JAPAN: Sturdy Empress

Her Imperial Majesty, the Sublime Empress Sadako of Japan, failed, last week, for the first time in several years to preside at the annual Chrysanthemum Garden Party attended by 5,000 guests at the Akasaka Palace, Tokyo.

Her Majesty sat, instead, almost day and night at the bedside of her husband. Five physicians were in constant attendance. The Emperor Yoshihito, a chronic mental and physical invalid, was struggling with a minor bronchial disorder which it was feared might complicate his other afflictions.

In Tokyo, Prince Regent Hirohito, who has ruled in his father’s stead since 1921, presided over the chrysanthemum fete with his wife, the Crown Princess Nagako. He and his three brothers are strapping sportsmen, know not infirmities. . . .

Shrewd, the councilors of the now diseased Emperor chose as his wife Princess Sadako of the house of Kujo, a family celebrated for its prodigious vitality and proliferousness. She, a sturdy Empress, has deserved well of Nippon.