Princess Aiko on Wednesday attended the utakai hajime New Year's poetry reading ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo for the first time.
Poems written by imperial family members and guests were recited in a traditional style at the ceremony in the palace's Matsu-no-Ma state room. This year's theme was yume, or dream.
Princess Aiko, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, who graduated from university and began working last spring, penned a poem expressing her anticipation of meeting her friends again.
"Until the day we meet again / My friends and I will / Each follow our dreams," reads the English version of her poem released by the Imperial Household Agency.
The emperor wrote a poem expressing delight at hearing local children talk about their dreams and aspirations when he took a trip outside Tokyo last year, while the empress reminisced about her past days studying at Britain's University of Oxford while working at the Foreign Ministry before she joined the imperial family.
Crown Prince Akishino, the emperor's younger brother, wrote a poem about how as a young boy he did not remember well a dream from New Year's Day, when he slept with a picture of a treasure ship under his pillow as tradition dictates.
His wife, Crown Princess Kiko, made a poem about learning the traditional Turkish handicraft oya ahead of her visit to the country last year.
Poems of 10 individuals selected from 16,250 poems submitted by the general public were read out as well.
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