The Royalty Nerd

Happy New Year! 2024 is starting off right with the Japanese Imperial family hosting their annual New Year’s celebration at the Imperial Palace today.

There are generally no fancy ballgowns, rather, the Japanese Imperial family enacts a pretty strict dress code and they all mostly dress the same, with some variance in the colour of dress worn. It’s still one of the few occasions we get to see tiaras in Japan though, so it’s always an event I look out for.

This year in particular is important because it marks the first time that tiaras have been worn since 2020, as the family deemed them too ostentatious considering the pandemic and how it impacted Japan.

Japanese tiaras have always been a frustrating area of royal watching for me. There’s just not many good photos of each tiara! But this year, we actually got some decent views. I’m begging the Imperial family for just one good, high quality, close up photo of each one, please.

Above, Emperor Naruhito is pictured with his wife Empress Masako. She is wearing the Meiji scroll tiara and a floral(?) diamond brooch. The Meiji tiara is reserved only for the Empress.

Their daughter and only child, Princess Aiko, wore her birthday tiara. Every Japanese princess receives a set of jewels for their 20th birthday, but rather than a whole new set for Aiko, she received a family piece, her set of jewels first belonged to her aunt, Princess Sayako. Japan’s Imperial family follows a male only line of succession, and when princesses marry, they lose their titles and generally have no need for the jewels anymore. Sayako married, and her jewels were obviously earmarked for Aiko.

Princess Kako stood out in a pale blue dress. She wore her birthday tiara and accompanying jewels. Princess Kako is the niece to the Emperor and Empress. Her parents are Fumihito, Crown Prince Akishino and Kiko, Crown Princess Akishino.

From left to right, we’ve got Princess Aiko; Princess Akiko, her father was Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, cousin to the former Emperor Akihito; Princess Yōko, who is Akiko’s sister; and Princess Tsuguko, her father was Norihito, Prince Takamado, who was another cousin to the former Emperor Akihito.

I wasn’t able to find a good photo of Crown Princess Kiko at the ceremony, but I did find this one of her and Fumihito in the car on the way to the palace. She is wearing the diamond scroll tiara. This one was originally worn by Empress Emerita Michiko for part of her wedding celebrations. It’s also been worn by Empress Masako and now Crown Princess Kiko. Partially hidden is the massive necklace that goes along with it.

The Emperor and Empress, along with the extended family receive members of the government and ambassadors. It’s a pretty formal occasion as you can probably tell from the photo above. This year though, at least we had some sparkle!