The Imperial Household in the Heisei Era — Together with the People

Last time, we saw how, under the postwar Constitution of Japan, the emperor became the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people, and how a new image of an imperial household standing together with the people was gradually explored. A symbol holding no political power was a position without precedent in history. How to give shape to such a role, as a set of duties, was still very much a matter of feeling one’s way.

That role of the symbol would be deepened a further step in the era that followed. From Showa to Heisei. Under the new era name, the imperial family traveled to regions struck by disaster, offered prayers across former battlefields, and added, time and again, the figure of those who walk together with the people. And in its later years, thoughts on advancing age and the nature of official duties were quietly shared, opening the way to an abdication rare even within the long span of history. In this chapter, within the bounds of facts publicly announced and reported, we trace the path of the imperial household through the era known as Heisei.

The Change of Era to Heisei

The Showa era lasted a long time. From the turbulent prewar years, through defeat in war, and then through rapid economic growth, Japan changed greatly in its shape. That Showa era drew to a close in the first year of Heisei (1989).

According to public records such as those of the National Archives of Japan, Emperor Showa passed away on January 7, 1989, and on the same day Crown Prince Akihito succeeded to the throne. The government accordingly set the new era name as ‘Heisei.’ The word ‘Heisei’ was explained as carrying the wish that peace be achieved both within and beyond the nation, and across heaven and earth alike. This change of era was also the first imperial succession to take place under the Constitution of Japan and the present Imperial House Law.

A strong wish for peace became a single thread running through the imperial household of Heisei. As a generation that had actually lived through war, and from a position that had watched over the postwar path, words and conduct that wished for peace were shown from time to time.

To the Disaster Areas, and on Journeys of Remembrance

Indispensable in speaking of the Heisei imperial household are the visits to console disaster-stricken regions and the journeys of remembrance for the war dead.

According to the records of the Imperial Household Agency, each time a major disaster struck, visits to the affected regions were made again and again. After the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 (Heisei 7), the affected area was visited roughly two weeks after the quake, and the memorial ceremony ten years later was attended as well, it was reported. After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 (Heisei 23), the disaster areas were visited continuously over a span of several weeks, it has been conveyed. The figure of kneeling to exchange words with affected people at the same eye level was conveyed through much reporting.

The journeys of remembrance for the war dead also symbolized the path of Heisei. According to materials released by the Imperial Household Agency, in 2015 (Heisei 27), the seventieth year after the war, a visit was made to Peleliu Island in the Republic of Palau, known as a site of fierce fighting, in order to remember those who had died in war and to pray for peace. In the words released, thoughts mourning the dead of both Japan and the United States who had lost their lives on that ground were expressed, it has been conveyed. Whether at home or abroad, journeys to offer prayers to those who fell as casualties of war were received as showing, through action, a stance that wished for peace.

The Path Toward Abdication

Time passed, and the Heisei imperial household reached its later years. At the far end of a path of touring regions across the land over many years and fulfilling countless duties, thoughts on advancing age and the manner of official duties came to be spoken of in public.

According to reporting and public records, in August 2016 (Heisei 28), the emperor of the time expressed ‘The Emperor’s Words on His Duties as Symbol.’ There, it was conveyed, a concern was voiced that, as he grew older, it might gradually become difficult to fulfill the duties of the symbol as fully as before. We refrain here from entering into the private details of health, but it was received as a question bearing on the public position — how to continue the duties of the symbol.

In response to these words, understanding and sympathy are reported to have spread among the people. In light of this, as a special provision of the Imperial House Law, the ‘Special Act on the Imperial House Law Concerning Abdication of the Emperor’ was enacted in the Diet, promulgated in 2017 (Heisei 29), and brought into force on April 30, 2019 (Heisei 31). And on that same day, the ‘Ceremony of the Abdication’ was carried out as an act in matters of state, with the throne to be handed on the following day.

There is a sunflower-seed anecdote connected with the mourning for the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Seeds from sunflowers that had bloomed at the home of a child lost in the quake were presented by the bereaved family, and the sunflowers grown from those seeds were cherished for a long time, it was reported. The stance of quietly drawing close to each and every life lost to disaster or war was, throughout the era of Heisei, passed on unchanged.

Heisei was an era in which the image of the symbolic emperor that had budded after the war was deepened through journeys to disaster areas and battlefields, and at last reached the new turning point of abdication. And the duties and thoughts handed on there would be carried over into the next era name.