Japan’s Emperor Emeritus Akihito, father of current Emperor Naruhito, was diagnosed with heart failure last month, but his condition has improved with treatment, an official at the Imperial Household Agency (IHA) said on Tuesday. .
Akihito, 88, resigned in 2019 in the first abdication of a Japanese emperor in two centuries, saying he wasn’t sure he still lived up to the demands of the job.
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart muscle does not pump blood as well as it should and can be treated.
The emperor emeritus was diagnosed with heart failure due to a defective heart valve in late June and has been on medication and through restriction of activity and fluid intake since then, an IHA official said.
“He is currently living life as usual,” the official added.
Akihito, son of Emperor Hirohito, spent much of his reign working to heal the wounds of a war fought in Asia in his father’s name, as well as bringing the monarchy closer to ordinary citizens.
He marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2015 with an expression of “deep remorse,” a departure from earlier comments that was seen by some as an effort to cement a legacy of pacifism under threat from conservative Japanese nationalists.
“Looking to the past, along with deep remorse for the war, I pray that this tragedy of war will not be repeated and, together with the people, I express my deepest condolences for those who died in battle and in the ravages of war,” he said on 15 of August 2015.
A scientist by vocation, Akihito was the first heir of the Japanese imperial family to marry a commoner, Empress Emerita Michiko, whom he met on a tennis court.
Akihito and Michiko were highly regarded for their role in comforting the audience during difficult times, such as when they knelt to talk to people in disaster shelters, an action seen as bringing them closer to people.
The emperor emeritus also delivered an unprecedented TV address to the nation after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which triggered a nuclear crisis and devastated much of northeastern Japan, leaving nearly 20,000 dead.
Heart failure describes a gradual weakening of the heart muscle and is a very common diagnosis, particularly among the elderly, said Gautam Deshpande, an internal medicine physician at St. Luke in Tokyo.
Source: CNN Brasil

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