Who's Who in the Japanese Royal Family

For many of us in the U.S., the words "royal family" automatically conjure images of the Buckingham Palace balcony, but the Brits are far from the only ones to boast a royal family with a long heritage and history—not to mention a dash of pomp and circumstance. In fact, the imperial house of Japan claims the oldest continuous monarchy in the world, tracing their history back to 600 BC. (Though some of those early emperors are shrouded in myth, there is evidence of the family's reign as far back as 500 AD.)

Here, we take a look at some of the must-know names from the modern imperial family.