Japan emperor to step down?

Akihito, who married a commoner in the year 1959, remains very popular with the Japanese public.

Last month, Japanese media reported that Emperor Akihito told close aides and his family that his age and health were making it hard for him to perform his duties.

Japan’s emperor is hinting he wants to leave the Chrysanthemum Throne.

People watch a large screen showing Japanese Emperor Akihito’s video address in Tokyo, Japan, August 8, 2016. He appears to have taken pains to keep his distance from emperor-worshipping conservatives and historical revisionists who have contributed to hard relations with neighboring China and South Korea, which suffered under Japan’s wartime and colonial policies.

Public broadcaster NHK reported the emperor, who has had heart surgery and was treated for prostate cancer, would ask Crown Prince Naruhito and his wife to take over many of his public duties.

Japanese law, which says an emperor serves until death, makes no provision for abdication. Next in line for the throne is Akihito’s eldest son, 56-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito. In nationally televised remarks, Akihito also said there were limits to reducing the emperor’s duties as the “symbol of the state”, the status accorded him under Japan’s post-war constitution.

As I am now more than 80 years old and there are times when I feel various constraints such as in my physical fitness, in the last few years I have started to reflect on my years as the Emperor, and contemplate on my role and my duties as the Emperor in the days to come.

Abe made the comment after the Emperor in a video message Monday expressed concern that it may become hard for him to carry out his official duties as the symbol of the state due to his declining physical strength.

This was Akihito’s second time to speak directly to the nation.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe released comments following the emperor’s message, saying that he will take into serious consideration the emperor’s condition concerning his advanced age and official duties, and see what could be done. The first was after a massive natural disaster, deadly tsunami and nuclear crisis hit northeast Japan in March 2011. Akihito would have to wait for the Japanese parliament to change the law first. And as Naruhito’s only child is a daughter, the succession would then pass on to Naruhito’s brother, Prince Akishino, and then to his nine-year-old nephew Hisahito.

Opinion polls show that the vast majority of ordinary Japanese people sympathize with the emperor’s desire to retire.

The Heisei emperor was the first enthroned under the modern constitution, enacted in 1947, which restricts royals to ceremonial duties.

“Considering the emperor’s duties, as well as his age and the burden [of the job], we have to firmly look at what we can do”, Abe stated.