was a Japanese aristocrat and former

Imperial prince Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors o ...

. The first grandchild of

Emperor Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

, 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. His father was

Morihiro Higashikuni , formerly was an Imperial Japanese Army officer who was a member of a cadet line of the Japanese imperial family and husband of Emperor Hirohito's eldest daughter. Early life The eldest son and heir of Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, Prince Mo ...

, a grandson of

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

Biography

He was born in a shelter home amid the air raid on Tokyo as the eldest son of Prince

and Shigeko, Princess Teru, the eldest daughter of

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

, then the reigning

Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his positio ...

. After departing from the Imperial Palace, he studied at the

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowmen ...

Law School and worked at

Mitsui Bank was a major Japanese bank from 1876 to 1990. It merged with Taiyo Kobe Bank to form Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB), which was renamed The Sakura Bank in April 1992. Sakura Bank is now part of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). History T ...

. 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 (apartment/parking lot management) in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, 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.1972年6月13日朝日新聞「陛下の初孫ゴールイン　東久邇信彦氏と吉子さん」

Ancestry

Since his parents and grandparents were all members of the

Imperial House of Japan The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...

and very closely related to the senior members of the family, the existence of Nobuhiko and his son, Masahiko, has been noted when discussing the problem of succession to the throne due to the scarcity of male royalty, especially before 2006.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Higashikuni, Nobuhiko 1945 births 2019 deaths Keio University alumni People from Tokyo Japanese princes Higashikuni-no-miya 20th-century Japanese businesspeople Japanese bankers 21st-century Japanese businesspeople