The Princess was welcomed by the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, Spyros Capralos, and the Secretary General, Emmanuel Kolympadis. She listened with interest to details and litte known information about the history of the stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games, from its construction and the 1896 Athens Olympic Games to its evolution in modern history. 

Princess Kako also had the opportunity to visit the Stadium Museum and showed great interest in the posters and the torches of the Olympic Games that Japan has hosted, Tokyo 1964, Nagano 1998 and most recently Tokyo 2020. 

The President of the HOC thanked the Princess for her visit to the Panathenaic Stadium and for honouring the Olympic Movement. Capralos also stressed that Greece and Japan are linked by bonds of friendship and cooperation through the valuable legacy that the Olympic Games have left in both countries, inspiring the next generations with the values and Olympic ideals.

Princess Kako of Akishino, 29, is the second daughter of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Japan and a member of the Japanese Imperial Family. She is a niece of Emperor Naruhito and the second eldest grandchild of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emeritus Michiko. 

Spyros Capralos is a former Greek water polo player who represented Greece at the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics Game. He is President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee from 2019, President of the European Olympic Committees from 2021 and he is also a member of the IOC from 2019. 

The Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) is the supreme Olympic body of Greece and the second oldest National Olympic Committee in the world (after the French Olympic Committee). It organises the representation of the country at the Olympic Games and other multi-sport events with a total of 27 member sports federations.