"Joyfully and with a mingled sense of awe and reverence did the whole Japanese nation observe the great event of the Ceremony of the Imperial Enthronement of His Majesty the Emperor," Japan Times and Mail President Yonejiro Ito wrote in a special edition book published in December 1928 to commemorate the ascension of Emperor Hirohito — posthumously known as Emperor Showa — to the Chrysanthemum Throne.
"No event indeed is regarded as more important in this country than the ascension of an Imperial Descendant to the Throne of a Lineage unbroken for ages eternal."
On Wednesday, Emperor Naruhito ascended to the throne to become Japan's 126th monarch and the latest in a bloodline said to represent the oldest constitutional monarchy in the world. Just as the lives of past rulers have been preserved in the headlines of the day, so too will Emperor Naruhito be recorded in history as the icon of the Reiwa Era.