Princess Yuriko of Japan, the wife of Emperor Hirohito’s brother and the oldest member of the Japanese imperial family, died on Friday in Tokyo. She was 101.
Her death, in a hospital, was announced by the Imperial Household Agency. The announcement did not cite a cause of death, but the Japanese news media said she died of pneumonia.
Born into an aristocratic family on June 4, 1923, Yuriko was 18 when she married Prince Mikasa, the younger brother of Hirohito and the great-uncle of the current emperor, Naruhito. The wedding took place on Oct. 22, 1941, weeks before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
She recounted living in a shelter with her husband and their baby daughter after their home was burned down when the United States firebombed Tokyo in 1945, in the final months of the war.
She raised five children and supported Prince Mikasa’s research into ancient Near Eastern history while also carrying out her official duties and taking part in philanthropic activities, including promoting maternal and child health. She outlived her husband, who died in 2016, and their three sons.
Her death reduces Japan’s rapidly dwindling imperial family to 16 people, including four men, as the country faces the question of how to maintain the royal family while conservatives in the governing party insist on retaining male-only succession.
The 1947 Imperial House Law, which largely preserves conservative prewar values, allows only males to take the throne and removes royal status from female members of the royal family who marry commoners.
The youngest male member of the imperial family, Prince Hisahito — the nephew of Emperor Naruhito — is currently the last heir apparent, posing a major problem for a system that doesn’t allow empresses. The government is debating how to keep succession stable without relying on women.
Princess Yuriko had lived a healthy life before having a stroke and contracting pneumonia in March. She exercised in the morning while watching a daily fitness program on television, the Imperial Household Agency said, and she continued to read multiple newspapers and magazines and to watch news and baseball on television.
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