--- description: Akihito has hinted that he wishes to abdicate the Chrysanthemum Throne soon. That would not be the first time he broke from tradition. title: Japan's Emperor Akihito Abdication: What to Know image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc22361f0d1dc3db2/6988a181cf40a8ed48c4460a/japan-emperor_waxm.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # What to Know About Japan's Emperor Akihito: A Lifetime of Firsts  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 8, 2016 6:15 PM CUT  Japan's Emperor Akihito reads a message for recording at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Aug. 7, 2016. Japan's Emperor Akihito reads a message for recording at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Aug. 7, 2016.Imperial Household Agency of Japan—AP  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 8, 2016 6:15 PM CUT Japan’s Emperor Akihito [confirmed reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/world/asia/emperor-akihito-abdicate.html "undefined") on Monday, in a [rare public address,](http://time.com/4442779/japan-emperor-akihito-abdicate-2 "undefined") that he’s thinking of stepping down from the “Chrysanthemum Throne” in the next few years due to health concerns. “Fortunately I am now in good health,” the 82-year-old said in his first televised broadcast since the [Fukushima nuclear disaster](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2059619,00.html "undefined"). “However, when I consider that my fitness level is gradually declining, I am worried that it may become difficult for me to carry out my duties as the symbol of the state with my whole being as I have done until now.” The idea of Akihito becoming the [the first Japanese monarch ](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/world/asia/japan-emperor-akihito-retirement.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news "undefined")[to step down](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/world/asia/japan-emperor-akihito-retirement.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news "undefined")[ in nearly 200 years ](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/world/asia/japan-emperor-akihito-retirement.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news "undefined")has sparked a constitutional debate in Japan, for he is legally expected to serve until his death. But a look back at TIME’s coverage of the 125th Emperor’s life reveals that he is no stranger to breaking the mold. “Akihito was born on Dec. 23, 1933, the long-awaited first son of Hirohito and Empress Nagako, who had already produced four girls,” TIME [noted](http://time.com/vault/issue/1989-01-16/page/38/ "undefined") in 1989, when Akihito first came to power. “In time-honored imperial fashion, the prince was separated from his parents at about the age of three and raised by nurses, tutors and chamberlains. Yet in a departure from custom, at six Akihito was sent to school with commoners in order to broaden him. When the Allies began closing in on Japan during World War II, he and some of his classmates were evacuated to provincial cities.” Akihito also broke with tradition both by in 1959 marrying Michiko Shoda, “the first nonaristocrat elevated to royal consort,” as TIME once [put it](http://time.com/vault/issue/1989-01-16/page/38/ "undefined"), and by raising their three children at home. (The results were audible: “The palace often resounds with impromptu concerts of Mozart, Grieg or Beethoven,” [the magazine wrote](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,150983,00.html "undefined"). “Akihito is a fine cellist and is joined by his wife playing the harp, Hiro on viola, Aya on the guitar and Nori at the piano.”) Another first: When Akihito officially assumed the throne in 1990, after his father’s death, it was the “first such ceremony to be conducted under the country’s postwar constitution, which stripped the Emperor of political power,” [TIME reported.](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601901126,00.html "undefined") [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter "undefined") His father, Emperor Hirohito, whom[ TIME in 1988 called](http://time.com/vault/issue/1988-10-03/page/45/ "undefined") the longest-reigning monarch in the world, had once been the subject of abdication rumors of his own. In the years directly following World War II, TIME [framed](http://time.com/vault/issue/1948-06-07/page/39/ "undefined") him as “tarnished by his association with the malefactors who made the war and lost it.” Hirohito did not in fact abdicate at that time, but later Akihito saw firsthand how an Emperor’s health can influence his people, as he [said](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/378c730f9aa24126b8d4ab2fd3c33ee0/excerpts-speech-japanese-emperor-delivered-his-future "undefined") in his statement on Monday: “When the Emperor has ill health and his condition becomes serious, I am concerned that, as we have seen in the past, society comes to a standstill and people’s lives are impacted in various ways.” Indeed, after Akihito started taking over his father’s duties when Emperor Hirohito was gravely ill with a pancreatic tumor, TIME [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1988-10-17/page/42/ "undefined") how society came to that “standstill”: --- > “” --- Should Akihito in fact abdicate, the decision will be one more example of a life spent redefining the Emperor’s role. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4442996/akihito-emperor-abdication/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4442996/akihito-emperor-abdication/"},"headline":"What to Know About Japan's Emperor Akihito: A Lifetime of Firsts","datePublished":"2016-08-08T18:15:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:49:41.675Z","description":"Akihito has hinted that he wishes to abdicate the Chrysanthemum Throne soon","url":"https://time.com/4442996/akihito-emperor-abdication/","keywords":["Japan","World","royals","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc22361f0d1dc3db2/6988a181cf40a8ed48c4460a/japan-emperor_waxm.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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