Japan emperor prays for peace as he gives his last New Year speech to record crowd
Japan’s Emperor Akihito delivered his final New Year’s address yesterday before his abdication this year, telling a record turnout of well-wishers that he was praying for peace.
The Imperial Palace said about 154,800 people flocked to the royal residence for a final chance to see the emperor, 85, deliver his annual greeting.
It was the largest number of visitors to the palace for his New Year speech since he ascended the throne in 1989.
Akihito appeared seven times at the balcony, up from the five originally scheduled, because he wanted more people to attend after seeing the vast number of well-wishers still outside the palace in the afternoon, a palace spokesman said.
He will become the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in about two centuries when he ends his three-decade reign on April 30.
“Happy New Year. I’m sincerely glad to celebrate the new year together with you under the clear sky,” Akihito told the crowd, many waving Japanese flags and shouting “banzai”, meaning “long live”.
“I hope this year will be a good year for as many people as possible,” the soft-spoken Akihito said, flanked by Empress Michiko and other family members. “I pray for the peace and happiness of the people of our country and the world.”
Some in the morning crowd yelled “Thank you very much” as the emperor waved, while others sang the national anthem. One woman in the front row shed tears as she looked up at the balcony.
“I came here with my mother to imprint his last appearance as emperor in our memories,” said Yume Nishimura, a university student, as she waited in a long queue to enter the palace. “I want to tell him we appreciate his hard work for the country.”
Kazuo Iwasaki, 68, said: “I hope he will be able to spend his post-retirement years in a healthy and relaxing manner with Empress Michiko.”
Akihito shocked the country in 2016 when he expressed his desire to take a back seat because of his age and health.
His eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito, is set to take the Chrysanthemum Throne a day after his father’s abdication, continuing the rule of the world’s oldest imperial family.
The status of emperor is sensitive in Japan given that the Second World War was waged in the name of Akihito’s father Hirohito, who died in 1989.
Akihito has embraced the more modern role as a symbol of the state, which was imposed after the war. Previous emperors including his father had been treated as semidivine.
The palace, surrounded by stone walls and mossy moats, is opened to the public twice a year on the emperor’s birthday and the second day of New Year, for the royal family to greet well-wishers.
In a rare emotional address to mark his 85th birthday last month, Akihito talked of the countless lives” lost in the war.
“It gives me deep comfort that the Heisei Era [his reign] is coming to an end, free of war in Japan,” he said.