Naruhito, Japan's new emperor is an Oxford graduate who believes in water conservation; will usher in Reiwa era in country

Japan’s 85-year-old Emperor Akihito has stepped down from the throne, becoming the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in more than 200 years, after saying that he felt unable to fulfil his role because of age and declining health. His elder son, Crown prince Naruhito, will ascend the Chrysanthemum throne now, beginning a new era. Even though the emperor in Japan holds no political power, he serves as a national symbol. The emperor’s role is largely ceremonial, focusing on public engagement with citizens and meeting foreign dignitaries. Emperor Akihito’s reign in the Heisei era has been marked by his interactions with people suffering from disease and disaster, which endeared him to many Japanese people. On Wednesday morning, Naruhito will inherit the Imperial Treasures in his first ritual as emperor and usher in the Reiwa era. He is set to become Japan’s 126th emperor and will take over the title of His Imperial Majesty The Emperor. [caption id=“attachment_6544781” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Crown prince of Japan Naruhito with his wife on Tuesday. AP[/caption] The 59-year-old Oxford-educated Naruhito became the crown prince at the age of 28 taking forward the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world which legends say could date back to about 600 BC. Therefore, unlike his father, who was crown prince since birth, he had the opportunity to pursue his own education and dreams when he was young. After graduating with a degree in history from Tokyo’s Gakushuin University, Naruhito studied at the Oxford University’s Merton College from 1983 to 1985. He studied the history of transport on the River Thames, highlighting his interest in waterways and navigation. He later revisited these years in his book, The Thames and I – a Memoir of Two Years at Oxford. Given his interest in global water issues, he was also an honorary president of the United Nations’ Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation from 2007 to 2015. He is also an honorary member of the World Commission on Water for the 21st century and patron of the Global Water Partnership, established by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Swedish Agency of Development. During his early years, Naruhito was involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities and has also climbed the highest peaks in three of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom: Scotland’s Ben Nevis, Wales’ Snowdon and Scafell Pike in England. Upon his return to Japan, he enrolled once more in Gakushuin University to earn a Master of Humanities degree in History, which he got in 1988. In a marked departure from the imperial tradition where the crown prince is raised by their subjects, Naruhito lived with his family until the age of 30. Like his father, Naruhito married a commoner. Masako Owada in June 1993. Owada was a 33-year-old worldly diplomat with an economics degree from Harvard at the time of the marriage. The couple has one daughter, Aiko, Princess Toshi. In Japan, Naruhito’s birthday is termed “Mount Fuji Day” by Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures because of his reported love of the mountain. Even as he is all set to take over the throne on 1 May, Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony will only take place tentatively on 22 October.