Japan royal family follows Dutch counterpart on Instagram in social media outreach

The Japanese imperial family and the Dutch royals have followed each other on Instagram as the former’s venture into social media gained momentum with its account gathering over 800,000 followers since its debut April 1.

The account was established by the Imperial Household Agency to deepen understanding of the household, posting on events such as the Imperial New Year’s Poetry Reading. It had attracted more than 855,000 followers as of Friday.

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako have amicable relations with the Dutch royal family. In 2006 as then crown prince and crown princess, they spent two weeks in the Netherlands with their daughter Princess Aiko on a sojourn aimed at helping the crown princess recover from an adjustment disorder.

The couple also visited the Netherlands in 2013 in what became the crown princess’s first official trip overseas in 11 years.

Among the agency’s recent posts are photos of the imperial couple’s meetings on March 22 with evacuees from a powerful earthquake in their first visit to Ishikawa prefecture since the temblor struck on New Year’s Day, collecting over 125,000 likes.

On Friday, the couple again visited Ishikawa, with the itinerary including observing the disaster-affected areas and meeting with evacuees and those involved in responding to the disaster, the agency said.

Due to trouble found on the aircraft the couple was initially scheduled to board, they switched to a separate aircraft, resulting in the one-hour delay in their departure, according to All Nippon Airways Co.