Japan’s Emperor Akihito will step down from the Chrysanthemum Throne on Tuesday, the first abdication in the world’s oldest imperial family for two centuries, ending 30 years of his popular reign and ushering in a new era.
Celebrations are planned across the country as the famously hard-working Japanese enjoy an unprecedented 10-day holiday with a series of special days off combining with the traditional “Golden Week” in May.
Akihito’s eldest son, 59-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito, will take the throne the following day in a series of solemn ceremonies, receiving the imperial regalia — an ancient mirror, sword and jewel — considered crucial evidence of an emperor’s legitimacy.
The abdication brings down the curtain on the current “Heisei” era, which started in January 1989 at the height of Japan’s economic boom, and kicks off a new imperial era called “Reiwa” meaning “beautiful harmony”.
The popular Akihito, 85, stunned the nation in 2016 when he signalled his desire to take a back seat, citing his age and health problems — he has been treated for prostate cancer and has also undergone heart surgery.
There have been abdications in Japan’s long imperial history, which has mythological origins and stretches back more than two millennia, but the last one was more than 200 years ago.
‘Succession crisis’
The status of the emperor is sensitive in Japan given its 20th century history of war waged in the name of Akihito’s father Hirohito.
Akihito was born in 1933 just as Japan was embarking on its militaristic sweep across Asia, and was 11 when the war ended in defeat. He listened in tears on August 15, 1945 as Hirohito made a radio address — the first ever by an emperor — to announce the shock loss.
His father was allowed to remain on the throne after Japan’s defeat and US occupation, but his status was downgraded from semi-divine sovereign to a figurehead with no political power.
For his part, Akihito has embraced the role and tried to use it to help heal the scars of the war while modernising the ancient monarchy for a democratic age with a warmer, popular touch.
He and Empress Michiko won widespread plaudits with their reaction to Japan’s devastating 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown, visiting victims in the radioactive Fukushima province just two months after the disaster.
The emperor is barred from commenting on politics, but Akihito has over the years hinted at his own anti-nationalist views.
He has irritated Japanese right-wingers by acknowledging that his country inflicted “great suffering” in China, and expressing regret over Japan’s brutal rule of the Korean peninsula.