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Tokyo (CNN)Japan’s Emperor Akihito formally abdicated Tuesday during a historic ceremony in Tokyo, becoming the country’s first monarch to step down from the Chrysanthemum Throne in two centuries.
His son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 59, will be inaugurated as the 126th emperor Wednesday, ushering in the Reiwa era.
Akihito’s reign — and the Heisei era — officially ends at midnight on Tuesday. Hereafter the 85-year-old will be known as Emperor Emeritus Akihito.
Akihito, along with Empress Michiko and the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, attended a short ceremony at 5 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) in the Matsu-no-Ma stateroom of the Imperial Palace.
Outside, throngs of well-wishers, both Japanese and visitors from overseas, waited in the rain-soaked grounds.
In a rare instance of speaking live on television, the ruler said that he had performed his duties as the emperor with a “deep sense of trust and respect” for the Japanese people.
