The 82-year-old monarch said that following two operations he anxious that he could no longer perform his “heavy duties” as “the symbol of the state”.
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The announcement was considered by many to be a plea by the emperor to Japanese lawmakers, asking them to change the law so that he can step down. “When I consider that my fitness level is gradually declining, I am anxious that it may become hard for me to carry out my duties as the symbol of the State with my whole being as I have done until now”.
Born in 1933, Akihito was heir to Emperor Hirohito, in whose name Japan fought World War II.
Nonetheless, abdication is a sensitive issue.
A Japanese emperor hasn’t voluntarily stepped away from the throne in almost 200 years.
Other conservatives worry devoting political energy to discussing abdication could sidetrack Abe’s push to revise the USA -drafted pacifist constitution, which many conservatives see as a symbol of Japan’s humiliating defeat in World War Two. His sense of duty is very great.
His televised address on Monday reflected this paradox. Together he and Empress Michiko have three children and four grandchildren. The first one was in 2011, when an quake and tsunami devastated the northeast coast of Japan causing a nuclear disaster in Fukushima.
Japan’s postwar constitution stipulates the emperor is a symbol of the state and shall not have powers related to government; the emperor can not issue statements that might be considered political and Akihito therefore avoided any direct reference to abdication, which some might construe as a critique of the laws governing the imperial household.
“For Akihito to step down, the Japanese parliament would have to change the law”.
“On the nature of the emperor’s official duties, in view of his age and the state of the burden his duties place upon him, I think we must give thought to the strain on the emperor and thoroughly consider what we can do”, Abe said.
A nationwide survey by Kyodo News Agency showed that 90% of respondents said Emperor Akihito is given too much work, with more than 85% saying that abdication should be legalised as an option.
The 82-year-old Emperor of Japan had a heart bypass surgery in 2012, in 2003 he survived an operation (oncological tumor in the prostate), so his concerns and desire of abdication is quite understandable. Five years ago – when Japan was hit by an natural disaster, tsunami and nuclear meltdown – the emperor abandoned formality to comfort the Japanese people.
Humble and soft-spoken, Akihito has received praise for efforts to heal the wounds of Japan’s wartime and colonial era. He has been on Japan’s Chrysenthemum Throne for 27 years. His popularity and compassion was displayed in full force during the awful Tsunami in 2010 when he was shown sitting on the floor with the victims, something never done before by any emperor.
The imperial family traces an unbroken male line back at least 1,500 years.
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The then Crown Prince Akihito married a commoner in 1959, ending a 1,500-year-old tradition.
