Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Friday visited Yano Orizuru-en, a nursing home for survivors of the 1945 atomic bombing of the western city of Hiroshima. The Imperial couple visited the facility for the first time and met with 10 nursing home residents aged 81 to 99. Emperor Emeritus Akihito visited the nursing home with Empress Emerita Michiko in 2014, before he abdicated the throne.
A nursing home for atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima is awaiting Friday’s visit by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako during their trip to the western Japan prefecture as this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. The facility was opened in 2007 and currently accommodates about 100 residents whose average age exceeds 90. While supporting the residents’ daily lives, it also works to pass on experiences of the 1945 atomic bombing.
Welcomed by the residents of the facility, which houses migrants from Japan and their descendants, the 30-year-old younger daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko asked how they are doing and called on them to look after themselves. Established in 1958 as the first nursing facility for the Japanese community, it is home to some 60 people aged from their 60s to 100
Japan’s Emperor Emeritus Akihito has been diagnosed with silent myocardial ischemia, a condition of an asymptomatic patient whose blood flow from the coronary arteries to the heart muscle is reduced due to excessive exercise, the Imperial Household Agency said Saturday.
Japanese Emperor Emeritus Akihito will be admitted to the University of Tokyo Hospital in the Japanese capital’s Bunkyo Ward from Tuesday for heart tests, the Imperial Household Agency said Monday. With no symptoms, the Emperor Emeritus had continued his routine morning and evening walks until Sunday, but skipped the morning walk on Monday. He also decided to postpone a plan to stay at the Hayama Imperial Villa with Empress Emerita Michiko from Thursday.
Japanese Princess Kako, the second daughter of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, turned 30 on Sunday. As an adult member of the Imperial Family, Princess Kako has performed various official duties at home and abroad this year, while working twice a week since April at the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, which she joined as a part-time employee in 2021.
Japanese Princess Aiko has been diagnosed with influenza, the Imperial Household Agency said Monday. The 23-year-old princess, the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, canceled her planned participation in an event to celebrate the 91st birthday of Emperor Emeritus Akihito, held at his residence in Tokyo’s Minato Ward the same day.
The Emperor and Empress looked at artworks such as paintings and watched people with disabilities create them.
The Empress Emerita will live in a wheelchair for a while at the residence while doing rehabilitation for independent walking.
The 89-year-old former empress underwent surgery for the fracture at the University of Tokyo Hospital on Tuesday after falling at the Sento Imperial Residence in Tokyo on Oct. 6.
Barrier Free Japan