Latest news with #Naruhito
Japan Forward
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Japan Forward
Emperor Naruhito to Visit Okinawa in WWII Tribute, Reaffirming Peace
Their Majesties Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako will visit Okinawa Prefecture beginning June 4. The trip is part of a remembrance journey marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Later, on June 19, they will travel to Hiroshima, a city devastated by the atomic bomb. His Majesty's tributes to those who perished in battle and the atomic bombings carry deep significance. It will be a time for the nation to come together in solemn reflection and mourning. Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park Accompanied by Empress Masako and their daughter, Princess Aiko, Emperor Naruhito will lay flowers at the National Cemetery for the War Dead in Mabuni, Itoman City. The site marks the location of the final and fiercest battle of the Okinawa campaign in 1945. The Imperial Family is also scheduled to visit the Tsushima-maru Memorial Museum, which commemorates a school evacuation ship sunk by American forces in 1944. Its sinking resulted in the deaths of many children. During their visit, the Imperial Family will also meet with bereaved families. In Hiroshima, Their Majesties will offer flowers at the Cenotaph for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb in Peace Memorial Park. The Imperial Household Agency is also making arrangements for a visit to Nagasaki, site of the second atomic bombing, later in 2025. Many local residents are looking forward to welcoming Their Majesties. Near their hotel in Naha City, volunteers are organizing a lantern procession, and traditional Ryukyuan dance performances are also planned. Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko at the Himeyuri Cenotaph during their first visit to Okinawa. July 17, 1975. This remembrance journey follows the example set by Emperor Emeritus Akihito, who began such visits in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. Together with Empress Emerita Michiko, he visited Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Okinawa, and sites affected by the Tokyo air raids to honor the war dead. At a press conference in February, Emperor Naruhito reflected on the importance of remembrance, stating: "I hope it will be an opportunity to reflect deeply on the value of peace and renew our resolve to uphold it." The Emperor is also engaging in remembrance activities at wartime sites overseas. In April, he and the Empress visited Iwo Jima. In July, he will make his first official visit to Mongolia as Emperor and may offer prayers for Japanese detainees once held there by the former Soviet Union. However, political tensions have made such visits to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, and sites in China and Russia, difficult at this time. After World War II, Emperor Hirohito visited Yasukuni Shrine eight times to honor the spirits of those who died in conflicts dating back to the late Edo period. However, amid opposition from China, South Korea, and domestic left-wing groups, no Emperor has visited the shrine since November 1975. ( Read the related editorial in Japanese . ) Author: The Sankei Shimbun
Kuwait Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Kuwait Times
Kuwait, Japan upgrade relations
Crown Prince meets Emperor Naruhito, PM Ishiba, senior officials TOKYO: Kuwait and Japan agreed to upgrade their bilateral relations to a 'comprehensive strategic partnership', which reflects the depth of the relationship and opens new horizons for cooperation. The agreement is a fruit of the official visit by HH the Crown Prince of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah to Japan on May 28-31, a press release from the Kuwaiti ministry of foreign affairs said on Thursday. HH the Crown Prince earlier on Thursday met Japanese Emperor Naruhito. HH the Crown Prince conveyed greetings and best wishes of welfare from HH the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Emperor Naruhito and the Japanese people. The meeting focused on the close historic relations between the two countries in the past six decades, which saw great leaps in various fields, reflecting the aspirations of people in both countries. HH the Crown Prince held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday on ways to strengthen the relations in various vital areas and serve the mutual interests of both nations amid regional and international changes. They agreed that upgrading the bilateral relations in the political, economic and humanitarian fields materializes both nations' shared commitment to enhancing security, stability and prosperity on regional and international scales, the statement noted. TOKYO: HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah meets Japanese Emperor Naruhito (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (right) on May 29, 2025. - KUNA/AFP photos The talks were preceded by an official reception ceremony for HH the Crown Prince by the Japanese prime minister, which included a military parade and the playing of the national anthems of the countries. During the reception, HH the Crown Prince expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation for the warm welcome and generous hospitality, and conveyed the best greetings of HH the Amir Sheikh Meshal to Japan and its friendly people. He affirmed Kuwait's desire to enhance the bilateral ties between the two countries to reach the level of strategic partnership. He also lauded Japan's supportive stance for Kuwaiti rights during the brutal Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, recalling the historical relations that have bound the two friendly countries since 1958. Ishiba welcomed the official visit of HH the Crown Prince, praising the depth of the historical relations that bind the two friendly countries and peoples. The latest regional and global developments were touched on during the talks. – KUNA
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Pro-government newspaper in Japan shocks with ‘radical' support for female emperor
(From left) Japan's Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and other royal family members attending the spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on April 22. PHOTO: AFP – The two main conservative media outlets in Japan are waging a battle for public opinion, after the Yomiuri newspaper broached an idea long held to be taboo and one that breaks from right-wing values. 'We should not rule out the possibility of a female emperor, or an emperor through a female line,' the Yomiuri newspaper declared in its Page One story on May 15, as it unveiled policy proposals on the question of imperial succession. 'If we continue to insist on male descendants in the male line, the survival of the symbolic emperor system will be in jeopardy.' That the influential Yomiuri Shimbun – Japan's largest broadsheet with a daily circulation of 6.2 million copies – was giving policy recommendations is not surprising. Since 1994, it has leveraged its position as the nation's most-read newspaper to drive policy agenda through its proposals. However, what has rippled through Japan's political hallways was how the Yomiuri, often considered to be pro-government for its alignment with the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has embraced a stance that is more in line with the political left. The hawkish Sankei newspaper, with a circulation of under one million, launched a broadside, enlisting commentators who accused the Yomiuri of 'misleading the public' with 'sloppy content'. Its chief editorial writer Satoshi Sakakibara said the Yomiuri was bordering on blasphemy and would lead to 'Japan ceasing to be Japanese'. A Sankei editorial noted that legacy newspapers should not jump on the popular bandwagon and engage in 'knee-jerk politics, by rushing to conclusions based on superficial information without considering the weight of history or responsibility to the future'. The culture war comes as the future of Japan's monarchy – the world's oldest hereditary royal lineage dating to 660BC – is now a hot-button issue in Japan's Parliament, due to the dwindling number of political heirs. Public opinion, however, is firmly in support of a female monarch or an emperor of matrilineal descent. This clashes with conservative hardliners within the LDP, who want to preserve the Chrysanthemum Throne exclusively for male descendants of the male line. This is nothing to do with a gender divide: among the staunchest flag-bearers for hardline policy is former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, a prime ministerial hopeful who has of late sharpened her criticism of incumbent leader Shigeru Ishiba. Mr Kiyotaka Akasaka, president of the non-profit Nippon Communications Foundation, told The Straits Times that the Yomiuri's proposals are 'radical' given the newspaper's usual position, and come as a 'bombshell to the political right'. The policy ideas might not have been possible if veteran journalist Tsuneo Watanabe, who was Yomiuri's managing editor from 1985 until his death at 98 in 2024, was still alive, Mr Akasaka said. The clash in views, he added, stems from the hardliners' unwavering commitment to traditional values regardless of circumstance and despite the alarming decline of imperial family members. But he noted: 'It is very difficult to foresee how greatly these proposals will impact the current policy considerations, but they have very much encouraged the political opposition.' Emperor Naruhito, 65, is the 126th reigning monarch after his father Akihito, 91, broke with tradition to abdicate in 2019 and become Emperor Emeritus. There are just three heirs to the Chrysanthemum Throne: Crown Prince Akishino, 59, the Emperor's younger brother ; Prince Hisahito, the 18-year-old son of the crown prince; and finally, Prince Hitachi, 89, the siblings' uncle. This is the stark reality: if Prince Hisahito chooses not to get married, or does not produce a male child, there would be nobody to succeed the throne. Already, there has been pushback. In contrast to his grandfather, the late wartime Emperor Hirohito, who was revered as a deity until Japan lost the war, Crown Prince Akishino said at a news conference in 2024 that politicians should not lose sight of how the royals who are affected by policy are 'real live human beings'. There are now five unmarried women in the 16-member imperial household, including Princess Aiko, who is 23 years old and the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako. While commoner women marry into the imperial family, like Empress Masako, princesses who are born in the family lose their royal identity and become commoners themselves when they wed commoners. The latest to leave the family is Crown Prince Akishino's daughter Mako, 33, who married her college sweetheart in 2021. The couple promptly relocated to the United States and have not returned to Japan since. On May 30, the Imperial Household Agency said the couple had given birth to their first child, without revealing the gender. As a solution to the dwindling numbers, the Yomiuri Shimbun suggests allowing princesses to keep their royal status after marriage, with their husbands and children entering the imperial household. Traditionalists agree that princesses should remain as royals and continue official duties after marriage. But they draw the line at admitting their spouses and children into the family, arguing that this could result in a matrilineal emperor and taint the royal bloodline. They note that while there have been eight female emperors, they were all unmarried and patrilineal heirs. There has never been a matrilineal emperor . The Yomiuri, however, believes that the idea of 'one family, two statuses' is unrealistic. As commoners, the spouses and children would be free to express their opinions that could impugn the imperial family's 'political neutrality and dignity'. It further points to how the unbroken bloodline, across millennia, had been sustained by concubines, with 55 illegitimate children having become Emperors. Meanwhile, traditionalists also favour bringing back members of 11 former branches of the imperial family that were disbande d after World War II, through 'adoption'. It is said that there are at least 10 unmarried male descendants in their 20s or younger among these branches. But the idea has very little traction among the public. Eighty years have passed since the war, and members of these branch families would have grown accustomed to life as commoners, outside the public eye and rigid rules of the imperial household. Kanda University of International Studies lecturer Jeffrey Hall told ST that this plan would 'raise questions about the human rights of the individuals involved', noting that the Yomiuri sees this as 'a more unreliable and unpredictable solution that could dilute public support for the monarchy'. Dr Hall noted that the monarchy is not a major issue for moderate or centre-right voters, although there is a 'very vocal minority' of extreme conservatives who prefer the Sankei to the Yomiuri for 'more consistently taking their side on culture war issues'. While they are not the majority of LDP voters, the party would have difficulty winning elections without their support, he said. 'To many Japanese, the insistence on male-only succession seems to clash with the concepts of gender equality and women's rights,' Dr Hall said. 'But die-hard conservatives will do almost anything to protect what they see as one of their nation's most sacred traditions.' Walter Sim is Japan correspondent at The Straits Times. Based in Tokyo, he writes about political, economic and socio-cultural issues. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Mainichi
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Mainichi
Japan Emperor meets Laos president, discuss Princess Aiko's upcoming tour
TOKYO -- Japan's Emperor Naruhito met with Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith at the Imperial Palace here on May 30. With this year marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Princess Aiko, the only daughter of the Emperor and Empress Masako, is scheduled to travel to Laos in November in her first official visit overseas. During the meeting, President Thongloun stated that he is much honored to welcome Princess Aiko to his country, and Emperor Naruhito responded, "She is very much looking forward to the visit." Thongloun also expressed that he highly appreciates the activities of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers dispatched to Laos from Japan, noting that people-to-people relationships are supporting ties between Japan and Laos. The Emperor explained that he has met those volunteers upon their return to Japan, and said, "It's a great pleasure that you appreciate their activities."
4 days ago
- Politics
Japan's Emperor Meets with Lao President
News from Japan Society May 30, 2025 19:25 (JST) Tokyo, May 30 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Emperor Naruhito met with Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Friday. In the talks, which lasted about 25 minutes, the Emperor shared his delight over the growing amicable bilateral relations, noting that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Laos, according to the Imperial Household Agency. Regarding the planned visit to Laos in November by Princess Aiko, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, the president said that he will be honored to welcome the princess. The Emperor replied, "Aiko is also looking forward to it." They also discussed the 60th anniversary of the first dispatch of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers, now JICA Volunteers, to Laos. "Cooperation is very important," the Emperor told the president. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
