (now called Emperor Showa) died on January 7, 1989, she became Empress Dowager.

Crown Prince Naruhito

Crown Prince Naruhito was born the first son of Emperor Akihito on February 23, 1960. He entered the Department of Literature of Gakushuin University in April 1978 and graduated in March 1982. He went on to receive his Ph.D. from the same university, and afterward studied history as a postgraduate student. His Ceremony of Investiture was celebrated on February 23, 1991, and he married Masako Owada on June 9, 1993. Naruhito is first in line for the throne.

Princess Masako

Princess Masako was born the first daughter of career diplomat Hisashi Owada on December 9, 1963. After graduating from the Economics Department of Harvard University, she entered the Law Department of the University of Tokyo in April 1986 as a graduate student. She passed the Diplomatic Service Examination in October 1986 and left the university in April 1987 to join the Foreign Ministry. She quit the foreign service in order to marry Crown Prince Naruhito in 1993.

Imperial Prince Fumihito

Imperial Prince Fumihito (Akishinonomiya) was born the second son of Emperor Akihito on November 30, 1965. In April 1984, he entered the Law Department of Gakushuin University, where he studied law and biology. In 1986, he was appointed president of the Yamashina Institute of Ornithology and President of the Japan Committee of the World Wide Fund for Nature. On June 29, 1990, he married Kiko Kawashima. Fumihito is second in line for the throne.

Princess Kiko

Princess Kiko was born the first daughter of Tatsuhiko Kawashima, professor of Gakushuin University, on September 11, 1966. She specialized in social psychology as a postgraduate student at Gakushuin University. She married Prince Fumihito in 1990 and gave birth to a daughter, Mako, in 1991.

Norinomiya, Imperial Princess Sayako

Princess Norinomiya was born the only daughter of Emperor Akihito on April 18, 1969. She entered Gakushuin University in April of 1988 and graduated in March of 1992.

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