Akihito
Emperor Akihito of Japan (
Japanese: 明仁) (born
December 23 1933) is the current
Emperor (天皇,
tennō) of
Japan and the 125th according to the traditional order of succession. He is the world's only reigning
emperor.
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Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan |
In Japan, the emperor is never referred to by his first name, but rather is referred to simply as
tennō heika (天皇陛下, "His Majesty the Emperor"). The
era of Emperor Akihito's reign bears the name "
Heisei" (平成), and according to custom he will be renamed
Emperor Heisei (see "
posthumous name") after his death by order of the cabinet, in which the name of the next
era will also be established. His full title is
His Imperial Majesty Emperor Akihito of Japan.Akihito is the eldest son and the fifth child of the
Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and the
Empress Kōjun (Nagako). He is also
first cousin once removed of
Princess Bangja, the last crown princess of
Korea. Titled Prince Tsugu (継宮,
Tsugu-no-miya) as a child, he was raised and educated by his private tutors and then attended the Elementary and Secondary Departments of the Peers' School (
Gakushuin) from 1940 to 1952. He was separated from his parents at the age of three.
During the American firebombing raids on
Tokyo in March 1945, he and his younger brother,
HIH The Prince
Masahito (now
Prince Hitachi), were evacuated from the city. During the
American occupation of Japan following
World War II, Prince Akihito was tutored in
English by
Elizabeth Gray Vining. He briefly studied at the Department of Political Science at
Gakushuin University in Tokyo, though he never received a
degree. However, he later became an amateur specialist of
ichthyology and published numerous papers and books about
gobiid fish. Although he was heir-apparent to the
Chrysanthemum Throne from the moment of his birth, his formal investiture as
Crown Prince (
Rittaishi-no-rei, 立太子の礼) was held at the
Kokyo Imperial Palace on
November 10 1951.
In June 1953,
Crown Prince Akihito represented Japan at the
coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. On
April 10 1959, he married Miss
Michiko Shoda (born
October 24 1934), the eldest daughter of Mr.
Hidesaburo Shoda, the president and later honorary chairman of
Nisshin Flour Milling Company. The new
Crown Princess was the first
commoner to marry into the
imperial family. Then-Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko made official visits to thirty-seven countries. The Crown Prince assumed the throne after the death of his father on
January 7 1989, thus becoming the 125th Japanese monarch, according to the traditional order of succession. Emperor Akihito was formally inaugurated as the Emperor of Japan on
November 12 1990. In 1998, during a state visit to the
United Kingdom he was invested with the
The Most Noble Order of the Garter.
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The young Crown Prince visiting Lord Nasher in Afghanistan |
Since succeeding to the throne, Emperor Akihito has made an effort to bring the imperial family closer to the Japanese people. The emperor and empress
Michiko of Japan have made official visits to eighteen countries, as well as all forty-seven
Prefectures of Japan. The emperor and the empress have three children:
*
HIH The
Crown Prince Naruhito (b.
February 23 1960),
* HIH The
Prince Akishino (
Fumihito, b.
November 11 1965, titled
Akishino-no-miya) and
*
Sayako Kuroda, formerly HIH The
Princess Sayako (titled,
Nori-no-miya, or
Princess Nori, b.
April 18 1969).
Despite being constrained by his
constitutional position, he also issued several wide-ranging statements of remorse to
Asian countries, for their suffering under Japanese occupation, beginning with an expression of remorse to
China made in April 1989, three months after the death of his father, Hirohito.
On
December 23 2001, during his annual birthday meeting with reporters, the emperor, in response to a reporter's question, remarked that he felt a "certain kinship with Korea", and went on to explain his feeling as resulting from the fact that the mother of
Emperor Kammu (736–806) was a descendant of Korean dynasty King
Muryeong of Baekje as documented in
Shoku Nihongi. The emperor also noted that Koreans who migrated to Japan in ancient times introduced important aspects of culture and technology to the country, and then called upon his countrymen never to forget the regrettable fact that Japan's exchanges with Korea have not all been so friendly.
In December 2002, it was revealed that Emperor Akihito was diagnosed with
prostate cancer and underwent surgery soon after.
In June 2005, the emperor visited the
U.S. territory of
Saipan, the site of one of the most important
World War II battles from
June 15 to
July 9 1944 (
Battle of Saipan). Accompanied by Empress Michiko, he offered prayers and flowers at several memorials, honouring not only the Japanese who died, but also American soldiers, Koreans forced to fight for Japan, and local islanders. It was the first trip by a Japanese monarch to a World War II battlefield abroad. The Saipan journey was received with high praise by the Japanese people, just as during the emperor's visits to war memorials in
Tokyo,
Hiroshima,
Nagasaki, and
Okinawa in 1995.
* Extensive biography by the Imperial Household Agency: http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e03/ed03-01.html
* http://vikingphoenix.com/public/rongstad/bio-obit/bioakhto.htm
