Crown Princess Masako - Public Service

Public Service

Crown Prince Naruhito attends, together with Crown Princess Masako, events and ceremonies within the Imperial Palace, including ceremonies for the New Year and other events such as the Emperor and Empress' Garden Parties. On the occasion of visits by State guests from overseas, they attend welcome receptions, Court luncheons and State banquets at the Imperial Palace.

The Crown Prince attends, together with the Crown Princess, a variety of ceremonies, international and national tournaments and other events held in Japan. Important events they have attended include the National Awards Ceremony for the Promotion of Blood Donation, the National Inter-High School Championship, the National Cultural Festival, the National Tree-Care Festival, the National Sports Games for the Disabled, the Protect the Greenery Gathering, and the National Leaders of Agriculture Summit, during the course of which they have also been able to review for themselves the regions of Japan.

The work of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess includes such official duties at the Crown Prince's Residence as meeting with dignitaries from Japan and overseas, receiving Japanese ambassadors and their spouses before their postings abroad and receiving foreign ambassadors and their spouses before their departure from Japan. They also meet with foreign study groups visiting Japan and representatives of domestic youth groups.

The Crown Princess has also been an Honorary Vice-President of the Japanese Red Cross Society since April 1994.

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess have made visits to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar and the State of Bahrain in 1994, to the State of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1995, and again to Jordan in 1999. Additionally in 1999, they visited the Kingdom of Belgium on the occasion of the wedding of Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant. In 2002, they paid a visit to New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Australia.

Read more about this topic:  Crown Princess Masako

Famous quotes containing the words public and/or service:

    It was a fatal day when the public discovered that the pen is mightier than the paving-stone, and can be made as offensive as the brickbat. They at once sought for the journalist, found him, developed him, and made him their industrious and well-paid servant. It is greatly to be regretted, for both their sakes.
    Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

    We too are ashes as we watch and hear
    The psalm, the sorrow, and the simple praise
    Of one whose promised thoughts of other days
    Were such as ours, but now wholly destroyed,
    The service record of his youth wiped out,
    His dream dispersed by shot, must disappear.
    Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)