JAPAN'S EMPEROR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 261, 3 November 1928, Page 19 (Supplement)

JAPAN'S EMPEROR.

BUSY DUTIES CROWD HIS DAY

ABREAST OF WORLD AFFAIRS

GOLF AND TENNIS PLAYER.

Big business men in New Zealand may "be extremely busy, but no more so than Hirohito, the young emperor of Japan. Supreme ruler of more than 80,000,000 subjects, he has so little personal leisure and works so hard that it has become the concern of his governmental advisers and functionaries. But thus far no answer to the problem has been forthcoming. Hirohito insists upon keeping busy every moment. He is the 124 th emperor of Japan, and, according to the belief of his subjects, the lineal descendant of "Amaterasu Omikami," the sun goddess, creator of the Empire of the Rising Sun. In other words, the emperor is traditionally omnipotent, aacred and not an ordinary mortal. Hirohito is up every morning between 6.30 and 7 o'clock, in the Akasaka Palace, ■which is his residence while the imperial palace is being reconstructed. His first dutv, after his ablutions, is to worship at the altar of his imperial ancestors. He is devout in this, and never fails in the performance of the proper obeisance. Then he goes to the dining room and breakfasts with the empress—the Japanese breakfast of soup, cold eggs, pickles and rice. . A domestic chat w.tß the empress, and then Hirohito wades into his newspapers, not at the table, but in his study, where both foreign and Japanese papers are ready for him. He reads English and digests New York and London papers as well as the vernacular He keeps thoroughly abreast of world affairs and modern subjects. An hour or so of this and the emperor plunges into other .-tudv, concentrating principal y upon the imperial house law, the costitution and English. , . «_„_ Two or three times each week BearAdmiral Shinjiro Yamamoto, one of tne foremost English students of the conntry, appears to give his ruler a lesson ; n English. _ T- _ On other days he has lectures on Japanese history and economics. For tneie occasions the leading lights ° f _ tbe . *"* perial Universitv are invited. He Keeps on learning about the past of his countrv, as well as its future P««bilitwM. In this he is most interested, and bis instructors are subjected to pointed interrogatories. Luncheon at 12.30 with the JgnpreM. Mid thi? time the dishes are Western, steak or chops and edibles that be learned to like when he visited London as crown prince. Early afternoon golf or horseback riding to keep himself fit. He has a beautiful nine-hole course in the palace grounds, and ««MWM » all, on his different estates. Whet*«r Be •ver threatens par there is no testimony. It is very well to talk about the ordinary golfer's idiosyncrasies, but outsiae discussion of the emperor's slices, JiooJts and divots i& taboo. . . ._ . -

He occasionally- plays tennis, too, with, the empress, who is an unusually good player, but he likes horseback riding best of all. He has about two score of beautiful riding horses in his stable. His favourite is a white stallion named Fubuki, meaning Snowdrift, which is aa nearly human as a horse can be, according to household informants. Snowdrift has an especial compartment in the royal stables. All aorta of governmental affairs occupy most of the rest of the day, except when he is able to steal off to his laboratory to study biology. Here he has specimens which are collected for hhn from all parts of the world, and the assistance of Dr. H. Hattori, the principal biological authority of the empire. Hirohito has the radio in his palace and the "movies," too, when he wants them, but is far from being devoted to either. Apparently he is likewise not keen on the theatre. Studies are his mental diversion mostly. As to religion, the emperor believes neither in Buddhism nor Christianity. His religious concepts are centred in "ancestor worship," or transcendental religion. He, first of all, worships the sun goddess from which his. line is mythologically descended, and, in addition, mythological deities which may be compared with the gods of ancient Greece. The emperor's dinner at 7.30 p.m. is the Japanese mode, with raw fish and rice. He retires at about 10.30 and tries to forget that there is another busy day ahead of him, a day that is not* his own, but the empire's.