The Imperial Household Agency has announced that a public visitation will be held on February 23rd, the Emperor's birthday.
Public visits are held at the Imperial Palace on the 2nd of the New Year and on the Emperor's birthday. According to the Imperial Household Agency, during the public visit on February 23rd, His Majesty the Emperor will visit the Imperial Palace with the Empress and other members of the Imperial Family three times in the morning. He will be standing on the balcony of the palace.
Last year's public visit on the Emperor's birthday, which was the first public visit after accessioning the throne, was held with a lottery held in advance to limit the number of attendees to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, but this time it will be held without a lottery. I will.
The event is expected to accommodate up to 20,000 people at a time, and if there are many visitors, they will be guided to a special registration office set up in front of the Imperial Household Agency building in the afternoon.
In response to the Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year's Day, the Imperial Household Agency had canceled the New Year's public visitation scheduled for the following day, January 2.
Regarding the reason for holding the public visit this time, the Imperial Household Agency said, ``We carefully considered the feelings of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress, who are deeply saddened by the damage caused by the Noto Peninsula earthquake and are extremely concerned about the affected areas.'' We decided to hold the event after taking into account the fact that the Emperor's birthday is a national holiday and that it is an important event to receive congratulations from the general public, as well as past examples.