Tokyo, April 10, 1961: Princess Michiko admires a fountain built in front of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in honor of her second wedding anniversary. Shigeo Mizuno (right), president of the Sankei ...

In the late 1950s, royal wedding fever swept Japan. Then-Crown Prince Akihito had fallen for literature graduate Michiko Shoda, whom he met on a tennis court in 1957 in a fateful encounter that ...

Michiko Shoda became the first commoner to join Japan's royal family when she married Prince ... but princess's 1960 Portland visit smashed traditions. Updated: Mar. 24, 2016, 10:05 a.m.

Empress Emerita Michiko celebrated her 87th birthday on Oct. 20 with sadness at the impending departure of Princess Mako, who will leave the imperial family after her marriage on Oct. 26 ...

Tokyo, Japan, Apr. 18, 1964: Crown Princess Michiko addresses a corps of collegiate interpreters who volunteered for the 1964 Paralympic Games in Tokyo at the Japan Red Cross Auditorium. The Tokyo ...

Sitting L-R: Crown Princess Masako, Japanese Emperor Akihito, his granddaughters Princess Mako and Princess Kako playing blocks, Empress Michiko and Crown Prince Naruhito.

Had members of the imperial family not been glued to their radios, they might have been the last people in Tokyo to hear the news. When Crown Princess Michiko was delivered of her 5-lb. 9-oz. son ...

Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko hold Prince Hiro's hand as they walk on the beach in Japan in the summery month of June. Naruhito wears a white hat—both functional and adorable. 1963 ...