Princess Aiko, a third-grader at Gakushuin Primary School in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, walked home from school alone on July 23 for the first time since she entered her third year, an Imperial Household Agency official has announced.
Issei Nomura, grand master of the Crown Prince's household, said that Princess Aiko -- the only
child of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako -- arrived at school with her mother by car on July 23, the last day before the school's summer break. The 8-year-old princess did not appear at the school's end-of-semester ceremony, but attended her homeroom class after the ceremony.
Princess Aiko and Crown Princess Masako waited in the classroom until the ceremony ended. After the homeroom class, the princess reportedly told her mother she would go home by herself and left for Togu Palace -- the Crown Prince's official residence in Minato Ward. The Crown Princess had a meeting with Gakushuin Primary School Principal Yoshio Miura and then returned home.