Japanese Emperor Akihito addressed the nation on Monday, releasing a rare video message to the public in which the 82-year-old strongly suggested that he wished to abdicate but avoided using that word directly.
The emperor’s suggestion that Japanese politicians need to revise the Imperial Household Law may also be his way of slowing down a push to revise Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution, said WSU professor of history Noriko Kawamura, author of “Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War.”
Kawamura noted that Akihito’s eldest son and possible next emperor, Naruhito, is “outspoken and more independently minded” than Akihito. Both he and his wife were educated abroad, and Naruhito has publicly raised delicate questions like the intense pressure that Imperial Household Agency officials have put on his wife, leading to mental health issues.
“They are more intellectual types and could be more dangerous to stubborn conservative right-wingers,” said Kawamura. “Akihito was successful in soothing knots between the imperial court and Japanese society, but I don’t know about Naruhito. Sometimes he speaks too much of his mind and even the press has been surprised.”