While she was at Gakushuin, she spent the 2001–2002 academic year studying abroad at Merton College, Oxford to major in Japanese art history.

[2] Her research topic was William Anderson Collection at the British Museum – Western Interest in Japanese Art in the Nineteenth Century.

[3] William Anderson (1842–1900) was an English surgeon who taught anatomy and surgery in Japan and became an important scholar and collector of Japanese art.

In December 2006, Princess Akiko assisted the University of Tokyo in opening a special exhibition on the 19th-century art movement known as Japonism.

[4][5] Akiko became a doctoral student at Merton College in the United Kingdom from October 2004 till January 2010 when she passed her final examination.

Princess Akiko worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Kinugasa Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto from October 2009 to March 2012.

[2] Princess Akiko came of age in December 2001 and started attending official ceremonies and events in Japan with the other members of the Imperial Family.

During her stay, Princess Akiko of Mikasa met with President Sebastián Piñera and toured Easter Island.

Princess Akiko visited University of Santiago for a conference and conversation with the students of Japanese translation and linguistics.

[11] In September 2018, the Princess undertook a tour of Turkey, during which she met with Turkish officials and visited archaeological sites and museums in Istanbul, Ankara, and Kırşehir.

[15] According to the agency's officials the household integration won't have any effect on the lives of the widow and daughters of Prince Tomohito.