Japanese Emperor Akihito, 82, in a rare video address to the public on Monday (Aug 8), said he anxious that age may make it hard for him to fully carry out his duties, remarks seen as suggesting the elderly monarch wants to abdicate.
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While he did not use the word “abdicate”, he strongly indicated that he wishes to hand over his duties.
“I am anxious that it will become really hard for me to carry out in full my role as a symbol [of the nation and unity of the Japanese people]”, the 82-year-old emperor said in a 10-minute televised address to the nation.
The 82-year-old monarch said that he feels that his “strength has decreased” after already having two operations, however, it is an important duty for the Emperor to visit sites throughout the country and to share in the people’s sorrow and joy, said the Japan Times.
Japan’s Emperor Akihito has expressed his wishes in a rare video message to step down as emperor, as his age and declining health may prevent him from undertaking his duties.
But he stressed that the regent is not an emperor, and the emperor must serve until death.
The Japanese monarchy is the oldest hereditary monarchy in the world, and records show the imperial line has been unbroken for 14 centuries.
“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.
However, he went on: “I think it is not possible to continue reducing perpetually the emperor’s acts in matters of state and his duties as the symbol of the state”. Japan’s emperor is strictly prohibited by the country’s constitution to interfere in political activities including suggesting revisions to the current succession rules for ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne.
The emperor’s suggestion that Japanese politicians need to revise the Imperial Household Law may also be his way of slowing down Abe’s push to revise Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution, said Noriko Kawamura, author of “Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War” and a professor at Washington State University.
Akihito is a popular figure and is seen as a more approachable and engaging emperor than his father.
There is no legal provision for abdication in Japanese law, which would mean a law change would be required. The speech was widely interpreted as a call to Japanese politicians to pave the way for his abdication, which is now not allowed under law.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he took Akihito’s comments Monday seriously.
Akihito raised concern about the impact on society when an emperor falls sick but remains in power, which experts said was an apparent reference to his father, Hirohito, who died in 1989 after a protracted illness.
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The duties of the current emperor include opening parliament, receiving foreign ambassadors and being the nation’s griever in disasters like the March 2011 quake and tsunami in northern Japan.
