Empress Masako

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Masako 雅子
Masako in 2023
Empress consort of Japan
Tenure	1 May 2019 – present
Enthronement	22 October 2019
Born	Masako Owada (小和田雅子) (1963-12-09) 9 December 1963 (age 60) Toranomon Hospital, Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Spouse	Naruhito ​ (m. 1993)​
Issue	Aiko, Princess Toshi
House	Imperial House of Japan (by marriage)
Father	Hisashi Owada
Mother	Yumiko Egashira
Signature

Japanese imperial family
The Emperor The Empress Princess Toshi
The Emperor Emeritus The Empress Emerita The Crown Prince Akishino The Crown Princess Akishino Princess Kako of Akishino Prince Hisahito of Akishino
The Prince Hitachi The Princess Hitachi
The Princess Mikasa Princess Tomohito of Mikasa Princess Akiko of Mikasa Princess Yōko of Mikasa The Princess Takamado Princess Tsuguko of Takamado
v t e

Masako (雅子, born Masako Owada (小和田雅子, Owada Masako); 9 December 1963) is Empress of Japan (皇后, kōgō). Her husband, Emperor Naruhito, ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne following the abdication of his father, Akihito, in 2019.

Born in Tokyo, Masako was educated at Belmont High School in Massachusetts before attending Harvard College and earning a B.A. magna cum laude in economics.^[1] She also studied law at the University of Tokyo and international relations at Balliol College, Oxford. She then worked for Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomat.

Masako met Crown Prince Naruhito in 1986. They married in 1993; their only child, Aiko, Princess Toshi, was born in 2001. The birth fueled the ongoing Japanese imperial succession debate, which had resulted in some politicians holding a favorable view on rescinding agnatic primogeniture imposed by World War II allies on the constitution of Japan. However, with the birth of a son to Naruhito's brother, Prince Fumihito, in 2006, no amendments made and Aiko remains ineligible to inherit the throne, so she cannot succeed her father.^[2]

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 empress, Masako has accompanied her husband on official visits to foreign countries and at ceremonies within the imperial court.