national

Princess Aiko marks 11th birthday

26 Comments

Princess Aiko, the only child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, and granddaughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, turned 11 on Saturday.

Aiko, who is a student in the 5th grade at Gakushuin Primary School in Tokyo, plays basketball at her school and is studying English, the Imperial Household Agency said.

The princess stayed away from school for a long time in 2010 after reportedly encountering rough behavior by boys in her grade. She had to be accompanied by her mother, Crown Princess Masako, to school for about 18 months, but has been going by herself this year.

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26 Comments
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What little girl wouldn't want to be a princess? Odanjyobi omedettogozaimasu!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Happy birthday to you princess. I'm sorry that you have to be a prisoner in your own home.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Happy Birthday from Canada!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I got him because he was being mistreated.

So it's a rescued dog. These are rescue dogs

Well, mine is BOTH because he's an ex-police dog - a "rescue-dog" and a "rescued-dog".

1 ( +1 / -0 )

overchanDec. 02, 2012 - 01:48AM JST What a pretty young girl

She is not pretty. Just normal. Happy birthday!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Happy Birthday Princess!

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

I remember when she was born. I took the news into the conversation room at my school and shared it with the students there. All the oji-san made constipated faces.... but the women were smiling. Happy birthday, Aiko-chan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What a pretty young girl

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Happy birthday, sweetheart. Hope YOU get the throne some day, it should be yours!

Happy Birthday yes! But the crown? i wouldn't wish that on anyone. Your daily life is dictated from start to finish and lives a cloistered life, never free to do as she chooses? I dont know doesnt sound like a good life to me.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

For her best I hope the throne will be gone by when she reaches the adult age. Throne is a relique from the Middle Age. Go modern Aiko! None is above anyone from blood origin. But you have got the chance to have a great education, thus take this opportunity and enjoy life!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Happy Birthday, Princess Aiko!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Didn't you read? She DOESN'T have to be accompanied to school anymore.

And geez, 10 years old is still a kid, 11 years old is still a kid, heck, teenagers struggle the most with self-confidence and social anxiety. She's growing up in an atmosphere that demands perfection from her, leave her be.

Happy birthday, sweetheart. Hope YOU get the throne some day, it should be yours!

5 ( +6 / -2 )

All readers back on topic please.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I got him because he was being mistreated.

So it's a rescued dog. These are rescue dogs : http://www.saigaikyujoken.net/

Pets are not useless.

Dogs are not useless. Pet means useless.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

Yeah, an 11 year old shouldn't need to be accompanied to school- sounds like she's going to grow up with her mother's coping skills. What does the IHA do to its womenfolk? Look at poor old Michiko... anyway, good for them getting a rescue dog, thanks for the info Cleo. Hope it gives her some solace. And if I made my 11 year old dress like that, she'd run away screaming.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I agree, lovely looking dog.

As for the little princess: 11 years old and has to be accompanied to school?

I'm sorry, but there's something not right with that child.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

That's a useless pet that they bought to the kid as a solace for bullying.

(1) Pets are not useless.

(2) They didn't buy the dog.

(3) They adopted the dog in 2009 to replace a dog they had had (the pup of a stray that gave birth in the palace grounds) from before the birth of Aiko. The 'bullying' incident occurred in 2010.

(4) Not even the royal family of Japan can time-travel.

FightingViking - agree, ours is a pure-bred Shiba we adopted because he had nowhere to go.

5 ( +6 / -2 )

Not all rescue dogs are mongrels - mine is a pure bred Labrador Retriever and I got him because he was being mistreated.

Happy Birthday to the young Princess !

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Is that dog a rescue dog?

No. That's a useless pet that they bought to the kid as a solace for bullying. They'd go up in my esteem if they were training rescue or escort-for-disabled dogs.

-8 ( +3 / -11 )

Cleo: - Thanks for your explanations. The Saint-Bernard is a rescue dog in the Alps. This animal does not need to wear human clothes to "pose" for a photo, but has a little barrel with white spirit to re-vamp lost people in the mountains. This is not a salon dog.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

A rescue dog that needs an apron!?

The dog doesn't 'need' an apron - someone probably thought it would look good with a neckerchief posing for the photo. Not sure what St Bernards and barrels have to do with it, or what choice you think you're being asked to make.....

The dog's name is Yuri, and she's definitely a mix. Apparently Aiko-chan also has a pet cat, which she has called 'Ningen-chan'.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Cleo: A rescue dog that needs an apron!? Sorry but vis-à-vis the Saint-Bernard and its little barrel, my choice is quickly done. LOL.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Poor kid, all that pressure. Probably just as well her boy cousin got born, she can be free.

Is that dog a rescue dog? looks like some breed to me...

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

It's good that the Crown Prince and Princess set the example of of having a rescue dog as the family pet. If only they could influence more people to follow their example, instead of putting bags o' money in the pockets of unscrupulous backstreet breeders who mass-produce genetically dubious 'pure blood' dogs and throw the breeding stock out into the street when they've done with them.

That's a fine-looking dog in the picture.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Happy Birthday Aiko. Last saw you in person as you were being driven home from the hospital. Eleven years already ... seems like only yesterday you were still a baby. Two more years and you enter your teens ...

Hope your English improves to the point where you can join in the Japan Today discussions someday ...

5 ( +8 / -3 )

encountering rough behavior by boys in her grade

Who were these boys? The local royal yanki offspring?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

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