A special panel meets on Friday to discuss the date for Emperor Akihito's planned abdication—the first by a Japanese monarch in about two centuries—clearing the way for the government to formally decide when the octogenarian emperor will retire. Current top breaking Philippine headlines regarding
TOKYO – A special panel meets on Friday to discuss the date for Emperor Akihito’s planned abdication—the first by a Japanese monarch in about two centuries—clearing the way for the government to formally decide when the octogenarian emperor will retire. Akihito, who turns 84 on Dec. 23, is likely to step down on April 30,2019 and his heir, Crown Prince Naruhito, 57, formally ascend the Chrysanthemum throne the next day, media reported. The 10-member Imperial Household Council is headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and includes lawmakers, royals and supreme court justices. Akihito, who has had heart surgery and treatment for prostate cancer, said in rare remarks last year that he feared age might make it hard to fulfil his duties. Once considered divine, Japan’s emperor is defined in the post-war constitution as a “symbol of the state and of the unity of the people”, but has no political power. Akihito, along with Empress Michiko, has spent much of his time on the throne seeking to soothe the wounds of a World War Two, which was fought in his father Hirohito’s name, and consoling victims of disasters or other woes.
