TOKYO: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah departed for home yesterday after a four-day special visit to Japan to attend the enthronement ceremony of Japan’s Emperor Naruhito on Tuesday.
His Majesty Al-Sultan Abdullah, accompanied by Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, left the hotel at 9.45am local time (around 8.45am Malaysian time) to board a special aircraft at the Narita International Airport here.
Also present at the airport were Malaysian Ambassador to Japan Datuk Kennedy Jawan and wife Datin Josepine Anak Dagang and Minister-Counsellor at the Malaysian Embassy in Japan Mohd Ishrin Mohd Ishak.
This was Their Majesties’ first visit to Japan, following the installation of Al-Sultan Abdullah as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong on July 30, and the presence of Their Majesties was at the invitation of the Japanese government to attend the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Naruhito as the 126th Emperor of the land of the rising sun.
The enthronement ceremony of the Japanese Emperor was last held on Nov 12, 1990, when Emperor Akihito, 85, became the 125th Emperor of Japan.
Naruhito, 59, acceded to the throne on May 1 after his father, Emperor Akihito, abdicated due to health reasons – becoming the first Japanese emperor to do so.
Naruhito’s ascension to the throne marks the new era in Japan known as ‘Reiwa’, which means ‘harmony and order’, which draws the curtain on Akihito’s era since 1989, known as ‘Heisei’ (achieving peace). – Bernama
