Free Republic

TOKYO - Pope Francis has told Japanese Emperor Naruhito that he remembers seeing his parents cry over the news of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 74 years ago. The pope traveled on Sunday to the two Japanese cities, where he urged world powers to renounce their nuclear arsenals and declared the use and possession of atomic bombs an “immoral” crime. Palace officials say the pope told the emperor on Monday that he recalled the memory of his parent’s sorrow when he addressed survivors of the atomic bombings in the two cities. Naruhito told Francis that he has high...

Japan's new emperor has yet to ascend the throne, but he already has his first foreign guest lined up: United States President Donald Trump. Current Emperor Akihito, 85, will step down at the end of this month, becoming the first Japanese emperor to abdicate in modern history. He will be replaced by his 59-year-old son, Crown Prince Naruhito. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will pay a state visit to Japan in late May, becoming Naruhito's first official foreign guest, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a press release Friday. Trump's trip will be the first state visit...

Japan’s much admired Emperor Akihito plans to abdicate on April 30, 2019, at age 85 in the first such abdication from the Chrysanthemum Throne in about 200 years, the government said Friday. Akihito’s elder son Crown Prince Naruhito will ascend the throne a day later, on May 1, 2019, beginning a new as yet unnamed era. The decision was made Friday at a meeting of the Imperial House Council, which included politicians, judicial officials and imperial family members. Akihito expressed his apparent wish to abdicate in 2016, citing his age and health. Formal Cabinet approval of the decision is due...

Japan’s Emperor Akihito has expressed his intention to retire and relinquish his title in the next few years, the country’s public television said Wednesday. NHK said the 82-year-old Akihito did not wish to remain emperor if he had to reduce his official duties. […] It was not known if he had a timeline to relinquish his title to Crown Prince Naruhito. …

Japan's Imperial Family faces a crisis of legitimacy because of growing discontent with the absence from public life of Crown Princess Masako, senior courtiers in the Imperial Palace fear. Five years after she gave up public duties because of depression, sympathy for the Princess's plight is giving way to scepticism about the seriousness of her condition - and to anxiety about what her continuing indisposition will mean for the monarchy when her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito, succeeds to the Chrysanthemum Throne. For the first time respectable commentators are openly discussing what was once unthinkable: the possibility of an imperial divorce....