Figure 1.--Here we see Crown Prince Akihito with his classmates in the Gakushuin School during 1946 after the War. We think this is the 6th grade class, the last year of primary school. Notice how the Prince is set off from the other children. We are not sure precisely how classes were conducted.

We believe that Prince Akihito entered the Gakushuin school at age 7 about 1940. He attended during World War II. We note photographs of the Prince wearing his school uniforms. There were seasonal summer and winter uniforms. Gakushuin had a cadet-style uniform. While the Prince attended school rather than be educated by tutors, his classmaters were children of the nobility. We do not know if it was a carefully chosen class like his father attended. We do know that he he was not treated like any other student. One class portrait sgows the Prince sitting at a small desk set off by rails from the other boys sitting in benches. We do not have details as to just how the class was conducted with this very special pipil. Nor do we know what kind of relations and interactions he had with the other boys. We are not sure what the school did during the American bombing campaign which destroyed much of Tokyo. Emperor Hirohito refused to leave the Imperial Palace in Tokyo even after the air raids began. He stated that he desired to share the hardships of his subjects. The American bombers avoided the Imperial Palace, but must of the rest of Tokyo was destroyed in the bombing and resulting fires. We are not sure what happened to the school. When the bombing began to become serious, both Prince Akihito and his his younger brother, Prince Yoshi (Prince Hitachi) were evacuated to Nikko for safty (late 1944). After Japan surrenderes and the American intentions became clear, Prince Akihito and his brother retuned to Tokyo and the Gakushuin School.

Created: 7:34 PM 5/25/2009
Last updated: 7:34 PM 5/25/2009