He was born in a shelter home amid the air raid on Tokyo as the eldest son of Prince Morihiro Higashikuni and Shigeko, Princess Teru, the eldest daughter of Hirohito, then the reigning Emperor of Japan.
After departing from the Imperial Palace, he studied at the Keio University Law School and worked at Mitsui Bank.
In July 2009, he assumed the role of honorary adviser of the Japan-US Friendship Bridge Executive Committee.
The Shimada family is a commoner family which runs a real estate management business (apartment/parking lot management) in Yokohama, but Emperor Hirohito liked Shimada's homely appearance and blessed Nobuhiko's marriage.
[3] Since his parents and grandparents were all members of the Imperial House of Japan and very closely related to the senior members of the family, the existence of Nobuhiko and his son, Masahiko, has been noted when discussing the problem of succession to the throne due to the scarcity of male royalty, especially before 2006.