A teenager jostled for position amid a crowd of well-wishers in front of the Imperial Palace balcony on Jan. 2, 2014, her casual attire and flu mask obscuring her true identity.

Instead of joining adult members of the imperial family on the balcony, 19-year-old Princess Kako, second daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko, was among the 80,000 members of the public giving New Year’s greetings.

An Asahi Shimbun reporter received a tip-off that Kako would make an incognito appearance among the general public that day but half-doubted that such a scenario would unfold.

The imperial family greets New Year’s well-wishers on Jan. 2 every year. The emperor and empress and other family members make several appearances on the balcony and wave to the crowds in the east garden of the palace.

On Jan. 2 this year, they made five appearances in the morning and afternoon.

When the “well-wishing” event started on Jan. 1, 1948, no imperial family member appeared on the balcony, and visitors only signed their names on greeting books.

But Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Emperor Showa, reportedly watched the crowd from the rooftop of the Imperial Household Agency building.

Princess Kako’s view was from within the crowd on Jan. 2, 2014.

Just past 9 a.m. that day, Kako came into view among the crowd near the Sakurada-mon gate close to Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department.

Wearing a grayish down jacket, a pair of jeans and a flu mask, she headed to the Imperial Palace with a woman apparently of the same age. No one seemed to recognize her.

Although it was difficult to follow the princess in the crowd, her checkered scarf provided a “guide” of sorts.

Kako was treated no differently than other visitors in the long line for security checks near the front gate.

Her baggage was examined, and she underwent a body scan before entering the venue.

It was so crowded that she could hardly move forward, and she actually missed the first appearance of the imperial family.

In the second appearance that started at 11 a.m., Kako watched her parents and her older sister, Mako, standing on the balcony of the Imperial Palace.

Kako, who was 19 at the time, was to turn 20 in December that year. She was slated to greet well-wishers on Jan. 2, 2015, as an adult member of the imperial family.

She wanted to see what it would be like being viewed by the general public, according to sources.

Princess Mako had also visited the site and watched the event when she was 19.

Kako’s younger brother, Prince Hisahito, also joined the general public to celebrate the birthday of Akihito, now emperor emeritus, on Dec. 23, 2018. That was Akihito’s last appearance as emperor to greet well-wishers before his abdication.

Hisahito for the first time joined other imperial family members to greet well-wishers from the balcony on Jan. 2 this year.

Kako made her first appearance on the balcony on Jan. 2, 2015, wearing a long peach-colored dress, smiling and waving to the crowd.

“She is acting in a very regal manner based on her experience of observing the event in the previous year, isn’t she?” said a source serving Fumihito’s family at the time.