For the first time in 217 years, a Japanese emperor will cede his place on the imperial throne.
On April 30, Japan's ailing 85-year-old Emperor Akihito will abdicate and be replaced the following day by his 59-year-old son, Crown Prince Naruhito.
In 1947, two years after its surrender to Allied forces, Japan became a democracy, with several political parties, parliament and a prime minister. The monarchy also changed profoundly after World War II. As a young crown prince in U.S.-occupied Japan, Akihito studied the English language and Western culture, and his American tutor sought to encourage independence in her young student. Akihito later broke with the Japanese royal tradition of arranged marriages by wedding a commoner, Michiko Shoda, whom he met playing tennis.
In a 2016 speech, Akihito indirectly signaled his intention to abdicate, saying that his advanced age and declining health made it difficult for him to carry out his duties.The crown prince says that as emperor he hopes to emulate his father’s personal touch—to “share the joys and sorrows of the people.”
That would be a big symbolic boost for women in a country where female executives occupy less than 1 percent of management positions. As a scholar of Japanese history, I spoke about the travels of a prominent samurai in early modern Japan. Naruhito—long a global advocate for clean water—presented his research, conducted at Oxford University, on medieval English water transport.
In 2001, eight years after their marriage, Masako gave birth—but to a girl, Aiko. Shortly afterward, she vanished from public life. According to her doctors, Masako suffered an “adjustment disorder”—what outside observers might identify as depression.
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