Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed his congratulations on Emperor Emeritus Akihito’s 90th birthday Saturday.

“I, together with the people of Japan, would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations on the Emperor Emeritus reaching (the age known in Japan as) ‘sotsuju’ today,” Kishida said in a message he posted on X after attending a birthday celebration for the father of Emperor Naruhito at the Sento Imperial Residence in the Akasaka Estate in Tokyo the same day.

The Emperor Emeritus became the first among former emperors on record to reach 90.

JIJI Press