World & Nation
Japan’s 85-year-old Emperor Akihito became the first Japanese emperor to abdicate in more than 200 years on Tuesday, ending his three-decade reign and making way for his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, to take the imperial throne.
On Tuesday, Japan’s 85-year-old Emperor Akihito was scheduled to end his reign and hand the seat of the longest-running monarchy in the world to his son, Crown Prince Naruhito.
Japan’s parliament on Friday passed a law allowing Emperor Akihito to become the country’s first monarch to abdicate in 200 years, but put off a debate over how to tackle the shrinking royal population and whether to allow women to ascend the throne.
Long before he became the Japanese figurehead, before he shattered centuries of tradition by marrying a commoner and certainly long before he ever dreamed of abdicating his throne, the man who would become Emperor Akihito did something else unusual.
Emperor Akihito addresses the Japanese with unusual directness amounting to an imperial pep talk. He insists that the broadcaster interrupt his recorded speech if there are key developments in the crisis.
World Now
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Emperor Akihito’s speech underlines gravity of Japan’s nuclear crisis
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