Japanese emperor lays down public tasks

The Japanese emperor Akihito has laid down his public duties for the coming period for health reasons.

Akihito has been on the Japanese throne for almost thirty years. In recent years his health has deteriorated and on 30 April next year he will therefore renounce the throne, in favor of his 58-year-old son, crown prince Naruhito. That will be the first abdication in Japan in almost two hundred years.