April. 2019 Emperor Akihito's abdication and Imperial family
March 30 - May 6, 2019
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan is very pleased and honored to present this special photography exhibition of the Imperial Family in the same month as Emperor Akihito prepares to retire from official duties on April 30. His elder son Crown Prince Naruhito will become Emperor the following day on May 1, ushering in a new period and bringing the Heisei era to a close.
A law was passed last year to allow Emperor Akihito to retire, the first such abdication in 200 years. The 85-year-old Emperor implied in an address to the nation in August 2016 that he was concerned his age will hinder him from performing his duties as "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people" as stated in Japan's post-war Constitution.
The Heisei era began on Jan 8, 1989, the day after the death of Emperor Akihito's father, Hirohito. It will conclude on April 30, 2019. To commemorate the Heisei era, this exhibition focuses on the Imperial couple and their influence on the Japanese people. The photos includes the Imperial couple playing tennis when they were engaged, their marriage and wedding parade, a visit to the Peace Memorial in Nagasaki, consoling people in Tohoku after the 2011 earthquake, and images from the Emperor’s birthday on December 23, 2018.
The FCCJ has only been able to host this exhibition because of the support of the Associated Press and Nikkei, which provided images from their archives. The FCCJ offers its sincere appreciation for that support. The FCCJ also offers thanks to Fumio Takahashi (FCCJ) for his assistance in contacting Nikkei. Of course, none of these images would exist without the skill and expertise of the photographers who took them. In that we offer a special appreciation to Kaku Kurita (FCCJ), Mitsunori Chigita, Eugene Hoshiko, Hiromasa Matsuura, Ken Suzuki, and Masayuki Terazawa.
Peter Langan
FCCJ President