The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Tokyo

Japanese Emperor Akihito turns 75 this week with worries mounting over his succession in the world's oldest monarchy and with the country's stressed crown princess entering her sixth year as a recluse.

Akihito, who in 2009 will mark 20 years since he ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, has cancelled a customary annual news conference ahead of his birthday Tuesday due to health problems.

The emperor, whose father Hirohito was revered as a demigod until Japan's defeat in World War II, will instead issue a statement expressing his "feelings" on his birthday. His plight has renewed public attention on stress among the royals. Crown Princess Masako has skipped most public duties since late 2003 as the former career woman struggles to adjust to the tradition-bound palace.

On December 11, Imperial Household Agency chief Shingo Haketa surprised the public by going on the record about the emperor's distress.

The emperor has seemed "worried for the past several years about the future imperial line and various other issues concerning the imperial household, which never leave his mind," Haketa said, while noting it was his personal view.

Masako gave birth to a girl in 2001 after eight years of marriage with Crown Prince Naruhito.

The birth fuelled a divisive dispute on whether the nation should allow a woman to sit on the Chrysanthemum Throne, which traditionalists say has an unbroken male line of succession.

The succession dispute subsided in 2006 when the wife of the crown prince's younger brother gave birth to a boy, the first prince in 40 years born to the royal family.