Empress Emerita celebrates 88th birthday

e Empress Emerita turned 88 on Oct. 20. ese days she leads an orderly life at the Akasaka Estate in Moto-Akasaka, Tokyo, taking a walk in the morning and early evening with the Emperor Emeritus. ey moved back to the estate, which is lled with their fond memories, in April.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, she and the Emperor Emeritus spent 33 years a er their wedding at the estate, where they now admire seasonal owers, such as roses and sun owers, while sharing the memories the owers bring back. A er breakfast, she keeps to a daily routine of reading books aloud with the Emperor Emeritus. Currently, she is reading textbooks from the Emperor Emeritus’ elementary school days at Gakushuin Primary School in Tokyo. ey also share the reading of six newspapers, each reading three of them and telling each other about interesting stories they have found.

A er an earthquake measuring upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 occurred o Fukushima Prefecture in March, she was very concerned about the damage it caused, such as the derailment of a Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train and a large-scale blackout, and her thoughts were with the people a ected by the disaster.

She has also had some sad farewells with people she had befriended, including children’s book author Kyoko Matsuoka, who died in January at 86. e Empress Emerita nurtured a friendship with Matsuoka through their activities in the International Board on Books for Young People, and the two spoke by phone about a week before the author’s death.

As for her health, she still develops a slight temperature in the a ernoon. Her B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) level, a measurement used to diagnose heart failure, continues to be high. In July, she underwent laser surgery on her right eye to treat an a ercataract, and in August, she was diagnosed as having deep-vein thrombosis below her right knee. (Oct. 21)