About 1,900 people, including Olympic judo gold medalist Ryoko Tamura and Nobel Prize winner Hideki Shirakawa, on Tuesday attended a spring garden party hosted by the Emperor and Empress.
The attendants included Cabinet members, politicians, heads of local governments, local assembly members, and foreign ambassadors and their spouses.
A similar party planned for last autumn was canceled as it fell during the mourning period for the late Empress Dowager, posthumously known as Empress Kojun, who died in June.