Emperor's second research paper on Imperial Palace 'tanuki' published by museum
The Imperial Household Agency announced Thursday that Emperor Akihito's research paper on tanuki, or raccoon dogs living on the Imperial Palace grounds has been published in a research report by the National Museum of Nature and Science. The report, co-authored with agency officials, was the ...
Emperor likely to issue video message Monday amid reports of desire to abdicate
It will be only the Emperor's second video message, following one released five days after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
Pictures of World War II Imperial shelter released to public for first time in 50 years
The Imperial Household Agency on Saturday released the first images in half a century of an air-raid shelter where Emperor Hirohito and his ministers made some of Japan's most momentous decisions during World War II. Photos and video taken by agency staffers show the shelter ...
Imperial Household Agency loosens up on access to Osaka burial mound
As part of measured steps toward greater openness, a department of the Imperial Household Agency on Friday guided academics and reporters around a hitherto off-limits megalithic burial mound near Osaka Bay. Dating from the late fifth century, Tannowa Nisanzai Kofun is an earth mound surrounded ...
The Imperial Household Agency has made public a 61-volume, 12,000-page record of the life of Emperor Hirohito, who reigned from 1926 to 1989. The compilation took more than 24 years, but the record does not include what the emperor said about Japan's war in ...
A high school girl in Tochigi Prefecture uploaded to her Twitter account a photo of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, who visited the prefecture on a personal trip, sparking debate on whether or not she should have done it. Many praised the photo for capturing ...
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday he was distressed by remarks Imperial Household Agency Grand Steward Noriyuki Kazaoka made regarding Princess Hisako's attendance at the upcoming International Olympic Committee meeting in Buenos Aires. On Monday, Kazaoka said it was a "difficult decision" for the ...
In his Dec 19 article, "Why are monotheisms so sexually obsessed?," writer Gwynne Dyer seems to make the common mistake of comparing Western monotheistic religions, with which he is familiar, with less familiar Asian traditions. Contrary to the "grass is greener" view that many Westerners ...
In his Dec. 8 letter, "Criticism of criticism puzzling," Brett Gross wishes someone would explain the logic behind criticism of unbalanced arguments that one sometimes reads in print, with regard to my Dec. 1 letter "Unbalanced article on immigrants" (which had criticized Hiroaki Sato's ...
Saudi Arabia's old regime grows older
The contrast between the deaths, within two days of each other, of Libya's Col. Moammar Gadhafi and Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz is one of terminal buffoonery versus decadent gerontocracy. And their demise is likely to lead to very different outcomes: liberation ...
New Year's videos show the Imperials are well connected
The posting of Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas Message on YouTube last year made news around the world. Less well known is the fact that Japan's Imperial family has been offering videos among other entertaining content on their Web site for the last five years. ...
