Prince Yasuhiko Asaka was a cousin of Japanese Emperor Hirohito who ruled during the World War II. He was also a half-uncle of Empress Nagako (Hirohito`s wife).
The General Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, the first member of the Japanese imperial dynasty who converted to Catholicism, died on this day in 1981. He was a cousin of the Japanese Emperor Hirohito (through the male line), who ruled during World War II. He was also a half-uncle of the Empress Nagako (Hirohito`s wife).
Prince Yasuhiko became general of the Japanese Imperial Army in 1929. He was a member of a Supreme War Council. He wasn`t persecuted after the war (it seems that the Allies decided to spare the members of the Japanese imperial dynasty from prosecution after committed war crimes).
After the war, Prince Yasuhiko settled down on the Izu peninsula near Tokyo. He became a Roman Catholic in 1951. He died fifty years after the conversion, on this day in 1981. He was 93 years old at the time of his death.
