Nobuhiko Higashikuni
Nobuhiko Higashikuni was a Japanese aristocrat and former Imperial prince. The first grandchild of Emperor Hirohito, he was the eldest son of Shigeko, Princess Teru, the Emperor's eldest child. He was thus a maternal nephew of the Emperor Emeritus Akihito and cousin of Emperor Naruhito. His father was Morihiro Higashikuni, a grandson of Emperor Meiji.
Biography
He was born in a shelter home amid the air raid on Tokyo as the eldest son of Prince Morihiro Higashikuni and Shigeko, Princess Teru, the eldest daughter of Hirohito, then the reigning Emperor of Japan.After departing from the Imperial Palace, he studied at the Keio University Law School and worked at Mitsui Bank. He was appointed as a member of the Thai Association of Japan, and subsequently the executive director, managing director, Kakari member, etc. In June 2008, he assumed the honorary presidency of the All Japan Baseball Conference. In July 2009, he assumed the role of honorary adviser of the Japan-US Friendship Bridge Executive Committee. Other positions held by Higashikuni were; Honorary Chairman of the Society "Togo Association" and Honorary President of the Association to Protect Japanese Tradition.
Higashikuni married Yoshiko Shimada in June 1972. The Shimada family is a commoner family which runs a real estate management business in Yokohama, but Emperor Hirohito liked Shimada's homely appearance and blessed Nobuhiko's marriage. In the following year a boy, Masahiko, was born to the couple.