Akihito of Japan, the emperor who healed the wounds of World War II

L & # 39; Emperor Akihito from Japan He climbed to the "Chrysanthemum Throne" after the death of his father, Hirohito, in January 1989 and abdicated on April 30, 2019, after 30 years of reign. He thus becomes the first monarch to abdicate since Emperor Kokaku did it in 1817.

Sitting as the first "mortal" emperor after a dynastic lineage of 124 semi-divine emperors, Akihito played the leading role that led the first reign that did not bring Japan to war after 2,600 years, and the Japanese stand out as the one who humanized the monarchy.

The prince Tsugu ("name of Akihito's childhood") was born December 23, 1933when his country embarked on a militaristic conquest of Asia in the name of his father, Emperor Hirohito. Her birth was celebrated because her parents had been married for 10 years and had only girls, to the point that the court lobbied Hirohito to make children with a concubine.

He was 11 years old when the Second World War ended on August 15, 1945 with a humiliating and unconditional surrender of Japan. Hirohito is then stripped of his semi-divine status and becomes, by virtue of the pacifist constitution imposed by the American occupier, a "symbol of the State and the unity of the people", devoid of of political power.

After becoming Crown Prince at the age of 18, he graduated four years later at Gakushuin University in Tokyo. In 1959, Akihito broke with tradition by marrying Michiko Shoda, a commoner and eldest daughter of the president of a company.. The couple played tennis in Karuizawa, from where their love story was called "tennis court romance".

The couple, who celebrated his sixtieth birthday on April 10, had two children, the new emperor, Naruhitoand Prince Akishino, along with his daughter Sayako Kuroda, who is no longer part of the imperial family after marriage, as well as four grandchildren. The imperial environment said that Akihito was "deeply depressed" by the absence of male heirs, who plunged her daughter-in-law, the new Empress Masako, into depression.

"The Japanese must not forget"

Since his accession to the chrysanthemum throne, that of the world's oldest hereditary monarchy, Emperor Akihito, baptized with the name ("gengo") of "heisei" ("to achieve peace"), tried to heal the wounds of the Second World War in Asia. In 1991, he traveled to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia on his first official trip abroad.

He also went to China in 1992 and on the island of Okinawa, in southern Japan, in 1993, where was held one of the few battles that took place on land in the Japanese country. In January 2016, the imperial couple went to the Philippines to pay tribute to the victims of the war, as they celebrated 60 years of normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

During the Second World War, some of the fierce battles between Japan and the United States took place on Philippine soil, killing many people in the country. "It's something that we, Japanese, must never forget and that we try to keep engraved in our hearts with our visits," said Akihito in Manila.

In Japan, the imperial couple went to areas affected by natural disasters and he knelt to listen to the people affected. During its 30-year reign, the country has suffered major disasters. In 1995, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the city of Kobe in the west of the country, killing more than 6,400 people.

He also delivered a surprise speech on television in the country after the disaster caused by an earthquake and tsunami on March 10, 2011. It was the first time that he was talking to the public about ### 39, a specific event under his reign, after which for centuries "The brilliant voice" of the emperors could not be heard by mortals.

In February of this year, at a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of his reign, the Emperor acknowledged that he was moved and that so many people rallied to help those affected. "All over the country, people have shared the pain of these communities as if they were theirs and with their compatriots in different ways," he said. "These are some of the most unforgettable memories of my reign".

The emperor, 85 years old today, he suffered from various health problems. In 2003, he had to undergo surgery for prostate cancer. In 2008, he had stress-related health problems and in 2012, he underwent coronary bypbad surgery. Four years later, in an unexpected speech on television, he declared that he felt tired of continuing to reign: "When I think of my decreasing strength, I wonder if I can continue to fulfill my duty to symbol of Japan, with all my body and mind. " "

THE EMPERORS VISITED ARGENTINA IN 1997: