Princess Kako, a granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, left Saturday for the United States where she will live for a month with an American family.
It is her first solo trip abroad, according to the Imperial Household Agency. The 18-year-old princess, a freshman at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, will return to Japan on Sept. 4.
The daughter of Prince Akishino, the Emperor’s second son, left Narita International Airport in the morning on a commercial flight. She will stay at the home of an acquaintance of the prince and his wife, Princess Kiko, in Massachusetts.
The homestay was arranged at the request of Princess Kako, the household agency said. During her visit she plans to make a sightseeing trip to Colorado.
Princess Mako, Akishino’s eldest daughter, had a homestay in Austria when she was a third-year student at Gakushuin Girls’ Junior High School. She studied in Ireland and Britain after entering International Christian University.