The World - News from Oct. 4, 1988

Japanese radicals opposed to the monarchy vandalized several imperial institutions around the country as Emperor Hirohito lay in serious but stable condition. Horse manure was scattered outside a burial mound in Nara that is reputed to contain the remains of Emperor Jimmu, the legendary first ruler of Japan. In nearby Kyoto, a smoke bomb exploded outside the tomb of Mutsuhito, the Meiji emperor and Hirohito’s grandfather. And small smoke bombs went off at two Tokyo subway entrances near the imperial palace. A police official said the explosions and vandalism were apparently the work of radicals opposed to the extensive media coverage of Hirohito’s illness.