Japan’s Emperor Akihito heads to the Philippines

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Japan’s Emperor Akihito heads to the Philippines

EPA

Japan’s aging Emperor Akihito travels to the Philippines this week to visit World War II memorials, his latest pacifist pilgrimage which appears increasingly at odds with the government’s rightward drift. Akihito, 82, has made honoring Japanese and non-Japanese who died in the conflict a touchstone of his near 3-decade reign – known as Heisei, or “achieving peace” – and now in its twilight. In the Philippines, which saw some of the war’s fiercest fighting, Akihito and Empress Michiko will visit the national Heroes’ Cemetery and a memorial for Japanese war dead during a 5-day visit starting Tuesday, January 26. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meanwhile, wants to revise Japan’s war-renouncing “peace constitution”, seeing it as an embarrassing remnant of its WWII defeat and occupation by the United States.

Japan’s Akihito heads to the Philippines

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