Palace officials on Thursday dismissed media reports that Japanese Emperor Akihito, who apparently expressed his intention to pass the throne to his son, would abdicate. Japan’s public television said Wedn.
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The 82-year-old emperor, who has reigned for over 27 years, has expressed his desire to the Imperial Household Agency, Xinhua news agency reported.
But Kyodo News denied the news, quoting Shinichiro Yamamoto, a senior official from the Imperial Household Agency.
Akihito’s father Hirohito, in whose name Japan’s military campaigns of the 20th century were prosecuted, was treated as a living god until defeat in 1945. He had prostate cancer surgery in 2003 and a heart bypass in 2012 but has since recovered.
Naruhito, 56, is his elder son and first in line of succession.
Despite his age, the emperor has maintained a busy schedule and attended ceremonies, greeted foreign dignitaries and traveled overseas and around Japan, such as visiting towns to comfort residents following deadly earthquakes.
The Imperial law does not specify rules about the timing of succession.
However, an official palace spokesman said there was no official plan for the Emperor to abdicate, something that has not happened in Japan for close to 200 years – Emperor Kokaku being the last to give up the throne in 1817.
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The emperor does not have a health problem requiring him to abdicate immediately, Kyodo reported earlier, citing an unnamed government source.
