Japan Imperial Couple Hosts Spring Garden Party

Tokyo, April 17 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako hosted a garden party at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on Friday, with some 1,400 guests in attendance, including figure skating pair Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara. The Imperial couple praised the pair nicknamed “Riku-Ryu,” who wore traditional Japanese attire at the party, for winning gold at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics earlier this year. Kihara responded that he was able to bounce back from earlier struggles in the free skating program at the Games thanks to encouragement from his skating partner, while Miura said that she had been intent on being the more supportive partner in the pair. The Empress asked the skaters which one of them was the older sibling, referring to Miura’s comment after winning gold that she was the “older sister” in the partnership. Miura, who is younger than Kihara, said that her partner was now the “older brother.” Emperor Naruhito said that the mutual trust between them was important, and asked what they planned to do in the future. The figure skating pair announced Friday that they will retire from competitive skating at the end of this season. Kihara said that they wanted to take on new challenges so that more Japanese people would learn about pair skating. Princess Aiko, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, told the athletes that she was deeply moved when she saw their performance live, adding that she thought they had a wonderful relationship. At the garden party, the Imperial couple also congratulated Kokomo Murase, who won gold in women’s snowboarding at the Milan-Cortina Games. The Empress said that she had wanted to try out snowboarding in the past. While speaking to voice actor Masako Nozawa, the Emperor said he had watched “Gegege no Kitaro,” an animation series for which she voiced a character, on television when he was young. Nozawa responded that she was delighted. The event was also attended by Kyoto University professor Susumu Kitagawa, co-winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and baseball legend Sadaharu Oh. The Imperial couple and other members of the Imperial Family were divided into two groups and walked along separate routes to engage with guests, as they did in last autumn’s garden party. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]