日本：愛子公主首日入學 笑臉盈盈

Japan's six-year-old Princess Aiko smiled nervously for the cameras as she arrived with her parents for her first day at Tokyo's exclusive Gakushuin elementary school on Thursday.

Aiko, who would be third in line for the throne if she wasn't a girl, was dressed in her school uniform of navy sailor suit with red neckerchief, and was accompanied by her parents, Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako.

She smiled after a word of encouragement from her mother, who was dressed in a white suit.

Aiko may be a royal but, like most Japanese elementary school pupils, she will walk to school each day, Kyodo news agency said.

The princess almost made it into the queue for the Japanese throne because of a shortage of male heirs.

But plans to change the law to allow an empress were shelved after Naruhito's younger brother fathered Prince Hisahito, the first boy born into the imperial family in four decades.

Under current law, if Aiko marries, she loses her royal status. Her aunt was transformed from Princess Sayako into Sayako Kuroda, an ordinary Tokyo housewife, after her marriage to an urban planner.

本週四，日本六歲的愛子公主迎來了上學第一天。當天，她在父母的陪同下來到東京學習院貴族小學參加入學儀式。（現場有很多人爭相拍照）面對鏡頭，愛子笑得有些靦腆。

當天，愛子公主身着海軍式校服，佩戴着紅色領巾，在父親德仁太子和母親雅子太子妃的陪伴下來到學校。如果愛子不是女孩，她應該是日本皇室的第三皇位繼承人。

身着白色套裝的雅子對女兒說了些鼓勵的話，愛子聽後面露微笑。

據日本共同社報道，愛子公主雖然是皇室成員，但她還是會像多數日本小學生那樣，每天步行上學。

由於日本皇室缺乏男性繼承人，愛子公主差點成爲繼位人選。

因爲德仁太子的弟弟生下了小皇子悠仁，之前準備修改法律准許女性繼任天皇的計劃即被擱置。悠仁是日本皇室四十多年來迎來的首個男性成員。

按照日本現行法律，公主一旦結婚，就將失去皇室頭銜。愛子的姑姑紀宮公主就因嫁給一名城市規劃師而成了普通民婦，她的稱呼也從“紀宮公主”變成了“紀宮黑田”。