Japanese Emperor hopes situation does not turn worse

Looking at the magnitude of the nuclear crisis in Japan, emperor Akihito broke with tradition and appeared on live television on Wednesday, sincerely hoping ''we can keep the situation from getting worse.''

Japanese emperors rarely appear in public. In fact, the only other occasion when an emperor spoke directly to the people was 65 years earlier, when Akihito's father, emperor Hirohito, made a radio broadcast in 1945 after Japan surrendered following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ''We have resolved to endure the unendurable and suffer what is insufferable,'' he had said.

The current emperor focussed on the unpredictability of the ongoing nuclear crisis and the tragedy that had struck the nation on 11 March when a massive earthquake – measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale – shook the north-eastern part of the country and generated a giant tsunami that not only destroyed a vast swathe of the coastline, but also triggered the nuclear crisis.

The Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant threatens to melt down following fires that broke out in four of the six reactors after explosions rocked them in the aftermath of the quake and the tsunami. Thousands of people living in the vicinity of the plant have been evacuated, even as emergency workers were trying to cool down the plants. 
 
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has admitted that radiation levels around the nuclear plant have risen considerably and could endanger humans.

''I hope from the bottom of my heart that the people will, hand in hand, treat each other with compassion and overcome these difficult times,'' the 77-year-old emperor said in his public appeal. Dressed in a dark suit, Akihito hoped that the nuclear crisis could be tackled at the earliest. ''I hope things will take a turn for the better,'' he added, addressing a nation mourning the death of nearly 5,000 persons, officially acknowledged to have been killed in the quake.

Ironically, his father, Emperor Hirohito made his first radio address after the killing of nearly a quarter million Japanese following the atomic bombing of the two cities. He had said that the government was surrendering to ''a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives.''

Unlike his father, Akihito has broken from tradition on several occasions. Six years after his accession to the throne in 1989, Akihito and empress Michiko visited the victims of the Kobe earthquake, in which nearly 6,500 people had died. He had also expressed remorse for the Japanese occupation of China. About five years ago, he visited Saipan and offered prayers at the war memorials for the victims from all countries, not just from Japan.