Tokyo: As Japan’s Emperor Akihito celebrated his 85th birthday on Sunday, he gave a final, yet emoti
Tokyo: As Japan’s Emperor Akihito celebrated his 85th birthday on Sunday, he gave a final, yet emotional and heart-touching, statement before stepping down from the throne in April next year.
Emperor Akihito is set to abdicate from the Chrysanthemum Throne on April 30,2019, becoming the first Japanese monarch to do so in around 200 years. After Emperor Akihito steps down, his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, will take over from May 1,2019, CNN reported.
Delivering a statement at the Imperial Palace here, which divulged from the timeline of his reign when Emperor Akihito succeeded the throne in 1989 following the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito to natural disasters, the monarch said: “I have believed it is important not to forget that countless lives were lost in World War II and that the peace and prosperity of post-war Japan was built upon the numerous sacrifices and tireless efforts made by the Japanese people, and to pass on this history accurately to those born after the war.
