He is fifth in line to Japan's Chrysanthemum Throne and, judging from his recent comments, Prince Tomohito has no desire to fall any further down the imperial pecking order. And he does not want a woman jumping the queue for the world's oldest hereditary monarchy.
The prince broke ranks this week by declaring, in conflict with his cousin, Emperor Akihito, that a woman should never be permitted to become empress.
His position flies in the face of public opinion and a panel set up by the government to consider a legal revision that would allow a woman to sit on the throne for the first time since Go Sakuramachi died in December 1813.
But the prince, 60, has never been one to bite his tongue. Last year he suggested that Crown Prince Naruhito, who has no son and is the last male in the direct imperial line, should take a concubine to solve the problem.
'I'm not surprised at all that he has spoken out - and I don't think that remark about a concubine was at all serious,' said Hideaki Kase, author of several books about Japan's imperial family and a close friend of the prince for more than 20 years.
'The imperial lineage is in grave crisis and he believes it would be wrong to change rules that have been in place for 2,000 years,' Mr Kase said.
