Japan's emperor hints at abdication in rare televised speech

Japan&#039;s Emperor Akihito hints at desire to abdicate the throne on TV

(Image credit: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images)

published 8 August 2016

On Monday, Japan's Emperor Akihito made his second-ever televised address, gently nudging Japan's parliament to act so he can step down and pass the throne to his eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 56. Akihito, 82 and in poor health, has been emperor since his father, Emperor Hirohito, died in 1989. It is widely known that he wants to abdicate, but he had to approach the subject indirectly, because Japan's post-World War II constitution doesn't allow the emperor to engage in politics.

"I am concerned that it will become more and more difficult for me to fulfill my duties as a symbolic emperor," Akihito said in his prerecorded, 10-minute message. If he gets too infirm to fulfill his obligations now, "a regency may be established to act in the place of the emperor," he said, but "even in such cases, however, it does not change the fact that the emperor continues to be the emperor till the end of his life." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose conservative government does not share the Japanese public's strong support for letting the emperor retire, said Monday that "considering His Majesty's age, the burden of his official duties, and his anxieties, we must think carefully about what can be done."

Japan's Chrysanthemum Throne is the world's oldest hereditary monarchy, dating back nearly 2,700 years, The New York Times reports, and while "historically, it was extremely common for emperors to abdicate," according to Takeshi Hara, an expert on Japan's imperial family, it became impossible in the 19th century, when Japanese leaders created a cult of emperor worship. That lasted until Hirohito declared after World War II that he was not a god. You can read Emperor Akihito's entire speech at BBC News.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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