bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Agencies

The 100-year-old uncle of Japanese Emperor Akihito, Prince Mikasa, died on Thursday, leaving only four heirs to the Chrysanthemum throne.
Mikasa’s death coincides with renewed attention to the future of the ageing and shrinking imperial family and whether women should be allowed to inherit the throne, breaking a males-only succession tradition that conservatives say is central to an imperial tradition stretching back 2,600 years.
Mikasa was the youngest brother of the current emperor’s father, Hirohito, in whose name Japan fought the second world war.
He was the only living member with military experience in the imperial family and he often spoke of the importance of peace after the war.

After graduating from the Military Academy in 1936, the prince served in the cavalry regiment. He graduated from the Military Staff College in 1941 and was posted to Nanjing, China, as an Imperial Japanese Army officer under a pseudonym in 1943.
The city was the site of the infamous Nanking Massacre by Japanese troops in late 1937 and early 1938.
He was 29 and a major when the war ended.
The prince began criticising the military leadership even before the war’s end. In a book published in 1984, he recalled being shocked at atrocities committed by the Japanese military while he was serving on the continent for a year.


“Even today I constantly feel the sting of conscience over my failure to fully grasp the criminality of war,” he wrote in the book.
After the war, the prince pursued his academic interests and devoted himself to the study of ancient Oriental history. He taught at such universities as Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and the Tokyo University of the Arts.
The prince had long suffered from a heart problem and underwent surgery in 2012 at age 96. Although he had steadily recovered and was in good health, the centenarian had recently been unwell after being hospitalised at St. Luke’s International Hospital for acute pneumonia in mid-May, according to Imperial Household Agency sources.

He had recovered from the symptoms but had remained in the hospital as his heart function had weakened due to old age, the sources said. He died at 8:34 a.m. after his condition suddenly deteriorated, according to the sources.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his condolences over the prince’s death in a statement read out by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga at a press conference Thursday morning.
“(Prince Mikasa) supported his elder brother (Emperor Hirohito) as well as the current emperor, contributing to the peace of the country and the welfare of its people,” the statement said.
The agency will consider the date and venue of his funeral.

Emperor Akihito, 82, hinted in August that he wanted to abdicate - a step unprecedented in modern Japan and not possible under current law. The remaining four male heirs include 10-year-old Prince Hisahito, the emperor’s only grandson.
The three older heirs are Akihito’s 80-year-old brother and his two middle-aged sons including Crown Prince Naruhito.
With Princess Yuriko, 93, whom Prince Mikasa married in 1941, he had three sons and two daughters. Princes Takamado, Tomohito and Katsura died in 2002, 2012 and 2014, respectively.

Four of his grandchildren are in the imperial family. The fifth, Princess Noriko, a daughter of Prince Takamado, gave up her imperial title when she married a priest at Izumo Taisha, a Shinto shrine in Shimane Prefecture in 2014.
Prince Mikasa was born on December 2, 1915, as Prince Takahito and the fourth son of Emperor Taisho. His eldest brother was Emperor Hirohito, posthumously called Emperor Showa. His other brothers were Princes Chichibu and Takamatsu.
Reuters, Kyodo, Associated Press


Japanese demand end to ‘comfort women’ funds after South Korean politician’s conviction

Japan’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine vandalised with kanji for ‘death’

Bomb survivors’ Nobel Prize a reminder to world on edge of nuclear war

Japan’s new PM Shigeru Ishiba sends offering to Yasukuni war shrine

Legacy of war in Asia

Japan's Prince Mikasa, who fought war in China under a fake name, dies at 100

Prince Mikasa in 1936 in Narashino, Japan. He graduated from the Military Staff College in 1941 and was posted to Nanjing, China, as an Imperial Japanese Army officer under a pseudonym in 1943. Photo: Asahi Shimbun/Getty

Prince Mikasa, uncle of Emperor Akihito, and his wife Princess Yuriko are seen laying flowers at the cenotaph for atomic-bomb victims during a peace memorial ceremony in Hiroshima in this file photo taken Aug. 6, 1957. The prince, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, died at a Tokyo hospital on Oct. 27, 2016, at 100. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Prince Mikasa, uncle of Emperor Akihito, and his wife Princess Yuriko are seen dancing at a party in the central Japan town of Karuizawa in this file photo taken in August 1986. The prince, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, died at a Tokyo hospital on Oct. 27, 2016, at 100. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japanese Prince Mikasa and his wife Princess Yuriko are seen at their residence in Tokyo in this handout file photo taken by Imperial Household Agency on November 16, 2015. Prince Mikasa, the youngest brother of late wartime Emperor Hirohito and the country's longest-living royal in modern times, celebrated his 100th birthday on December 2, 2015. Prince Mikasa, uncle of Emperor Akihito, died on Thursday, Kyodo reported. REUTERS/Imperial Household Agency of Japan/Handout via Reuters/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

FG3EFE HIROHITO (1901-1989). /nEmperor of Japan, 1926-1989. Hirohito, left, photographed with his brothers, Prince Mikasa, Prince Takamatsu, and Prince Chichibu, 1921.

Prince Mikasa, uncle of Emperor Akihito, and his wife Princess Yuriko are seen riding elephants during their trip to Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, in this file photo taken in 1956. The prince, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, died at a Tokyo hospital on Oct. 27, 2016, at 100. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Prince Mikasa, uncle of Emperor Akihito, is seen giving a lecture on ancient Oriental history at Tokyo Woman's Christian University in this file photo taken in April 1955. The prince, the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito, died at a Tokyo hospital on Oct. 27, 2016, at 100. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

News

Asia

East Asia