The name of a 25-year-old graduate of Gakushuin High School -> Waseda University Faculty of Science and Engineering is mentioned… Behind the scenes of a string of reports on “potential mates for Princess Aiko”.

Reports of “potential mates” for Aiko, 21, the eldest daughter of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress, have been rife. A journalist from the Imperial Household explained the content of the reports as follows.

The second son (25) of the former Kayo family, one of the eleven families that were deposed in 1947 at the behest of GHQ, is said to be a potential suitor. The second son graduated from Gakushuin High School and then from the School of Science and Engineering at Waseda University. The current head of the family, Mr. Masanori Kayo, has been a schoolmate of His Majesty the Emperor since kindergarten at Gakushuin. After working in the private sector, he moved to the Imperial Household Agency and was seconded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was rumored to eventually become His Majesty’s personal attendant, and the Emperor’s family and the Kayo family have had a close family relationship…something like that.

The Kayo family is said to be closely related to the “stable succession policy” compiled by a government panel of experts at the end of 2009.

The meeting specifically proposed that female members of the Imperial Family remain in the Imperial Family after marriage, and that male members of the former Imperial Family be returned to the Imperial Family as adopted sons, and this was reported to the Diet the following year.

(The same source) “A new law would need to be established regarding the adoption of adopted children….

If the second son of the Kayo family were to be adopted by an existing member of the Imperial Household and then married to Princess Aiko, she would be able to remain in the Imperial Family as Her Imperial Highness. If she is blessed with a son, he would have the right to succeed to the throne as a male member of the emperor’s direct lineage.

In other words, this is an “ultra C” that would simultaneously satisfy the stable succession policy reported by the government’s expert panel.

Nevertheless, this scenario is likely to face considerable hurdles.

It is not impossible that the Kayo family would understand the “adult situation” and adopt a second son into the Imperial Family in order to halt the decline in the number of members of the Imperial Family. However, will things go as smoothly as marrying Princess Aiko?

I think so. Perhaps it is a story of excessive expectations and leaps and bounds (laughs). It is believed that these reports were based on the premise that now that the new Corona has settled down, Princess Aiko, who will be attending the Gakushuin University campus from this April, will not get any ‘bad bugs’.

In fact, the distance between Princess Aiko and her second son has not grown any closer.

A person from the Imperial Household Agency said that in fact Princess Aiko and her second son did not get close to each other. There is no mention of ‘emerging as a partner’ or anything specific like that. To begin with, among the former 11 imperial families, only the Kayo family has a single male lineage son in his 20s. In the past, this second son has come up in relation to his family background and age and the expectations of conservatives. Princess Aiko is only 21 years old. It is believed that she herself is aware that Kako, who is 28 years old, will marry first,” said a source in the Imperial Household Agency.

The reduction in the number of members of the Imperial Family is an urgent issue, and for that reason it may be the sort of thing that comes up from time to time.