\u201cShe was extremely knowledgeable about horses and livestock, but she didn\u2019t know much about rodeo competitions,\u201d Long tells PaperCity Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Princess Takamado was joined by Shigeo Yamada, Japan\u2019s ambassador to the United States; Takeshi Koyama, consul general of Japan in Houston; Rie Koyama, the consul general\u2019s spouse; and Kazuyuki Yukawa, general secretary of the Japan Football Association.<\/p>\n
The visit, part of her World Cup itinerary, also included an exchange of gifts, with Princess Takamado receiving a Wild Silks<\/a> scarf, yellow roses, and other presents from the City of Fort Worth and local organizations.<\/p>\n Her Imperial Highness\u2019 itinerary focused on the Stockyards and the Fort Worth Botanic Garden. While the Texas Longhorn is a central figure in Fort Worth history and a familiar sight in Cowtown, Princess Takamado was clearly captivated by the massive cattle and their towering horns, Long says.<\/p>\n \u201cExtremely pleasant, soft-spoken, and always smiling\u201d are the words Long uses to describe the princess, adding that her generosity was perhaps best illustrated by one special request.<\/p>\n \u201cShe took pictures of the barrel racers,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of the competitors she photographed ended up winning. After her visit, someone from her team reached out to me asking for contact information for the racers so [the princess] could personally send them copies of the photos she took along with thank-you notes.\u201d<\/p>\n Harvey Yamagata, president of the Fort Worth Japanese Society, was on hand to welcome Princess Takamado to the Fort Worth Japanese Garden and was joined by Fort Worth Botanic Garden<\/a> President and CEO Patrick Newman, garden staff, and volunteer docents who escorted the delegation through one of the city\u2019s most treasured landmarks.<\/p>\n \u201cPrincess Takamado is extremely knowledgeable and a great conversationalist,\u201d Yamagata tells PaperCity Fort Worth. \u201cShe was very much interested in the Fort Worth Japanese Garden. She was also interested in the native wildlife in the garden. She enjoyed our tea house and the koi pond. In Japan, we have a tradition called omiyage, where we exchange gifts to show appreciation for others. It doesn\u2019t have to be anything of significant value, just tokens to remind them of the visit. We gave a number of gifts to her delegation.\u201d<\/p>\n Fort Worth officials and local organizations commemorated Princess Takamado\u2019s visit with a collection of thoughtfully chosen gifts. Councilmember Carlos Flores presented Princess Takamado with a copy of Panther City: Our Heritage, Our Home and a decorative plate featuring the outline of the State of Texas at its center as gifts from the city. The Stockyards National Historic District<\/a> presented her with a Wild Silks scarf outlining all of the city\u2019s cultural districts.<\/p>\n Fort Worth Sister Cities International presented Princess Takamado with yellow roses. Mason Rawlins, a rising senior at Amon Carter-Riverside High School and a distinguished Harashin Scholar, offered the flowers. Through the full scholarship program, Rawlins will host a student from Fort Worth\u2019s sister city of Nagaoka, Japan, later this month before traveling to Japan at the beginning of August.<\/p>\n Wild Silks owner Christi Braswell says being asked by Visit Fort Worth to create a gift for the visiting delegation was an \u201cincredible honor,\u201d adding she hopes the scarf \u201cserves as a small reflection of the creativity, craftsmanship, and warm hospitality that make Fort Worth so special.\u201d<\/p>\n Princess Takamado truly received a warm Fort Worth welcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While in the metroplex for the World Cup, Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado of Japan charmed those she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-376023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Princess](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1Q0A7634.jpg\")
Princess Takamado watches the Fort Worth Herd cattle drive during her visit to the Stockyards. (Photograph by Brooks Burris for Visit Fort Worth)
\nHow Princess Takamado Spent Her Day in Fort Worth<\/p>\n![\"Princess](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1Q0A7959.jpg\")
Princess Takamado receives yellow roses from Fort Worth Sister Cities International during her visit. (Photograph by Brooks Burris for Visit Fort Worth)
\nOmiyage Meets Fort Worth Hospitality<\/p>\n