The Imperial Household Agency released on Thursday a set of 21 photos of Emperor Naruhito's family taken during their recent stay at a farm in Tochigi Prefecture and seven photos of cats connected to the family.
The set of 21 photos includes those of Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter, Princess Aiko, traveling in the Imperial Stock Farm on bicycles, digging for bamboo shoots and harvesting vegetables. Also among them are seven photos taken by the emperor with his own camera, including one in which the empress holds a lamb and another showing the princess interacting with a horse.
The family stayed at the imperial farm between May 2 and 7, during the country's Golden Week holiday period.
Meanwhile, some of the seven photos of cats show Mii and Seven, both living with the emperor's family. In other photos, taken in May 2010, are cats being fed by Princess Aiko, then a third grader at Gakushuin Primary School in Tokyo, after they were rescued by the princess around the family's then residence in the capital's Minato Ward.
According to an aide, the family rescued a mother cat and four kittens near the residence. The mother cat, named Ningen, meaning human, died in May 2016. One of the kittens, given the name Mii, and Seven, adopted from a shelter, are now living with the emperor's family at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
Empress Masako showed some of the photos of cats to guests invited to an imperial garden party held at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Minato Ward in April this year.
The Imperial Household Agency released the 28 photos ahead of the 31st wedding anniversary of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Sunday.
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