The TV Asahi variety show "Platinum Family" (Tuesdays at 7pm, excluding some regions) aired on May 20th, and featured Yamagishi Miki, the great-great-granddaughter of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the 15th Shogun of the Edo Shogunate.
The program offers a glimpse into the lifestyle of the "splendid family = platinum family." Yamagishi's great-aunt (his grandfather's sister) is the late Princess Kikuko of Takamatsu, a member of the imperial family, so her family is truly of platinum descent. On this day, the show introduced Yamagishi's villa, which is about 3300m2 in Tateshina, Nagano Prefecture.
It seems that there were not only good things about having a famous person as an ancestor, and when the program staff asked, "What are the good things about being the great-great-grandson of Tokugawa Yoshinobu?", he thought for a while and then said, "Not much." When asked, "Did you brag about it when you were little?" he laughed and said, "(No one) would believe me, no one would believe me. If I said I was the great-grandson of Tokugawa Yoshinobu, I'd usually be called a liar or a fake."
Yamagishi's husband, Naoto, said he found out that she was a descendant of Keiki after their marriage was decided. He shared the story, "I wasn't surprised at all, but the only thing that surprised me was that at the wedding, my wife's table was Tokugawa, Matsudaira, Tokugawa, Matsudaira... and also ministers, ministers, ministers... all amazing people. On our side was a gathering of commoners (laughs)."
