BANGKOK – Japan’s Emperor Naruhito marked his first anniversary of his enthronement Friday with a prayer at palace shrines for the people’s peace and happiness amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Naruhito, wearing a white surgical mask, greeted well-wishers on the sidewalk from a royal car on the way to the palace for the ritual.
Naruhito, 60, ascended to the Chrysanthemum throne on May 1 last year, the day after his father, Akihito, abdicated. In Friday’s closed ritual, Naruhito was to change to traditional outfit to pray for the peace and happiness for the people and the gods of Shinto.
Some of his scheduled events, including part of his birthday celebrations in February and a trip to Britain that was supposed to be his first overseas visit as