Japan New Emperor Naruhito Formally Ascends Chrysanthemum Throne

Agencies
May 1, 2019

Tokyo, May 1: Japan's new Emperor Naruhito formally ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday, a day after his father's historic abdication, and vowed to stand with the people as the country begins a new imperial era.

In a brief address, his first to the nation since inheriting the throne, Naruhito vowed to "act according to the Constitution" while "always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them".

Naruhito officially became emperor at the stroke of midnight but the process was formalised in the ritual on Wednesday morning, which was off-limits to female royals - even his wife Masako.

The emperor entered the Imperial Palace's Pine Room in formal Western clothing and a heavy gold chain of office, accompanied by male family members including his brother Akishino.

The 59-year-old was presented with the items his father Akihito relinquished a day earlier: sacred imperial treasures of a sword and a jewel, as well as the seal of state and his personal imperial seal.

The sole woman invitee was the only female member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet.

The ceremony took place on the first day of the new imperial era of Reiwa, meaning "beautiful harmony", which will last throughout Naruhito's reign.

Shortly afterwards, Empress Masako arrived by car at the palace in a diamond-studded tiara to join Naruhito, the nation's 126th emperor.

He said he would "reflect deeply" on the example set by his popular father Akihito, and that assuming the throne filled him with a "sense of solemnity".

Abe, replying on behalf of the people, said: "We are determined to create a bright future for a proud Japan filled with peace and hope at a time when the international situation is changing dramatically."

After heavy rain dampened celebrations for the abdication on Tuesday, Japanese took advantage of sunnier weather to flock to the Meiji Shrine in the heart of the capital where free sake was served ahead of a display of horseback archery.

Balancing act

Naruhito will make his first public appearance on Saturday when he will again address the people of Japan.

But the real pomp and ceremony will wait until October 22 when he and Masako will appear in elaborate traditional robes for a ceremony in the palace before parading through the streets of the capital to be congratulated by a host of world leaders and royals.

Naruhito will greet his first foreign head of state as emperor later this month, when US President Donald Trump visits Japan to meet the new monarch.

The Oxford-educated Naruhito faces the delicate balancing act of continuing his father's legacy of bringing the monarchy closer to the people while upholding the centuries-old traditions of the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Like his popular father Akihito, he has warned of the need to remember World War II "correctly," without downplaying Japan's early 20th-century militarism.

He has also spoken of the need to modernise the royal family, and vowed when he married Masako -- who left behind a promising diplomatic career -- to protect her "at any cost".

She has struggled, however, to adjust to palace life, including being subjected to enormous pressure to produce a male heir, and has suffered stress-induced "adjustment disorder" for much of their marriage.

The couple have one child, a 17-year-old daughter called Aiko, who cannot inherit the throne because she is female.

In a statement released on her birthday in December, Masako pledged to do her best despite feeling "insecure" about becoming empress.

In the candid statement, she said she was recovering and could "perform more duties than before", crediting the "powerful support" of the public.

A Different Japan

Naruhito is ascending the throne in a very different Japan to the one his father took over when he became emperor in 1989.

Then, Japan ruled the world economically, its technology was the envy of every industrialised nation, and its stock market was at highs unlikely to be matched again.

But following a "lost decade" after the bubble burst, Japan is locked in a battle against deflation and sluggish growth while its population ages rapidly.

Akihito's abdication, the first in 200 years, has resulted in an unprecedented 10-day public holiday for the famously hard-working Japanese, with many taking advantage of the break to travel.

But despite the holiday exodus, and steady driving rain on Tuesday night, crowds still gathered at Tokyo's famous Shibuya crossing at the clock struck midnight to welcome the Reiwa era.

"The emperor was a good person... He was the symbol of Japan," said Rika Yamamoto, a 24-year-old company employee sheltering under an umbrella on the crossing.

"I hope the new emperor will carry on the kindness the old emperor had."

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News Network
February 5,2020

New Delhi, Feb 5: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday announced that the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra, set up by the government for construction of a temple in Ayodhya, will have 15 trustees and one of them will be from the Dalit community.

The statement comes a little over an hour after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Lok Sabha about the constitution of the trust.

"There will be 15 trustees in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust out of which one trustee will always be from the Dalit society," he tweeted.

Shah congratulated Modi "for such an unprecedented decision" that strengthens social harmony.

The home minister said the trust will be independent to take every decision related to the temple and 67 acres of land will be transferred to it.

"I fully believe that the waiting of millions of people for centuries will be over soon and they will be able to pay obeisance to Lord Shri Ram in his grand temple at his birthplace," he said.

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News Network
June 30,2020

Beijing, June 30: China said on Tuesday it was concerned about India’s decision to ban Chinese mobile apps such as Bytedance’s TikTok and Tencent’s WeChat and was making checks to verify the situation.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters during a daily briefing that (the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government of) India has a responsibility to uphold the rights of Chinese businesses.

India on Monday banned 59, mostly Chinese, mobile apps in its strongest move yet targeting China in the online space since a border crisis erupted between the two countries this month.

The apps are “prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the defence of India, the security of state and public order", the ministry of information technology said in a statement, which came two weeks after 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in a violent clash on the India-China border in Ladakh.

The companies have been invited to offer clarifications before a government panel, which will decide whether the ban can be removed or will stay.

The move also came ahead of military and diplomatic talks between India and China scheduled this week.

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News Network
January 30,2020

Jan 30: The death toll rose to 170 in the new virus outbreak in China on Thursday as foreign evacuees from the worst-hit region begin returning home under close observation and world health officials expressed “great concern” that the disease is starting to spread between people outside of China.

Thursday’s figures cover the previous 24 hours and represent an increase of 38 deaths and 1,737 cases for a total of 7,711. Of the new deaths, 37 were in the epicenter of the outbreak in Hubei province and one in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The news comes as the 195 Americans evacuated from Wuhan, the Hubei province city of 11 million where the outbreak originated, are undergoing three days of testing and monitoring at a Southern California military base to make sure they do not show signs of the virus.

A group of 210 Japanese evacuees from Wuhan landed Thursday at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on a second government chartered flight, according to the foreign ministry. Reports said nine of those aboard the flight showed signs of cough and fever. Three of the 206 Japanese who returned on Wednesday tested positive for the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during a parliamentary session. Two of them showed no symptoms of the disease.

France, New Zealand, Australia and other countries are also pulling out their citizens or making plans to do so.

The World Health Organization emergencies chief said the few cases of human-to-human spread of the virus outside China — in Japan, Germany, Canada and Vietnam — were of “great concern” and were part of the reason the U.N. health agency’s director-general was reconvening a committee of experts on Thursday to assess whether the outbreak should be declared a global emergency.

The new virus has now infected more people in China than were sickened there during the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak.

Dr. Michael Ryan spoke at a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday after returning from a trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior government leaders. He said China was taking “extraordinary measures in the face of an extraordinary challenge” posed by the outbreak.

To date, about 99% of the cases are in China. Ryan estimated the death rate of the new virus at 2%, but said the figure was very preliminary. With fluctuating numbers of cases and deaths, scientists are only able to produce a rough estimate of the fatality rate and it’s likely many milder cases of the virus are being missed.

In comparison, the SARS virus killed about 10% of people who caught it. The new virus is from the coronavirus family, which includes those that can cause the common cold as well as more serious illnesses such as SARS and MERS.

Scientists say there are many questions to be answered about the new virus, including just how easily it spreads and how severe it is.

In a report published Wednesday, Chinese researchers suggested that person-to-person spread among close contacts occurred as early as mid-December.

“Considerable efforts” will be needed to control the spread if this ratio holds up elsewhere, researchers wrote in the report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

More than half of the cases in which symptoms began before Jan. 1 were tied to a seafood market, but only 8% of cases after that have been, researchers found. They reported the average incubation period was five days.

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