Akihito began the day of ceremonies in the morning, with a Shinto ceremony to report his intentions to the mythological ancestors of the imperial family. The main ceremony, which took place in front of about 300 people, lasted just more than 10 minutes and involved the emperor's symbolically returning an imperial sword, jewels, and seals to the country, so that his successor can take them up.

Akihito became emperor when his father, the wartime ruler Hirohito, died, in 1989. Hirohito had battled a prolonged illness, and his son did not want his own son to do the same. Akihito battled prostate cancer in 2003 and had heart surgery in 2012.

Akihito broke many traditions in his three decades of symbolic power:

• He was the first emperor to marry a commoner. She became Empress Michiko.
• He has made a considerable effort to reach out to his country's former enemies, seeking to heal wounds created under the leadership of his father.
• He and Michiko visited Kobe after a deadly earthquake in 1995 and knelt before survivors, breaking tradition.
• In a similar vein, after the Sendai Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, Akihito spoke on national television, asking people to look after one another–again an act unprecedented.

Japanese law says that the emperor rules until death. However, Akihito signaled in 2016 that he would be in favor of abdicating because of poor health. The Japanese government passed a onetime law, allowing Akihito to step aside. The last emperor to abdicate the Chrysanthemum throne, Kokaku, stepped aside in 1817 and was succeeded by his son Ninkō.

The Heisei era is now over. Naruhito (right) and his wife, Masako, will now be emperor and empress, during the Reiwa era.