Prince and Princess Akishino Visit Ise Shrine and Ancestral Tombs
Crown Prince and Princess Akishino visited Mie, Nara, and Kyoto prefectures from April 20 to pay a visit to Ise Jingu Shrine and several other sites, and returned to Tokyo by air from Itami Airport on the morning of April 23. The couple visited Ise Jingu Shrine (Ise City, Mie Prefecture) on the 21st and the mausoleum of Emperor Jinmu (Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture) and the mausoleums of Emperor Takaaki and Emperor Meiji (Kyoto City) on the 22nd to report that Prince Akishino had completed the "Risshi no Rite of Imperial Succession" in 2020, which indicates both at home and abroad that he is ranked first in the line of succession to the throne. The couple's request to travel approximately 800 km by car, excluding the return trip, out of the four-day, three-night itinerary was an unusual one. Although the reason for this is ostensibly to avoid infection by the coronavirus, it is rumored on the Japanese Internet, which is notoriously tight-lipped, that