40,000 Turn Out to Cheer Hirohito on His 86th Birthday
More than 40,000 Japanese jammed the Imperial Palace today to cheer Emperor Hirohito on his 86th birthday, but the world’s longest-reigning monarch later retired early after complaining he felt ill.
Hirohito, although frail and white-haired, looked fit in three appearances behind a bulletproof glass-enclosed veranda of the palace’s Chowaden hall before throngs of well-wishers in the plaza outside.
The emperor was met with a sea of waving Japanese flags and shouts of “banzai,” or “long life.”
After the morning greetings, however, Hirohito left a luncheon 15 minutes early after complaining he did not feel well, Imperial Household Agency officials said. The emperor’s doctors believed he had suffered from indigestion and his health was sound, they said.
Hirohito did not attend an afternoon reception for the Tokyo diplomatic corps and retired early.
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