Japan’s Empress Emerita Michiko Turns 91

Tokyo, Oct. 20 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Empress Emerita Michiko, wife of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and mother of Emperor Naruhito, marked her 91st birthday on Monday. The Empress Emerita broke her right thigh bone in October last year, but has recovered to almost the same condition as before the fracture. She carefully supports the daily life of the Emperor Emeritus, 91, who continues to receive cardiac treatment. She spends more days caring for her husband and her own health. According to an aide, the Empress Emerita worked hard on her rehabilitation every day at the Sento Imperial Residence in Tokyo’s Minato Ward after her discharge from the hospital so that she could support the Emperor Emeritus as soon as possible. She visited the Emperor Emeritus day after day when he was hospitalized at the University of Tokyo Hospital in May and July. The Empress Emerita returns a smile while gently nodding to the Emperor Emeritus when he says with a smile “Thank you” for her delicate support. She keeps herself informed about what is happening in society by reading newspapers, watching television news programs and talking with aides, according to the Imperial Household Agency. Empress Emerita Michiko offered silent prayers with Emperor Emeritus Akihito on special occasions this year, such as the memorial ceremonies for victims of last year’s huge earthquake and heavy rain that hit the Noto Peninsula in central Japan, the 30th anniversary of the January 1995 earthquake in Kobe, western Japan, and surrounding areas, the 14th anniversary of the March 2011 powerful earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan and a series of anniversaries related to World War II. With this year marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako visited Iwoto, a remote Tokyo island better known as Iwo Jima, as well as the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, Hiroshima Prefecture in western Japan and the southwestern prefecture of Nagasaki, to pray for the war dead. The Emperor Emeritus and Empress Emerita watched over the trips of the Emperor and Empress and recalled the time when they visited the same places 50 years after the war. In August, the Emperor Emeritus and Empress Emerita strolled around the Ohinata settlement in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan. They seemed relieved to be able to revisit the settlement, developed by people who returned to Japan from Manchuria in northeastern China after the war, in this milestone year. The Empress Emerita continues to experience a slight rise in her temperature in the afternoon, and her BNP levels, an indicator for heart failure diagnosis, remain above normal. To prevent falls due to decreased leg strength, she strolls around the Sento Imperial Residence in the morning and around the residence or the Akasaka Estate in the afternoon. She also engages in light exercise. However, she is more likely to get tired than before, and the distance she can walk at once has become shorter, showing a decline in physical strength. She continues reading aloud after breakfast with the Emperor Emeritus and is now reading “Ichinichi, koten” by Takako Tanaka. She also keeps up her solo reading, recently ordering and reading “Nour’s Secret Library” by Wafa Tarnowska, which she learned about through a newspaper article. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]