Former Imperial Family Member Views Adoption Plan as Unrealistic

Tokyo, July 2 (Jiji Press)--An 81-year-old man from a former Imperial Family branch has questioned a plan to allow the Imperial Family to adopt male, paternal-line descendants of former branches amid the declining number of Imperial Family members.

Born to the Kuninomiya branch of the Imperial Family in October 1944, Asahiro Kuni is the third son of Prince Kuni and Princess Tomoko, as well as the youngest of their eight children. He is a nephew of the late Empress Kojun, the wife of Emperor Showa, and a cousin of Emperor Emeritus Akihito.

When the Kuninomiya branch left the Imperial institution in October 1947, Kuni was 3 years old and 18th in line to the throne. "I don't remember anything from those days," he says.

"I've been living as an ordinary citizen, and it (the adoption plan) seems unrealistic to me," Kuni says. "I also wonder if it can gain public understanding," he added.

At Gakushuin Primary School, students in the same grade as him included Yasuko Konoe, 82, the daughter of the late Prince Mikasa. After graduating from Gakushuin University, he worked as an engineer at Hitachi Ltd. for about 40 years.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]