Akihito set to undergo heart bypass surgery
Source: Agencies |
February 13, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
JAPANESE Emperor Akihito will undergo heart bypass surgery this week after a detailed examination found a heart problem had worsened, the Imperial Household Agency said yesterday.
The royal agency said the emperor, 78, would have the surgery on Saturday.
Akihito underwent an angiogram on Saturday which showed that blood vessels had narrowed over the past year. He had been treated in hospital for three weeks in November for cold, fever and symptoms of bronchitis.
Kyodo news agency said the test was performed after the emperor experienced difficulty while engaging in light exercise.
A medical team from the University of Tokyo and Juntendo hospital will carry out the surgery at University of Tokyo Hospital, as his heart condition had worsened compared to tests a year ago.
Akihito had surgery for prostate cancer in 2003 and suffered stress-related health issues in late 2008, including irregular pulse and stomach bleeding. In 2009, the royal agency said he would cut back on official duties.
Akihito ascended to the throne after the death of his father Hirohito in 1989. He has spent much of the past two decades working to heal the wounds of a war waged across Asia in his father's name and helped bring the monarchy closer to ordinary citizens.
Having witnessed as a boy the rise of Japanese militarism and its defeat in 1945, the soft-spoken Akihito said he wanted to deepen international understanding through visits abroad, sometimes defying protests to do so.
One of his more controversial trips came in 1992 when he became the first Japanese monarch in living memory to visit China, where bitter memories of Japan's invasion and occupation in the 1930s and 1940s run deep.
Another defining moment came in 2001 when Akihito tried to smooth relations with South Korea, at times strained by lingering resentment over Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
At a news conference marking his birthday, he said he felt "a certain kinship" with Korea because one of his ancestors had come from there, an unprecedented statement from a Japanese royal that made front page headlines in Seoul.
The royal agency said the emperor, 78, would have the surgery on Saturday.
Akihito underwent an angiogram on Saturday which showed that blood vessels had narrowed over the past year. He had been treated in hospital for three weeks in November for cold, fever and symptoms of bronchitis.
Kyodo news agency said the test was performed after the emperor experienced difficulty while engaging in light exercise.
A medical team from the University of Tokyo and Juntendo hospital will carry out the surgery at University of Tokyo Hospital, as his heart condition had worsened compared to tests a year ago.
Akihito had surgery for prostate cancer in 2003 and suffered stress-related health issues in late 2008, including irregular pulse and stomach bleeding. In 2009, the royal agency said he would cut back on official duties.
Akihito ascended to the throne after the death of his father Hirohito in 1989. He has spent much of the past two decades working to heal the wounds of a war waged across Asia in his father's name and helped bring the monarchy closer to ordinary citizens.
Having witnessed as a boy the rise of Japanese militarism and its defeat in 1945, the soft-spoken Akihito said he wanted to deepen international understanding through visits abroad, sometimes defying protests to do so.
One of his more controversial trips came in 1992 when he became the first Japanese monarch in living memory to visit China, where bitter memories of Japan's invasion and occupation in the 1930s and 1940s run deep.
Another defining moment came in 2001 when Akihito tried to smooth relations with South Korea, at times strained by lingering resentment over Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
At a news conference marking his birthday, he said he felt "a certain kinship" with Korea because one of his ancestors had come from there, an unprecedented statement from a Japanese royal that made front page headlines in Seoul.
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