Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino

His Imperial Highness was conferred the title of Prince Akishino by His Majesty The Emperor upon his marriage on June 29, 1990.

Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino attend various court ceremonies including New Year's celebrations, as well as other court functions held at the Imperial Palace.

Prince and Princess Akishino attend a wide variety of official events around the country. These include the Festival of the Sea, the National High School Horse Riding Festival, the All Japan High School Cultural Festival, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize Ceremony, the National Sports Festival, the National City Greening Festival and All Japan Lifelong Learning Forum. On such occasions Their Imperial Highnesses take the opportunities to review for themselves the regions of Japan.

As part of their official activities, at the Prince's residence, Their Imperial Highnesses meet with important visitors from Japan and overseas, as well as distinguished experts in various fields and trainee groups from overseas.

Their Imperial Highnesses have made official visits to foreign countries. Recent among these were the visit to the Republic of Indonesia in January 2008 to be present at a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Republic of Indonesia, the visit to the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Hungary and Romania in May 2009 on the occasion of "Japan-Danube Friendship Year 2009", the visit to the Kingdom of the Netherlands in August 2009 for the commemorative event of the 400th anniversary of the trade relationship between Japan and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the visit to the Republic of Costa Rica in January 2011 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between Japan and the Republic of Costa Rica.

In addition to His Imperial Highness' busy official activities, Prince Akishino carries out research on the domestication of chickens from their wild ancestors. The main focus of his research is the process of domestication of poultry; namely, how humans and chickens came to live together and the factors in the following breeding process. In September 1996, the Graduate University for Advanced Studies conferred the degree of Ph.D. in science on His Imperial Highness for his thesis on the origins of chickens and their domestication entitled, "Molecular Phylogeny of Junglefowls, genus Gallus and Monophyletic Origin of Domestic Fowls." In addition to research based in Japan, Prince Akishino has made visits to the Republic of Indonesia in 1993 and 1994, to Yunnan Province in the People's Republic of China in 1998 with Princess Akishino, and to the Kingdom of Thailand and Lao People's Democratic Republic in 2001. Prince Akishino visited the Kingdom of Thailand again in 2005, and visited the Republic of Madagascar in 2007 and Lao People's Democratic Republic in 2010 with Princess Mako in connection with his research.

His Imperial Highness has visited the Kingdom of Thailand on many occasions in the course of research on fisheries and on the domestication of poultry, and has published the results of research in a number of academic papers. His Imperial Highness has received honorary doctorates from the following universities, in recognition of his contribution to the promotion of fisheries and poultry science in Thailand: Kasetsart University (Science (Fishery Biology), September 1995); Burapha University (Science, September 1995); Khon Kaen University (Science (Fisheries), July 1999); Srinakharinwirot University (Science, August 2001); Chulalongkorn University (Science, August 2001); Ubon Ratchathani University (Science (Agriculture), August 2003); King Mongkut's University of Technology (Science (Fisheries), March 2007); Kasetsat University (Science (Animal) Science, March 2011) and Chiang Mai University (Arts (Human and Environment Management), March 2011).

Her Imperial Highness Princess Akishino, besides performing official duties and public activities alongside His Imperial Highness Prince Akishino, assumed the role of Patroness of the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association (JATA), succeeding the Late Princess Chichibu in June 1994. As the Patroness, Her Imperial Highness attends various ceremonial events such as the Anti-Tuberculosis National Convention, the Central training seminar for branch leaders of Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Women's Society, and meetings with specialists who participate in the international training course in the National Tuberculosis Program Management. Also, Princess Akishino assumed the role of Patroness of the Social Welfare Juridical Person "Imperial Gift Foundation Boshi-Aiiku-Kai", succeeding Princess Mikasa in October 2010, and visit and see its activities. Her Imperial Highness also attends the General Assembly of the Japanese Red Cross Society in her capacity as Honorary Vice-President of the organization.

From her school days, Her Imperial Highness continued to learn sign language as an important means of communication with persons with speech and hearing impairments so as to deepen understanding about them. Her Imperial Highness attends the "Sign Language Speech Contest for High School Students" held in every August, and "Praising Mothers Raising Children with Hearing Impairments" in every December, and also attended "The 38th National Deaf Women's Conference" in October 2008. Her Imperial Highness learns about the related activities occasionally. Her Imperial Highness continued her studies in between performing her official activities and in March 1995 received a Master's degree in psychology. Her Imperial Highness has a strong interest in supporting female researchers, and attends presentations by researchers supported by "Research Fellowship for Young Scientists - Restarted Post Doctoral fellowship", which supports those who restart researches after childbirth and child care since 2007. Her lmperial Highness carries out researches in areas and was nominated as the Honorary Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in February 2009.

Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako is an undergraduate in the Division of Arts and Science, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University. Her Imperial Highness Princess Kako is in the Gakushuin Girls' Senior High School.

His Imperial Highness Prince Hisahito is attending the Kindergarten Attached to Ochanomizu University. All of the young Princesses and Prince are growing up in good health.

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