Princess Aiko's visit to quake-hit Ishikawa this week has been canceled due to rain disaster in the central Japanese prefecture.

The Imperial Household Agency said the princess was scheduled to make an overnight trip from September 28.

She was planning to visit the city of Nanao and the town of Shika to see how areas affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake that struck on January 1 were recovering.

An aide said her trip was called off after taking into consideration that organizations involved became busy dealing with damage caused by heavy rain in the northern part of the Noto Peninsula.

This would have been Aiko's first solo official duty in regional Japan and first trip alone to a disaster-hit area.

She had been scheduled to tour temporary stores and meet with volunteers.

Aiko is the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako.