Empress attends event to celebrate 59th birthday

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:09 JST, December 10, 2022

The Empress attended an event to celebrate her 59th birthday at the Imperial Palace on Friday.

With the Emperor in attendance, the Empress was congratulated by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Yasuhiko Nishimura, the grand steward of the Imperial Household Agency, and others. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the number of attendees was reduced — as was the case last year — and there was no banquet or other dining-related events.

In the midafternoon, the Imperial couple visited Sento Palace in Tokyo’s Moto-Akasaka district to greet the Emperor Emeritus and Empress Emerita. The Empress smiled and waved to people from a car as it passed front of the palace’s main gate.