The Emperor and Empress of Japan

8:20 PM July 13, 2009

This past weekend the Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan were in Victoria. They are touring Canada to mark the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Canada. They were staying at the Government House while in Victoria and I went to try and take some photos when they arrived on Friday but I had bad timing. On Saturday they were scheduled to leave the Parliament Buildings and greet people outside, so Asuka and I went to see if we could catch a peek of the royal couple. We got to see them leaving the building and they also walked right by us up close (and I mean really close, I could have shook his hand if someone else beside me wasn't already doing it). It was a pretty cool experience.

These days the Emperor of Japan is a ceremonial figurehead of a constitutional monarchy, so he doesn't have any real governmental power. Japan also has an elected prime minister much like England has a prime minister and a Queen as the head of the British Imperial Family. As the Emperor, Akihito is also the highest authority of the Shinto religion. The Imperial House of Japan is the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world, dating all the way back to 660 BC. Considering how old this monarchy is, it is interesting that Empress Michiko (his wife) was the very first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family.

Below are a few of the photos I managed to take of the Emperor and Empress at the Parliament Buildings. Unfortunately the Empress was greeting people on the other side of the walkway (we got to see the Emperor up close) so I don't have any good up close photos of her.