Japan panel firms up April 30, 2019 as date for emperor's abdication - NHK

 

(Clockwise from top) Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, House of Representatives speaker Tadamori Oshima, House of Councillors speaker Chuichi Date, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Princess Hanako and Prince Hitachi attend a meeting of the Imperial Household Council to discuss the timeline for the abdication of Japan's Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Household Agency in Tokyo, Japan December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

 

TOKYO (Reuters) - A special panel chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has agreed that the date of Emperor Akihito's planned abdication - the first by a Japanese monarch in about two centuries - should be on April 30, 2019, national broadcaster NHK reported.

 

Akihito, who has had heart surgery and treatment for prostate cancer, said in rare remarks last year that he feared age might make it hard to fulfil his duties.

 

A law adopted in June allows Akihito to step down, but left details such as timing to be worked out later. He will be succeeded by his elder son, Crown Prince Naruhito.

 

(Reporting by Linda Sieg; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-01

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