The Japanese Empress’ 80th Birthday

Here is a well-written article about the Japanese Empress’ 80th birthday today: http://m.wsj.com/articles/BL-JRTB-18249

Let me introduce you to…

I have written a number of posts about interesting people. Most of whose stories are related to Japan in some way.
Maybe you haven’t seen many of them…so I decided to put links to all of them on a new page that I titled “Who’s Who?“.

Please check them out and leave comments to let me know what you think.

The new page is here.

Japanese Empress is 75

Today is the birthday of the Empress Of Japan.
She’s 75 now.

Last year, I wrote a post about her 74th birthday (and a few other things). Click here to read it.

For her birthday statement this year, she mentioned her sympathy to all who have had hardship due to the poor economy and she also expressed her happiness about U.S. President Obama’s Nobel Prize and his wish for a nuclear-free world.

She always expressed her gratitude to everyone who offered the Royal couple congratulations on their Golden Anniversary (50 years) this year, and the Emperor’s 20th year on the throne.

The Empress Of Japan

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Also, beginning today, doctors, nurses and other hospital staff in Japan were able to receive the 新型インフルエンザ (Swine Flu) inoculation.

Next week, young children and pregnant women will be able to receive theirs.

After that, people with chronic disease (such as asthma) will be in line to get the shot.

And finally other people.

The medicine that people in Japan will be receiving to protect themselves against this new flu is “made in Japan“…so it’s supposed to be safer.

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By the way, speaking of 新型インフルエンザ (Swine Flu), did you know that a company in Japan is selling a business suit that looks just like a normal suit businessmen wear to the office…but it’s being promoted as the first suit that “protects the wearer from the Swine Flu”?

Japanese prince turns 3

悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito), the youngest prince in the Japanese royal family, turned three today.

He is third in line to become the Emperor of Japan.
Next in line behind the current emperor is the Emperor’s oldest son (Prince Hisahito’s uncle) Prince Naruhito, and second in line is the Emperor’s youngest son (Prince Hisahito’s father) Prince Akishino.

If the current Emperor’s oldest son (Prince Naruhito) had a son, he would be in line to the throne before 悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito)…but he has a daughter (Princess Aiko) and no other children.

And 悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) has two older sisters, but no brothers.

So before 悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) was born, the Japanese government was in a quandary about who would succeed the throne.
They considered changing the law to allow Japan to be headed by a female empress, so that Princess Aiko could eventually take the throne…but her cousin 悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) was born, so that issue became moot.

悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) was born on 2006 Sept 6.

悠仁親王 (Prince Hisahito) now at age 3.

Anniversaries

Today and tomorrow are the anniversaries of a few events in Japan.

One is happy and two are tragic. The bad ones are first. 😦

• Today (2009 June 8 ) is the one-year anniversary of the shocking 秋葉原通り魔事件 (Akihabara attack).
  One year ago today, a 26 year old man drove his truck into a crowd of people in busy 秋葉原 (Akihabara, Tokyo) and then he got out of his truck and stabbed people with a knife.

  A number of people were killed or seriously injured by him. He is currently in prison on murder and attempted murder charges.

• Today is also the anniversary of another tragic event in Japan.
  Eight years ago today, on 2001 June 8, was the 「附属池田小事件」 (Osaka School Massacre).
  A man in 大阪 (Osaka, Japan) went into an 小学校 (elementary school) and stabbed children at random.

  He killed eight children and injured fifteen.

  He was convicted of the crimes and executed five years ago.

• Tomorrow (2009 June 9) is the sixteenth wedding anniversary of the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan.

  On 1993 June 9, 浩宮様 (Honorable Hironomiya*) married a commoner named 小和田雅子 (Masako Owada**), who was a diplomat who graduated from Harvard University.

  (* Overseas, the Japanese prince is often called by his birth name (Naruhito), but in Japan, he is only refered to by the respectful 「浩宮様」 (Honorable Hironomiya).)
  (** 小和田雅子 (Masako Owada) is now refered to as 雅子様 (Princess Masako).)

I came to Japan in 1990, so I was in Japan for all of these events and I remember them all well.

Empress Of Japan’s Birthday

Yesterday was the 74th birthday of the Empress of Japan.

As the Emperor and Empress always do on their birthdays, she released a birthday statement.
She said that she’s pleased by the healthy growth of her four grandchildren (ages 2, 6, 13 and 16…the three oldest are girls—which was cause for concern about the future heir to the throne…until Prince Hisahito was born in 2006).

The Empress made special mention of six-year old Princess Aiko starting 小学校 (Elementary School) this year.

She also said she hopes the lives of the survivors of last summer’s big earthquake in 岩手県 (Iwate, Japan) are back to normal soon.

And she offered congratulations to the Japanese who earned Nobel Prizes this year…and well as to the Japanese Olympic athletes who won medals in this year’s Olympics.

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Also in the news, the last living survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic had to auction off her memorabilia so that she could pay her nursing home fees.

She was a newborn baby with her parents and older brother on the Titanic when it sunk. She and her mother and brother were rescued but her father died in the ship’s sinking.

She’s 96 years old now.

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On Sunday, we went to a 健康祭 (Health Festival).

Here’s a video I took at the festival of some older people doing a traditional Japanese dance:

At the park that the festival was at, there were many バラ (roses) in bloom.

There were many ducks in the park’s pond. They must get fed by people often, because they kept rushing over to people.

Here’s a couple videos of them:

This was a very friendly cat that we saw near the park:

I like cats (and dogs too). But probably not as much as this man we saw:

On the way home, we stopped at this 八百屋 (Produce Store):

Next to the 八百屋 (Produce Store) was a small general store.

That’s a Japanese broom next to the door.

And here’s a close-up of a drink 自動販売機 (vending machine)…it sells Coca-Cola® hot and cold tea and coffee, as well as other drinks:

A とんぼ (dragonfly):

On the way home, we stopped by Daiso (you can see another post of mine in which I wrote a bit about Daiso here).

Here’s a short video I took inside Daiso: