The famed Sakurada-mon Gate of the Imperial Palace basked in a serene glow as it was illuminated for the first time in preparation for Emperor Akihito's 84th birthday on Dec. 23, a public holiday.
The gate, an important cornerstone of the Kokyo Gaien national gardens in front of the palace, and one of those remaining from the old Edo Castle that housed the Tokugawa Shogunate, will be lit up between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. through Jan. 7.
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During that period, the Imperial Household Agency will also illuminate certain parts of the Imperial Palace, including the historic Nijubashi bridge as well as castle keeps that are remnants of the old Edo Castle.
From the end of February to the beginning of March this year, the Empress and I visited Viet Nam. While relations between Japan and Viet Nam have rapidly progressed in recent years, and many Vietnamese dignitaries, including two Presidents, have visited Japan, this was our first time to visit Viet Nam. In Viet Nam, we received the gracious welcome of the current President and the First Lady and three other leaders of the country. We were also warmly welcomed by the people of Viet Nam. This allowed me to reflect deeply on the close ties between our two countries. In Hanoi, we had the opportunity to meet some of the Vietnamese families of quite a few former Japanese soldiers who had remained in Viet Nam after the end of World War II and fought alongside the Vietnamese people in their war for independence from France. After the independence of Viet Nam, those former soldiers were advised to return to Japan and forced to leave the country, reluctantly parting with their families, and the families left behind in Viet Nam endured numerous hardships. I was deeply moved to learn that even under those circumstances, warm exchange has continued over the years between those Vietnamese families and a number of Japanese families the former soldiers formed in Japan after their return.
Our stay in Hanoi (..)
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Accompanied by his wife Empress Michiko, the emperor waved to the crowd from behind the windows of the palace Saturday morning.
Some 45,900 people visited the palace, a record since he took the throne in 1989, according to the agency.
While expressing his appreciation for the good wishes, the emperor said, "It pains me to think that there are still people enduring hardships in regions affected by typhoons, torrential rains, the Great East Japan Earthquake (in 2011) and other disasters."
"I pray that the next year will be peaceful for all the people."
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NHK has learned that Japan's Emperor and Empress may revisit places symbolic of World War Two and the 2011 earthquake and tsunami before the Emperor abdicates in April 2019.
Sources close to the Imperial family say Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko strongly hope to travel to those locations in 2018, to be close in thought to the war dead, the bereaved and survivors of the disaster.(..)
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will not be attending sumo’s new year tournament as the ancient sport deals with a string of deep scandals, the palace told local media Thursday.
Imperial Household Agency Grand Steward Shinichiro Yamamoto said the Japan Sumo Association had cancelled a customary invitation, issued in October, for the couple to watch the tournament later this month, citing “recent situations.”(..)
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During the three-day trip from March 27, the imperial couple are expected to visit Japan's westernmost island of Yonaguni for the first time, in addition to Okinawa's main island.
The trip is being arranged as the imperial couple strongly desire to revisit Okinawa ahead of the 84-year-old emperor's planned abdication in April 2019, the source said.
It would be their 11th trip to Okinawa, including visits the couple made as crown prince and crown princess. They last visited the southern island prefecture in June 2014 in the run-up to the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in 1945.
The emperor and empress have long felt sympathy for Okinawa, where around a quarter of local residents died in a three-month ground battle. The total death toll from the battle exceeded 200,000, including Americans.
[...] Resentment still runs deep over the continuing burden on the prefecture from hosting the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan.
The source said the emperor and empress will fly to Okinawa's main island and visit the National War Dead Peace Mausoleum in the city of Itoman on March 27 to pay respects to the war dead.
After staying overnight in the prefectural capital Naha, they are expected to make a one-day trip to Yonaguni Island to visit a stone monument marking Japan's westernmost point and to fly back to Tokyo on the third day.
Complex emotions swirled among Okinawans after the war.
During the couple's first trip to the prefecture in July 1975, three years after the reversion to Japanese control, activists threw a firebomb when the couple visited the Himeyuri war memorial in the southern part of the Okinawa battlefield.
The then-crown prince issued a statement saying, "I deeply reflect on wounds of prefecture residents from the Battle of Okinawa."
After ascending to the throne in 1989, he visited Okinawa in April 1993 to attend a national tree-planting ceremony, becoming the first Japanese emperor to visit the prefecture.
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Because numerous high-rise apartment buildings look down on the Takanawa Imperial Residence, there are concerns about the couple’s privacy.
For this reason, trees will likely be planted to shroud the couple from prying eyes.
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A book launch was held at the Japanese Embassy in Berlin on Jan. 16 to celebrate the collection, published by Herder.
The book is titled "Nur eine kleine Maulbeere. Aber sie wog schwer" (Just a little mulberry, but it weighs heavily).
Manuel Herder, president of the publishing house, found out about waka poetry Michiko penned right after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that expressed her heartfelt sympathy for the people affected by the disaster.
He was deeply moved by the work and contacted the Imperial Household Agency with the idea of publishing a book of her poems in German.
The 50 poems compiled for the book were selected by the agency and include “Kono Toshi no Haru” (This spring), which was composed in the aftermath of the 2011 disaster.
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The German translation is accompanied by the original Japanese of the poems written by professional calligrapher Hakko Ishitobi. There are also short explanatory texts.
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Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko talk with Nguyen Thi... News Photo | Getty Images[…]
Nguyen Thi Xuan died on Thursday at the age of 93.
The couple had 3 children. In the early 1950s, Xuan's husband had to return to Japan due to growing political instability. Xuan raised the children by herself.
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In 2017, Xuan met with Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko during their visit to Vietnam.
Japan's ambassador was among the mourners who bid farewell to Xuan at the funeral on Saturday.
Her son said she was a hard worker and always took care of her children. He added his mother had been very proud to meet the Imperial Couple last year.