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Celebrations in Japan as Emperor Akihito marks 80th birthday

Thousands attend Emperor Akihito's birthday address at Imperial Palace

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Japanese Emperor Akihito waves to thousands of well-wishers through a bullet-proof glass on his 80th birthday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday. Photo: EPA

Thousands of people thronged Japan’s Imperial Palace on Monday to celebrate Emperor Akihito’s 80th birthday, as he lauded his wife for standing by him in his “lonely” pursuit of leading the world’s oldest monarchy.

Empress Michiko, a wealthy flour magnate’s daughter, was the first commoner in modern times to marry into Japan’s imperial family.

Following their fairy-tale wedding in 1959, Michiko, now 79, also became the first empress to raise her children herself, famously making them “bento” lunch boxes to take to school.

“Being an emperor can be a lonely state,” Akihito said in an interview released by the Imperial Household Agency on Monday.

“But ... it has given me comfort and joy to have by my side the empress, who has always respected my position and stood by me.

“And I feel most fortunate that I have been able to endeavour to carry out my role as emperor with the empress by my side,” said the ageing monarch, who inherited the Chrysanthemum Throne in 1989 upon his father Emperor Hirohito’s death.

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