Crown Prince Akishino visits Japan's largest elephant sanctuary

On a Tuesday afternoon in Chiba Prefecture, Crown Prince Akishino — in his capacity as president of Japan's national association of zoos and aquariums — visited the Ichihara Elephant Kingdom, home to the country's largest gathering of elephants. His presence was not merely ceremonial; it was an act of institutional stewardship, a signal that questions of animal welfare and the ethics of captivity carry weight at the highest levels of Japanese society. In a world still negotiating what humanity owes to the creatures it keeps, a royal asking how one teaches an elephant to paint is, in its quiet