Crown Prince Akihito's courtship of commoner Shoda Michiko began on the tennis grounds of the mountain retreat, Karuizawa, April 19, 1957. Both had long enjoyed playing tennis, and Mahiko, so the story goes, did not discourage the affections of the prince by beating him at their first meeting.

From: Kōtaishi Denka Shōda (Commemoration of the Crown Prince’s Wedding). Tokyo: International Cultural Pictorial, Special Edition, 1959.