Empress Michiko has a habit of gazing at the moon on New Year's Day. How do I know? Well, here's the poem the Empress wrote for this year's New Year poetry reading:
Each year / I look up to verify / The moon's position/ As I see the Emperor off / For the New Year's ritual at dawn
There's something romantic about making a link between your lover and a celestial body, and most likely the Empress has made it her habit to note the position of the moon at the beginning of each year for no other reason than that. But I wonder, is she looking at the moon to subconsciously gauge the mood of her husband?