Their Majesties Emperor Akihito
and Empress Michiko



As stated in the Constitution of Japan, the Emperor is "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people" and derives his position from "the will of the people with whom resides sovereign power."

On 7 January 1989 His Majesty Emperor Akihito acceded to the throne as the 125th Emperor of Japan.
The Ceremony of the Enthronement was held at the Imperial Palace on 12 November 1990.
From abroad, representatives of 158 countries, including Monarchs and Heads of State, and of two international organizations attended the ceremony.




Emperor Akihito was born in Tokyo on 23 December 1933, to the great joy of the entire nation, as the first son of Emperor Showa and Empress Nagako.He has four elder sisters, one younger brother and one younger sister.

His Majesty received his elementary and secondary education at Gakushuin, the then Imperial Household Ministry School which later became private. While he was in the elementary school, he had to move temporarily out of Tokyo with his classmates because of the war. He was still in the mountains of Nikko when the war came to an end in 1945.


In 1952, he entered Gakushuin University's Faculty of Political Science and Economics. In the same year, his Coming-of-Age Ceremony and his Investiture as Crown Prince were held. He thus began to carry out official duties in his capacity as Crown Prince. The next year, he made his first overseas journey to attend the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and travelled extensively in North America and Europe.


He completed his university education as a special student in 1956.
In addition to his formal education, Emperor Akihito received special tutoring from authorities in various areas of learning, such as Japanese History and Constitutional Law.


Marriage

On 10 April 1959, Crown Prince Akihito married Miss Michiko Shoda, daughter of a distinguished businessman. Dr. Shinzo Koizumi, who supervised the Crown Prince's education for many years, said of this marriage:"The Crown Prince chose her, and so did we."

. In accordance with the Imperial House Law, the Imperial House Council, headed by the Prime Minister, gave its unanimous consent to the marriage. The whole nation was enchanted by the traditional wedding ceremony and the splendid open horse-carriage procession that followed. It was one of the happiest days in the history of post-war Japan.


Crown Prince Akihito, with warm and devoted support from Crown Princess Michiko, pursued his official duties with renewed vigour, faithfully observing the time-honoured Imperial tradition and, at the same time, opening up new areas of activity befitting the role of the Crown Prince in the modern era.



Her Majesty Empress Michiko

Empress Michiko was born in Tokyo on 20 October 1934 as the first daughter of Hidesaburo and Fumiko Shoda. The Shoda family is prominent in both industrial and academic circles, counting among its members two recipients of the Order of Culture, the highest order given to scholars and artists by the Emperor.


Miss Shoda attended Futaba Elementary School. She was obliged to leave the school when she was in the fourth grade, as the ravages of war made living in Tokyo difficult. She returned to Tokyo to graduate from her old school after the war ended. She then attended Seishin (Sacred Heart) High School and entered Sacred Heart University's Department of English Literature.

In her senior year, she was elected, upon nomination by her classmates, president of the student government. Many of her classmates recall that, though very reserved, she won full cooperation from her fellow students and helped to introduce a harmonious spirit into the University life. At the ceremony of her graduation in 1957 she was valedictorian.



Establishing a family

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess established a happy family with their three children, Prince Naruhito, Prince Fumihito and Princess Sayako. In spite of her busy life, the Crown Princess brought her three children up herself with loving care.

She breast-fed all of them, and when the children were of school-age, it was she herself who prepared their lunch-boxes early every morning. Later, she said about her approach to child-raising:"I have consulted the Emperor (then the Crown Prince) on every matter and I am grateful to him for the precious advice he gave me based on his own experiences, which was most helpful to me."

As the Emperor mentioned at one of his press conferences, the Empress has always loved and respected his relatives, above all his parents. As Crown Princess, her constant visits with the Crown Prince and their children to Emperor Showa and Empress Nagako gave them much joy. Since Emperor Showa passed away, Empress Michiko, together with Emperor Akihito, has continued to visit the Empress Dowager almost every weekend.



Official Duties

The Emperor performs those acts in matters of state which are provided for in the Constitution, such as appointing the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, attesting the appointment of Ministers of State and some other high officials, convoking the National Diet, promulgating laws and treaties, awarding honours, attesting the credentials of ambassadors as well as receiving foreign ambassadors.
In these matters of state, he acts on the advice and approval of the Cabinet.)

The Emperor performs those acts in matters of state which are provided for in the Constitution, such as appointing the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, attesting the appointment of Ministers of State and some other high officials, convoking the National Diet, promulgating laws and treaties, awarding honours, attesting the credentials of ambassadors as well as receiving foreign ambassadors. In these matters of state, he acts on the advice and approval of the Cabinet.

At the Imperial Palace, Their Majesties host hundreds of ceremonies, audiences, teas, lunches, and dinners all year round. On these occasions, they meet a large number of people from all walks of life, including government officials, local government leaders, businessmen, farmers and fishermen, social and welfare workers, scholars and artists. State Banquets for visiting Heads of State or lunches and audiences for other visiting dignitaries are also held at the Imperial Palace. Since the Emperor's enthronement, Their Majesties have so far made official visits to 14 countries, bringing the number of countries they have visited to 47.


Their Majesties' interests

Their Majesties' interests encompass broad areas of learning and culture. They attend annual award ceremonies of the Japan Academy and the Japan Academy of Arts. They often receive scholars and artists including the members of the Academies as well as the recipients of the Order of Culture at the Imperial Palace.

They also attend ceremonies for the awarding of important scientific prizes, as well as international scientific conferences held in Japan. The Emperor has a keen interest in natural life and its conservation. He encourages research projects on natural life on grounds of the Imperial estates..

For many years, the Emperor has made a taxonomic study of gobies, small fish found in fresh, brackish and marine waters. As a member of the Ichtyological Society of Japan, he has published 26 papers in the society's journal. He was one of the contributors to The Fishes of the Japanese Archipelago (1984: the first illustrated book of all the fishes in Japanese waters). He served as honorary president of the Second International Conference on Indo-Pacific Fishes in 1985, and presented a paper, "Some Morphological Characters Considered to be Important in Gobiid Phylogeny", which was later included in the conference proceedings.

For his work in this field, he was invited to become a foreign member of the Linnean Society of London in 1980 and was elected as an honorary member of that Society in 1986. He has been an honorary member of the Zoological Society of London since 1992 and of the Research Institute for Natural Science of Argentina since 1997. He is also a research associate of the Australian Museum. In 1988 he became the first recipient of the King Charles the Second Medal, which is awarded by the Royal Society of London to those heads of state who have made outstanding contribution to the advancement of science. Since his accession to the throne, however, the Emperor's full daily schedule has so far prevented him from continuing his researches effectively.

The Emperor has a keen interest in both Japanese and world history. On request from the editor of Science magazine when it published a special issue on Japan in 1992, he contributed "Early Cultivators of Science in Japan", an essay on the history of early science in Japan after the coming of the Europeans.

Empress Michiko has an extensive interest in art, and is particularly well-read in Japanese classical literature. She has constantly kept up her interest in children's literature and has done work in that field herself. Hajimete no Yamanobori (My First Mountain), a picture book for which the Empress wrote the story, was published in 1991. A bilingual collection of poems for children written by Michio Mado, as selected, translated into English and arranged by the Empress, was published in Japan and the United States in 1992 as Dobutsu-tachi or The Animals.

On the basis of 80 of his poems as translated by the Empress, including those contained in The Animals, Michio Mado was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize for Literature by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) in 1994, as the first recipient from Asia. For the 26th Congress of the IBBY convened in New Delhi, India, in 1998, the Empress, at the request of the IBBY organization, made a keynote speech entitled "Reminiscences of Childhood Readings," which was delivered to the participants by video.

The Empress loves music. She plays the piano, and is a good accompanist to the Emperor who plays the cello and to Crown Prince Naruhito who plays the viola and violin. She is occasionally heard practising on the piano when she finds time in her busy life, and she enjoys playing in a small chamber ensemble with her musician friends. The Empress also gives encouragement and support to Gagaku, classical court music and dance, often attending its performances by court musicians/dancers or descendants of former aristocrats.

Almost every day, the Emperor and Empress enjoy early morning walks in the Palace woods and gardens where they can enjoy the changes of the seasons and be close to nature which they both love. On weekends they play tennis, their favorite sport, when their schedule permits.