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Friday, 16 June, 2000, 10:43 GMT 11:43 UK
Japan's Dowager Empress dies
![]() Empress Nagako has not been seen in public for years
Empress Dowager Nagako, the elderly widow of Japan's late Emperor Hirohito, has died at the age of 97.
Nagako fell into a coma shortly after 0700 local time on Friday (2100 Thursday GMT), after her blood pressure dropped. She had been suffering from breathing difficulties since early on Thursday and was using an oxygen mask. The announcement of her death was made in a nationally broadcast news conference.
Nagako was being treated at a medical facility at the Imperial Palace.
Nagako married Hirohito in 1924, and they had seven children. She became Empress of Japan in 1926 when Hirohito succeeded to the Chrysanthemum throne, following the death of his father, Emperor Taisho. At the time of his succession, the emperor was viewed and treated as a god in Japan. Remote figure
Hirohito's reign spanned Japan's military conquests in Asia, defeat in World War II, and rise as one of the world's richest nations.
He died on 7 January 1989. Rarely seen in public, Nagako remained a remote figure to most, and was known to Japanese people only through the press. Outside Japan, she was known for her classical elegance and the "empress smile" she displayed during overseas trips to Europe and the United States in the 1970s. She was keenly attuned to court customs, and always showed a subject's deference to the emperor, maintaining a modest presence. A painter, poet and musician, she specialised in the traditional arts of Japan. Nagako became Japan's longest-living empress dowager when she turned 92 in 1995, surpassing Empress Kanshi, who died in 1127. She last attended an official event on the 86th birthday celebration for Hirohito on 29 April 1987, less than two years before his death. |
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