(June 2007) xTokyo 2009(22 May 2009) before the
Wedding of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill in
Sweden(8 June 2013) Prince and Princess Takamado were the most widely traveled couple in the Japanese Imperial Family, visiting 35 countries together in 15 years to represent Japan on various functions. The Prince's last visits included
Egypt and
Morocco in May 2000,
Hawaii in July 2001 (to promote the
Japanese tea ceremony), and to
South Korea from May to June 2002. The latter was in order to attend the Opening Ceremony of the
2002 FIFA World Cup Korea-Japan. The goodwill visit by the Prince and Princess to Korea was the first Japanese imperial visit since
World War II, and was an important step in the promotion of friendly bilateral
relations between Japan and South Korea. While in South Korea, the couple toured the country extensively, met with President
Kim Dae-jung and ordinary South Koreans, and he visited the facilities for the
physically disabled in South Korea that the
Princess Masako Nashimoto had sponsored. Prince Takamado died of
ventricular fibrillation while playing
squash with the Canadian
ambassador,
Robert G. Wright, at the
Canadian Embassy, leaving a widow and three young daughters on 21 November 2002 at the age of 47. Since the Prince's death, Princess Takamado has been extremely active in a very large number of charitable organizations involving sports, cultural exchange and the environment, taking on all of the posts formerly held by her late husband, as well as numerous new posts. Since November 2002, the princess has served as the Honorary President of the Prince Takamado Trophy, All Japan-Middle School English Oratorical Contest. In June 2003, she visited
Dublin,
Republic of Ireland for the
2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. In June 2004, she made an official visit to Canada, traveling extensively across the nation as part of the 75th Anniversary of the formal
diplomatic relations between
Canada and Japan. During this visit, she received two
honorary doctorates in Law, one from the
University of Alberta and the other from the
University of Prince Edward Island. In March 2004, the Princess was elected to succeed
Queen Noor of Jordan as honorary president of
BirdLife International. In November 2004, she visited
Bangkok,
Thailand, to attend the
3rd IUCN World Conference as honorary president of BirdLife International. She visited
Montevideo,
Uruguay in 2008, and
Buenos Aires,
Argentina for the Birdlife World Conservation Conference. During this visit, she attended special high goal
polo exhibition played by the Novillo Astrada brothers in her honor at the La Aguada Polo Club. In June 2005, she visited
Germany to attend the
2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, attending
matches between Germany against Argentina, and Japan against Brazil. Afterwards, she visited
Jordan to attend the royal wedding of
Princess Badiya bint El Hassan. In November of the same year, returned to England for the Global Council Meeting of BirdLife International. In January 2006, she returned to Canada to attend the opening of the "Prince Takamado Gallery of Japan" at the
Royal Ontario Museum. She also returned to Germany later that year in order to attend the
2006 FIFA World Cup. In June 2013, she visited
Sweden to attend the
Wedding of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill. In July 2017, she visited
Dublin,
Republic of Ireland to celebrate the 60th anniversary of modern
Ireland–Japan relations. In August 2019, she visited
Edmonton,
Canada to celebrate the 90th anniversary of
diplomatic relations between Japan and Canada. In November 2022, she visited
Qatar to watch
2022 FIFA World Cup. In May–June 2023, she visited
Jordan with her eldest daughter,
Princess Tsuguko to attend the
Wedding of Hussein, Crown Prince of Jordan, and Rajwa Al Saif. == Health ==