Japan's Crown Prince to Have Surgery Next Week

Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito will undergo endoscopic surgery to remove a benign intestinal polyp next week, a palace spokesman said on Thursday.

The prince, 47, will undergo the surgery next Wednesday and will stay in the hospital for about a week. The polyp was discovered when Naruhito took a routine medical examination in March.

Naruhito's grandfather, Emperor Hirohito, died of intestinal cancer in 1989, and his father, the current Emperor Akihito, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2002.