Things have become quiet around Japan’s former Emperor Akihito. The former monarch lives in seclusion in a residence in the heart of Tokyo, not far from his old palace. Natsukashii – a feeling of melancholy, of nostalgia – must have been felt by the former monarch, who turns 90 on December 23, and his wife Michiko since Akihito left the throne to his son Naruhito after his abdication in 2019 and returned here after renovation work.
It was not a given that Akihito and Michiko would spend their twilight years in this residence, where they once lived as the crown prince couple. Actually, Japan’s emperors are in office until death and accordingly spend their lives until the end behind the chrysanthemum curtain of the palace. But Akihito wanted it different. How he is a man who did many things differently than other monarchs before him and redefined the institution of empire.
Even as crown prince, Akihito broke with the almost 2,000-year-old court tradition in 1959 by marrying the entrepreneur’s daughter Michiko Shoda, a commoner. Their children were born in a hospital and not in the palace. Michiko abolished the wet nurse and breastfed her children herself, something previously unimaginable. While Akihito was, as usual, raised by a strange family from the age of three, he and Michiko raised their children themselves.
Peace is of central importance
Akihito was also the first Tenno (Heavenly Ruler) to no longer take office as a god. His father Emperor Hirohito, posthumously known as Showa-Tenno, who died in 1989, renounced the divinity of the emperor on January 1, 1946 in his so-called Declaration of Humanity. In his name, Japan went into World War II. The horrors of war had such an impact on his son and successor Akihito that peace became of central importance to him.
For three decades, Akihito, whose era was called “Heisei” (making peace), served his subjects faithfully to the constitution as a symbol of the nation’s unity. Akihito was closer to his people than any emperor before him. Akihito was never allowed to express himself politically – something that continues to apply to him even now during his retirement. Nevertheless, Akihito became an advocate of the pacifist postwar constitution – incorporating the theme of peace into almost all of his speeches, thereby indirectly criticizing those who tried to justify Japan’s warlike past.
Now that Akihito’s memoirs are being written for the period after his death, experts are curious to see whether Akihito’s political thoughts can be found in them. “I am sure that his statements will be reproduced,” says Japanologist and imperial expert Ernst Lokowandt. But there is another serious issue that is close to Akihito’s heart: the question of succession to the throne. It’s about nothing other than the future of the monarchy. And Akihito would like to see this secured during his lifetime. But that’s up to the politicians.
They had promised him this when Akihito abdicated in 2019 for health reasons, becoming the first monarch in around 200 years to hand over the throne to his successor while still alive. This was made possible because Parliament passed a special law for him. The old rule applies again to his son Naruhito. However, Japan’s politicians did not fulfill their promise to their outgoing emperor that they would quickly resolve the question of succession to the throne.
Modesty and closeness to the people
“Akihito has every reason to be evil,” says emperor expert Lokowandt. Court law still prohibits women on the throne. However, Prince Hisahito (17), son of Akihito’s youngest son, Crown Prince Akishino, is the only remaining male member of the youngest generation of the imperial family. If one day Prince Hisahito does not provide for male offspring at court, then “the imperial family will cease to exist,” explains Lokowandt.
However, if the household law was changed so that the first-born child – regardless of gender – takes the throne, the problem of offspring would be solved. Then a daughter would also be able to do this. In other words, Akihito’s granddaughter Aiko would become empress. So it depends on politics whether Akihito’s hopes for a secure future for his oldest hereditary monarchy in the world will be fulfilled. It would have been a worthy gift for his 90th birthday.
But now the monarch has to wait even at 90 years old. However, he has already taken precautions in one respect: Shortly before his 80th birthday, the household office announced that he and his beloved wife would be cremated at Akihito’s express suggestion – as is customary among ordinary people. And once again Akihito has done something unusual at court. For 350 years it had been tradition for Japan’s monarchs to be buried. Akihito also arranged for the imperial tomb to be reduced in size. This is also seen as another sign of Akihito’s modesty and his closeness to his people.