She married the brother of wartime Emperor Hirohito less than two months before Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Princess Yuriko was the longest-living member of the imperial family since the Meiji Era (1868-1912) and her death marks the first in the family in eight years since that of Prince Mikasa in 2016. With her death, the imperial family is now made up of 16 people.

Japanese Princess Yuriko, the wife of wartime Emperor Hirohito’s brother and the oldest member of the imperial family, has died after her health deteriorated recently, palace officials said. She was 101.

The oldest member of the Japanese imperial family and great-aunt of Emperor Naruhito, Princess Yuriko passed away at the age of 101 in a Tokyo hospital on Friday, the Imperial Household Agency said.

Japanese Princess Yuriko has passed away at the age of 101 following a recent decline in her health, according to palace officials.

Her death reduces Japan’s rapidly dwindling imperial family to 16 people, and only 4 men, as the country faces questions about the future under a male-only succession law.

This Friday, November 15, 2024, will go down as one of the darkest days in Japan's history. Princess Yuriko, the longest-serving member of the Japanese imperial family, has died at

Princess Yuriko became the sister-in-law of Japan's World War II-era Emperor Hirohito when she married his brother Prince Mikasa.

Princess Yuriko, the oldest member of the Japanese Imperial Family, passed away on Friday, November 15 at age 101.

Japanese Princess Yuriko, the wife of wartime Emperor Hirohito’s brother and the oldest member of the imperial family, has died after her health deteriorated recently, palace officials said. She was 101.