{"id":16699,"date":"2019-05-01T23:04:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T06:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=16699"},"modified":"2019-05-01T23:04:39","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T06:04:39","slug":"naruhito-japans-new-emperor-pledges-to-be-symbol-of-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=16699","title":{"rendered":"Naruhito: Japan&#8217;s new emperor pledges to be symbol of unity"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"media-landscape has-caption full-width lead\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/660\/cpsprodpb\/2AC0\/production\/_106744901_hi053671155.jpg\" alt=\"Naruhito and Empress Masako\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" data-highest-encountered-width=\"660\" \/><span class=\"off-screen\">I<\/span><\/span><\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">Japan&#8217;s Emperor Naruhito has pledged to fulfil his role as a &#8220;symbol of the state and unity&#8221;, in his first public address since taking the throne.<\/p>\n<p>The 59-year-old was speaking as he officially began his reign on Wednesday in a short but symbolic ceremony at the Imperial Palace.<\/p>\n<p>Naruhito succeeds his father, 85-year-old Akihito, who abdicated citing his age and failing health.<\/p>\n<p>He is the first Japanese emperor to stand down in more than 200 years.<\/p>\n<p>Akihito, who will now be known as Emperor Emeritus, had endeared himself to many Japanese people during his reign through his interactions with those suffering from disease and disaster.<\/p>\n<p>In his speech, Emperor Naruhito paid tribute to his father while pledging to show the same devotion to his people.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[Akihito] showed profound compassion through his own bearing,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I swear that I will reflect deeply on the course followed by the Emperor Emeritus &#8230; and fulfil my responsibility as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people of Japan.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I Japan&#8217;s Emperor Naruhito has pledged&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16700,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16699\/revisions\/16700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}