Japan’s Empress Dowager, 97, Is Laid to Rest

Empress Dowager Nagako, who lived through Japan’s devastating defeat in World War II and its rise as an economic superpower, was laid to rest Tuesday in a mausoleum beside her husband, Emperor Hirohito.

More than 1,000 ambassadors, politicians and other dignitaries attended the funeral. The empress dowager died at 97 on June 16 after falling into a coma at home in Tokyo’s Imperial Palace.

Citizens lined up to pay respects at her coffin on a cedar pavilion near Tokyo’s Gokokuji Temple.

“I grew up thinking they were my mother and father, and I loved and respected them very much,” said Masa Okada, a 75-year-old former theater employee from Tokyo. “I remember the way she used to smile and wave.”

Nagako’s gentle disposition made her seem accessible to a people rarely accustomed to seeing royalty in public.

“Thinking of the affection you showed us in days past, our feelings of loneliness are all the more deep,” said Emperor Akihito, her son. “There is nothing sadder than this.”