Japan's Emperor Akihito to Abdicate on April 30, 2019

Emperor Akihito, who has spent much of his nearly three decades on Japan’s throne seeking to soothe the wounds of World War Two, will step down on April 30, 2019 - the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in about two centuries, writes Reuters.

A 10-member Imperial Household Council of lawmakers, royals and supreme court justices, chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, agreed on the timing on Friday.

Akihito, who turns 84 on Dec. 23 and has had heart surgery and treatment for prostate cancer, said in rare remarks last year that he feared age might make it hard for him to fulfil his duties.

He will be succeeded by his heir, 57-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito.

“This is the first abdication by an emperor in 200 years and the first under the (post-war) constitution,” Abe told reporters after announcing the recommendation.

“I feel deep emotion that today, the opinion of the Imperial Household Council was smoothly decided and a big step was taken toward the imperial succession.”

The cabinet still has to sign off on the decision on the date, which it will likely do next week.

Once considered divine, Japan’s emperor is defined in the post-war constitution as a “symbol of the state and of the unity of the people”, but has no political power.

Akihito, along with Empress Michiko, has spent much time trying to address the legacy of World War Two, which was fought in the name of his father Hirohito, and consoling victims of disasters or other woes.

“Both the emperor and empress thought tirelessly about the people,” said Taeko Ito, a 72-year-old caregiver. “Now he is elderly and I wish from my heart that he can have a rest.”

Akihito and Michiko, the first commoner to wed a Japanese monarch, have worked to reconcile ties across Asia, soured by Japan’s aggression before and during World War Two, with numerous visits abroad.

In 1992, he became the first Japanese monarch in living memory to visit China, where bitter memories of the war run deep. During that visit the emperor said he “deeply deplored” an “unfortunate period in which my country inflicted great suffering on the people of China”.

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