Japanese Empress Michiko reflected on the path her husband Emperor Akihito has followed ahead of his abdication scheduled for April 30, 2019, in a poem recited Friday at the annual New Year Poetry Reading Ceremony at the Imperial Palace.This year's theme for the "waka" poems at the reading was "go," meaning "word."In her poem, the empress described how the emperor has devoted himself over the years to pursuing his life as the symbol of the state, fulfilling his many responsibilities quietly as a matter of course without saying much.The 84-year-old emperor will be the first Japanese monarch …READ FULL ARTICLE
