But complicating the emperor’s wishes is Japanese law, which doesn’t allow for the emperor to abdicate.
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Will that happen? After the emperor’s speech, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, “I will think about this with great force”.
In an extraordinary televised address on Monday, Emperor Akihito told the Japanese people that he wants to step down from the Chrysanthemum Throne, which his family has held for nearly 2,700 years.
But it could take years for Akihito to actually abdicate the throne. “However, when I consider that my fitness level is gradually declining, I am anxious that it may become more hard for me to carry out my duties as the symbol of the state”, Akihito, 82, said in the 10-minute recorded speech broadcast on national television.
“As we are in the midst of a rapidly ageing society, I would like to talk to you today about what would be a desirable role of the emperor in a time when the emperor, too, becomes advanced in age”, he said.
While the emperor says he’s healthy now, he’s had prostate cancer and heart issues in the past.
He said: “I think we have to thoroughly think what we can do to accommodate his concerns, taking into consideration the emperor’s age and the current burden of official duties”.
“It occurs to me from time to time to wonder whether it is possible to prevent such a situation”, he concluded, perhaps as strongly as he could suggest he would like to see a smoother transition.
“He’s not allowed to ask a very simple thing, which is, ‘I want the law changed that would allow me to retire, ‘ ” said Michael Cucek, a political science professor at Tokyo’s Temple and Waseda universities. If the emperor expresses publicly that he wants to abdicate, such remarks could be taken as political, said local media.
According to a nationwide survey by Kyodo News earlier this month, 85.7 percent of the 1,008 respondents said abdication should be legalized as an option for the emperor and his successors by revising the Imperial House Law. Fifty-six-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito is next in line for the throne. The first time he addressed the people in a recorded message was after the 2011 tsunami, which claimed nearly 16,000 lives.
According to Japanese law, Akihito, 82, must serve as emperor for life.
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Pedestrians in Tokyo watch as Emperor Akihito speaks to the nation.
