Japan's Empress Emerita Michiko turns 92 years old | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News - NHKニュース

Japan's Empress Emerita Michiko turned 92 years old on Tuesday.

The Imperial Household Agency says a ceremony to celebrate her birthday is scheduled to be held at her residence, but the event has been scaled back this year due to her age.

The agency says the health of the Empress Emerita has not changed significantly, and that she has been spending quiet and calm days with her husband, Emperor Emeritus Akihito.

It says the Empress Emerita gets tired more easily due to a decline in her physical strength, and she walks for shorter distances.

The agency says that her temperature continues to rise slightly in the afternoon and that her diagnostic indicators for heart failure remain above the normal level. She is also under follow-up for deep vein thrombosis in her right calf since she was diagnosed with the condition four years ago.

In October last year and May this year, the Empress Emerita stayed at the imperial villa in the coastal town of Hayama with the Emperor Emeritus. The couple interacted with people when they strolled along the beach.

She maintains friendly ties with people through music. Some of her music friends visited the imperial residence in the spring and performed. She also received a letter from a foreign musician who performed with her before in Gunma Prefecture's Kusatsu Town, north of Tokyo.

In December last year, high school students in Ishikawa Prefecture sent her a silk fabric which they made from silkworm breeding at their school. The students have learned from the Empress Emerita's silkworm breeding that she has continued for many years. It is said that it took the school 10 years to revive breeding.

The Empress Emerita keeps up with developments in society by following newspaper and television reports on issues such as disasters, public concerns over bear attacks and performances of Japanese athletes at international competitions.