[1] Princess Shigeko was born at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on 6 December 1925, the first child of Crown Prince Hirohito (later Emperor Shōwa), and his wife, Crown Princess Nagako (later Empress Kōjun) while her father was still Prince Regent for her grandfather, the Emperor Taishō.

As was the practice of the time, she was not raised by her biological parents after the age of three, but by a succession of court ladies at a separate palace built for her and her younger sisters in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo from 1930.

As the wedding occurred in the middle of World War II, ceremonies and expenses were kept to a minimum, and she wore a junihitoe kimono belonging to her mother, Empress Kōjun, rather than having special clothing created for the occasion.

With rampant post-war inflation, high taxation, and various failed business ventures by her husband, the Higashikuni family was reduced to poverty.

In January 1958, she accepted an offer by the Japanese national television network, NHK, to appear before a live audience and explain the New Year's poetry card reading contest and other royal ceremonies.