2LT International News

TOKYO, Japan: Emperor Emeritus Akihito, 91, will be hospitalized for heart examinations after doctors detected a potential issue during a routine medical checkup, according to reports from Kyodo News and other Japanese media this week.

The Imperial Household Agency has not commented on the reports, which emerged during a national holiday.

Akihito, who stepped down from the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019, will begin his hospital stay on May 7 at the University of Tokyo Hospital, Kyodo said. Specifics about his condition have not been disclosed. He previously underwent heart bypass surgery in 2012.

Akihito became emperor in 1989 after his father, Hirohito, died. He was the first Japanese emperor in modern history to abdicate and also the first to marry a commoner—Empress Michiko—breaking with centuries of imperial tradition.