Sign Language Literate Japanese Princess Kako Turns 31

By Barrier Free Japan, Jiji

December 29 2025

TOKYO – Japanese Princess Kako, the second daughter of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, turned 31 on Monday 29th December. As an adult member of the Imperial Family, Princess Kako has performed various official duties at home and abroad this year, while working twice a week since April 2024 at the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, which she joined as a part-time employee in 2021.
   As this year marked the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, she has an even stronger wish for peace after studying stories of the war again and feeling anew the importance of thinking about the suffering caused by conflicts around the world, according to the Imperial Household Agency.
   In July, Princess Kako and her family visited an exhibition on the devastation caused by the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
   The princess and her mother visited the atomic-bombed western city the following month to pray for the victims.
   This year, Princess Kako also participated in many public activities in Japan and abroad and interacted with people.