Japan Crown Prince, Crown Princess Attend Disabled Sports Festival

From Jiji

October 25 2025

Hikone, Shiga Pref – Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko attended the opening ceremony of this year’s national sports festival for people with disabilities, held in the city of Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, western Japan. 
   In an address, the Crown Prince encouraged athletes who gathered from all over Japan, volunteers and local residents to deepen exchanges, create a lot of memories and develop good relations.

Welcoming the couple, people related to Shiga performed dances at the ceremony at a local stadium. Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko enjoyed watching the dance performance with the audience by holding up blue towels reminiscent of the water of Lake Biwa in the prefecture.
   The national sports festival is the 24th of its kind.
   The couple arrived in the prefecture Friday for a two-day trip. On the day, they experienced molkky, a throwing game from Finland, in the town of Taga with local elementary school children.