JAPAN'S PRINCE TO WED HARVARD GRAD

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993                   TAG: 9301070208
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO   
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: TOKYO                                LENGTH: Short
JAPAN'S PRINCE TO WED HARVARD GRAD
The long search ended Wednesday: Crown Prince Naruhito, 32, has picked a bride. Japan's future empress is a Harvard University graduate and rising star in the Foreign Ministry.
Masako Owada, 29, the eldest daughter of Vice Foreign Minister Hisashi Owada, is fluent in four languages and is widely seen as an important future asset to promoting smooth Japanese ties with the rest of the world.
The happy news dominated Japanese television Wednesday night, breaking through the pall of economic gloom that has fallen over Japan this new year. "With this news, light has come into Japan; people will regain their will to drive forward," said former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
Jubilant Japanese expressed joy and relief that the crown prince has found a mate after his well-publicized, five-year search. There was Naruhito no official confirmation of the betrothal from the palace or the Foreign Ministry, although there was no doubt as to the veracity of reports.
Hundreds of reporters gathered Wednesday night outside the Owada home, a concrete, church-like structure with high arches, a sloping roof and narrow slit windows in a tony neighborhood of Tokyo.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB