<figure id="attachment_243928" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4032px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-243928"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="b21e2177"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/05/071111c4b9e4bf88423b09479c3b40b8.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-243928" class="wp-caption-text">Tsukuba University&#8221; is located in the middle of a long slope. On its spacious grounds, about 1,300 students from junior high and high schools study there. Prince Eugene seems to be enjoying a rich high school life here.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Unknown men and women&#8221; inside the school.</h2>
 When I walk around the school, I see some old men and women I don&#8217;t know standing in the shadows of plantings and so on. It is a surprise. When I go to the gymnasium for class, they are around the corner from the school building.
A third-year student at a high school affiliated with the University of Tsukuba told us, &#8220;In April, I was really surprised.
 I was really surprised in April. Many of the students would shout, &#8220;Wow! Many of the students would shout, &#8220;Wow! Now I&#8217;m getting used to people who are in easy-to-see places, such as the plantation to the left of the school gate (laughs).
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It has been one month since Prince Eugene, the eldest son of the Akishino family, entered the University of Tsukuba High School, which he had eagerly awaited. The school has been manned by several men and women who are not members of the school&#8217;s faculty or staff, probably as security personnel.
 The school gate, which used to be wide open, is now only accessible at the end. &#8220;We have a pass for parents, but in the past, even if we forgot it, they would let us through, just like that. But that is no longer the case.
<h2>Walking up a long hill to school</h2>
The school is located in a quiet area of Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, halfway up a long hill with one lane on each side, off Otowa-dori, a busy street with many buses. The nearest station is Gokokuji on the Yurakucho Metro Line. From the school gate, it is a five- to six-minute walk to Gokokuji Station, which is just down the hill and to the right.
 I was walking down the hill talking with a friend on the way home when I saw a man in a suit right behind me. I thought, &#8216;Oh, well, after you,&#8217; and tried to give him the right of way.
The narrow sidewalks are packed with students around school dismissal time, so the student, who says it is his habit to give way to &#8220;adults,&#8221; continued: &#8220;The man had a blank expression on his face and said, &#8216;Please go ahead of me.
 I thought something was wrong, so I turned around. I thought something was wrong, so I turned around and saw Eugene walking a little bit behind the man. I thought, &#8216;Oh, so that&#8217;s how it is.
In principle, the school does not allow students to be picked up and dropped off by car. Students commute to school by public transportation unless they are injured or have other special needs.
 Some students go to Gokokuji Station at the bottom of the hill and Myogadani Station on the Marunouchi Line at the top of the hill, and a few others take the Toei bus. From high school, some students come from other parts of Tokyo, such as Saitama, so most of them use one of the Metro stations,&#8221; said a second-year student.
So far, &#8220;I haven&#8217;t seen Yujin-kun&#8221; at the Metro station, but it seems that he is walking to school at the time he leaves the school gate.
<h2>The club activities he chooses after his trial membership&#8230;</h2>
Before the holidays, there was a period of recruitment for club activities, and Eugene says that he &#8220;tried out&#8221; several clubs.
 When a senior member of the kendo club put his arm over Eugene&#8217;s shoulder and &#8220;solicited&#8221; him to join the club, he said, &#8220;That&#8217;s the kendo club. He is very brave! It became a topic of conversation within the school. After that, he joined the futsal club. This club is a very serious sports club, with a joint training camp with the soccer, futsal, and women&#8217;s clubs. I was a promising newcomer (laughs), but I ended up not joining the club.
Prince Eugene is currently most interested in the badminton club.
 The badminton club is a little quieter than the other sports clubs, and there are a lot of kids who want to do club activities but also study. They are not the type of students who are so determined to be in the club that they are prepared to be a ronin, but rather the type of students who are serious about taking the entrance examinations.
However, the sports clubs have a wide range of activities, including after-school practices and weekend games against other schools.
 The annual boat race against Kaisei High School was again cancelled this year. But in June, we have another tradition, the &#8216;Insei Battle. Each athletic team competes against Gakushuin Senior High School and Gakushuin Girls&#8217; Senior High School&#8221; (current student, 3rd year). (A student in the third grade)
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Which sport will you be competing in as a new student in the tournament against Gakushuin, which is also your parents&#8217; alma mater?
<h2>A &#8220;normal&#8221; adolescence at the &#8220;safest&#8221; school in Japan</h2>
 At the school assembly, where he was present, the teacher said, &#8216;There is a member of the imperial family here, but you should treat him normally. I was a little surprised, but we are students at the same school, so I thought it was a good idea. So, everyone is already normal or not so concerned about it. There are a lot of security guards in the shadows inside the school, so we say things like, &#8216;This is the safest place in Japan.
The warm reception of the seniors made my cheeks relax. It seems that the school they entered with strong hopes was really a good school. We hope that high school life will be rich for His Highness Princess Eugene and all the other students at the school.

 When I walk around the school, I see some strangers standing in the shadows of plantings. I am surprised. When I go to the gymnasium for class, or when I turn the corner of the school building, I see them standing in the shadows of the plants.

Prince Eugene, now accustomed to high school life, aims for “both literary and martial arts in the badminton club

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