Japan’s Princess Yuriko, oldest imperial family member, turns 101

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Princess Yuriko, the widow of the late Prince Mikasa, turned 101 on Tuesday, marking the most advanced age for a member of the Japanese imperial family since the country’s modernization began with the launch of the Meiji Era in 1868.

The princess has been hospitalized due mainly to aspiration pneumonitis since early March. Her late husband was one of three brothers of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, the current Emperor Naruhito’s grandfather.

Buichiro Kuroda, vice grand steward of the Imperial Household Agency, told a press conference Monday that it will continue to take care of her carefully “given her old age.”

According to the agency, the princess has not made a public appearance since New Year’s Day when she attended a ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and visited the residence of the former emperor and empress.

The prince, whom she married in 1941, died at 100 in 2016.