Prince Akishino, second in line for Japan’s Chrysanthemum Throne, is to arrive at Pochentong Airport shortly before 6 pm today for a six-day visit.
Horiuchi Toshihiko, first secretary at the Embassy of Japan, said the visit marks the first time a member of Japan’s royal family has visited Cambodia. The prince will be accompanied by his wife, Princess Akishino, the former Kawashima Kiko.
The royal couple has traveled widely abroad, and are visiting Cambodia to strengthen ties between the two countries. Japan is the single largest donor to Cambodia, pledging $118 million at the recent Consultative Group meeting in Tokyo.
Prince Akishino is an expert on catfish and domesticated chickens, with a deep interest in gardening and horticulture. He has published more than 20 works.
“The prince is a nature lover and a biologist,” said Horiuchi, noting that he plans to visit Cambodia’s Tonle Sap lake after a round of meetings in Phnom Penh and visits to Japanese restoration projects at major Angkorian temples.
The Tonle Sap region has been called a biological wonder, harboring one of the world’s largest sources of freshwater fish in a lake that quadruples its size during the rainy season each year.
The embassy is releasing few details of the royal visit, other than to say the prince and princess will spend three days in Phnom Penh and three days in Siem Reap, flying back to Japan June 27.
King Norodom Sihanouk will host a luncheon in their honor, while Prime Minister Hun Sen plans a dinner for the royal couple, officials said.
Prince Akishino has received much less publicity than his older brother, Crown Prince Naruhito, whose 1993 marriage to the former Owada Masako began drawing worldwide attention as the couple failed to produce an heir.
The princess is now pregnant, however, calming fears for the future of the Japanese monarchy. Prince Akishino and his wife have two daughters, but under current Japanese law the throne must pass to a male heir.
Prince Akishino, 35, studied law and biology at Gakushuin University; the taxonomy of fish at St John College, Oxford University; and earned a doctorate in ornithology from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Kanagawa, Japan, in 1996.
The prince is president of the Yamashina Institute of Ornithology and honorary president of the Japan Committee for the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Princess Akishino, who holds a master’s degree in psychology from Gakushuin University, is the daughter of Kawashima Tatsuhiko, a professor of economics at the university.
As a child, she lived in the US for six years and in Austria for two; she studies sign language to communicate with the deaf and is interested in children’s books, folk music and dance. She is president of the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association.
Prince Akishino’s doctoral thesis examined the origins of domesticated chickens and their dispersal patterns. This scholarly interest in poultry led to some misunderstandings about his Cambodian visit, according to Horiuchi.
Last year, he and four co-authors published a book called “Chickens and Human Beings—Viewing the Aspects from Ethnobiology,” according to the Poultry Times of India.
The book explored how wild chickens have been domesticated, a topic he first became interested in during a visit to China.
“He is interested in the domestication of wild cocks, but some articles in the Khmer press said that their royal highnesses watch cockfights for pleasure,” Horiuchi said.
“He is interested in cockfighting, but it is the academic interest of a biologist, not that of a gambler.” The royal visitors’ schedule will not permit them to attend a Cambodian cock fight, he said.
(Additional reporting by Phann Ana)
