{"id":668587,"date":"2026-01-02T08:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/668587\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T08:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T08:35:11","slug":"japans-emperor-and-his-family-greet-new-year-well-wishers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/668587\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s emperor and his family greet New Year well-wishers"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO — Japan\u2019s Emperor Naruhito<\/a> and his family waved to a crowd of flag-waving New Year\u2019s well-wishers gathered at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Friday.<\/p>\n

Standing with his wife Masako and the rest of the royal family, he wished a happy new year to people lined up below the palace balcony, some shouting, \u201cbanzai” \u2014 Japanese for “long live.\u201d<\/p>\n

The annual New Year\u2019s appearance by the emperor and his family<\/a> draws huge crowds to the palace\u2019s usually cloistered grounds in central Tokyo.<\/p>\n

People stand in long lines, weathering the cold, for each of the five appearances during the day, as the imperial family remains relatively popular. <\/p>\n

The emperor does not have political power but holds symbolic significance for Japan. He and his family are longtime advocates for peace, although World War II was fought in the name of Naruhito\u2019s grandfather Hirohito.<\/p>\n

In a statement released in advance, Naruhito noted that last year marked 80 years since the end of that war<\/a>. He stressed the importance of the message of peace, given that war and strife continued in parts of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI deeply feel it\u2019s important to continue with efforts among people for dialogue, trying to deepen mutual understanding, so we can build a world of peace,\u201d he said in the statement.<\/p>\n

In both the statement and comments Friday, he spoke about recent natural disasters such as earthquakes, heavy rainfall and snow, and forest fires.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the annual appearance was canceled because of a New Year\u2019s Day quake in the Noto Peninsula<\/a>, a coastal area in central Japan, which killed hundreds of people. In 2021 and 2022, it got canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

Princess Aiko, the imperial couple’s only child, appeared with her parents at this year\u2019s greeting, as did other relatives. She is at the center of a national debate<\/a> about rules allowing only men to inherit to the Chrysanthemum Throne.<\/p>\n

The presence of Naruhito\u2019s nephew, Hisahito, also drew attention, as he now takes part in adult imperial events and is a possible heir to the throne. He is second in line after his father, the emperor\u2019s brother.<\/p>\n

Akihito, Naruhito\u2019s father and emperor emeritus who abdicated in 2019, was also there with his wife Michiko, the emperor\u2019s mother. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@yurikageyama<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TOKYO — Japan\u2019s Emperor Naruhito and his family waved to a crowd of flag-waving New Year\u2019s well-wishers gathered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[203689,3907,4179,388,5105,7710,519,448,7796,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-668587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-203689","9":"tag-article","10":"tag-general-news","11":"tag-lifestyle","12":"tag-royal","13":"tag-royal-families","14":"tag-royal-family","15":"tag-royals","16":"tag-royalty","17":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115824592307622748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}