Empress Masako

Masako (Japanese: 雅子; born Masako Owada (小和田雅子, Owada Masako); 9 December 1963) is Empress of Japan as the wife of Emperor Naruhito. Born in Minato, Tokyo, Masako was educated at Belmont High School in Massachusetts, United States, before attending Harvard College. She also studied law at the University of Tokyo and international relations at Balliol College, Oxford. After completing her studies, she worked for Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomat. Masako met Crown Prince Naruhito in 1986. They married in 1993 and their only child, Aiko, Princess Toshi, was born in 2001. The birth of Princess Aiko fueled the ongoing Japanese imperial succession debate, which had led some politicians to favor rescinding the agnatic primogeniture imposed by the Allies of World War II on the Constitution of Japan. However, with the birth of a son to Naruhito's brother, Fumihito, in 2006, no amendments were made and Princess Aiko remains ineligible to inherit the throne. The pressure to produce a male heir affected Masako's health. She was diagnosed with adjustment disorder in 2004, which forced her to withdraw from public life periodically. As crown princess and later empress, Masako has accompanied her husband on official visits abroad and at ceremonies in the imperial court.