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© AFPEmperor to have heart bypass surgery next Saturday
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sunhawk
Please be well dear Emperor.
edojin
I've had a lot of friends who have had this operation ... and they all survived. Modern technology has made this type of surgery rather routine. Hope all goes well for the Emperor.
The Munya Times
He will possibly survive and gets just a few short years more to live. But he will have to stay under intensive medical care, will be extremely weak, vulnerable, and will suffer from physical and psychological after effects. He will have a lot of hardship performing his duties and finishing his short daily routine he will spend the rest of the day exhausted, resting, and won't have much energy for anything else.
cleo
No need to play Polyanna, Munya.
But surely this is a good point for Akihito to step down, enjoy the rest of his life and let his sons take up the slack.
borscht
Munya
Actually several thousand people (21,000 in the UK alone) who have had this operation have lived long, fruitful, and 'normal' lives - the longest-lived had this surgery in 1976.
Cleo,
I think Naruhito should take up more of the emperor's duties, like Akihito did when Hirohito was aging. But I don't think he needs to resign. There's no pressing need if Naruhito does more.
Good luck to the emperor on his rapid recovery.
nukeprotest
Cleo said: and let his sons take up the slack.
Or step down on behalf of the whole royal family and let them all be real commoners (instead of the glorified ones they are now) and free up a big chunk of change to pay off this country's debts?
I hope his surgery goes well despite my disdain for the tax sponge family.
LoveNot
Waving to the people from the window is good physical exercise. He does not have duties except one speech on 1st of January every year.
Moderator
Please note that the emperor performs at least 600 officials duties each year. Readers, this thread is not to be used to "bash" the emperor.
sunhawk
Cleo said: and let his sons take up the slack.
Or step down on behalf of the whole royal family and let them all be real commoners (instead of the glorified ones they are now) and free up a big chunk of change to pay off this country's debts?
I hope his surgery goes well despite my disdain for the tax sponge family.
nukeprotest, oh how little you know. the imperial family is such a small expenditure. if you are so dead set against them. at least consider them and their holdings to be a museum.
nath
@LoveNot: his activities aren't strenuous, but his schedule is. Would you want to make it to two appointments a day (and we'll call it weekends off, for illustration's sake), all over the country, at the age of 78?
Best wishes for the Emperor.
Serrano
I agree with John Becker, best wishes for the Emperor.
Maitri Bhikkhu
I wish his excellency the emperor quick recovery of his health, wishing and praying from the Buddha's bithplace Lumbini Nepal.
avigator
Take care of the emperor, but for God's sake, relieve him of all duties and pass them on to his son Naruhito. It is time to treat the Royals with more consideration. After all, they are also humans, even if people might think they are descendents from heaven.
The Munya Times
@cleo
It's not Pollyanna playing, it's experience.
@borscht
I met many of these people who had this surgery and I wrote down what I heard and saw. Experience as I mentioned above to cleo. Please remember the emperor is 78 and has a lot of health problem recently and had a serious cancer surgery. He must be very tired in his body and heart. Also he performs more than one duty almost each day.
I remember years ago empress Michiko even collapsed during a hard exhausting all day long visit. Protocol, standing for long time etc. I'm personally not focusing on that thing as an this emperor problem, just as human thing for elderly people. There is no way I would ever take His life and live in the palace, not for all the luxury he enjoys. I noticed many times that the IHA keeps them damned busy all the time. It's just very hard and he should be allowed to retire.
realdoll
I thought they had more non invasive methods of correcting blocked arteries..
YuriOtani
My prayers for my Emperor and his family.
nath
My father-in-law had this surgery a few years ago and is back to his usual active self, able to walk several kms, including hills, without any problems. Angioplasty (stenting) is a possibility for arterial stenosis, but if it's too severe, then a bypass is the best option. This is a routine procedure, and as the Emperor has plenty of people to look after him, maintaining a good diet and driving him around, then I'm sure he'll recover well afterwards. Having said that, I would agree that it's probably time to let his sons take on more of his duties and for him to enjoy a more relaxed schedule, rather than an endless round of visits from one end of the country to the other.
Azusa Suzie
Who knows if the Emperor himself is hoping to rest and let his son take on his duties now. I myself, seeing how he visited the earthquake devastated areas 7 consecutive weeks feel the Emperor still wishes to be active and keep meeting and cheering for us. If the surgery was his own choice then the best wishes for the Emperor.
The Munya Times
@Asuza Suzie
I think you have just made the best point of the whole discussion here. There is no answer for that. You see what the article wrote?
How could an outsider ever understand what this means inside the palace.
Tatanka
Seems like even an Emperor can't get decent medical care here. According to the news in Japanese he will have a triple bypass. Too serious a condition for the less-evasive stent implantation. Weren't they monitoring his cholesterol or what he was eating? You don't wake up one day and have three clogged coronary arteries. Now they will have to crack open his chest to perform the surgery. After your chest is cracked open in that manner its never the same. I guess he cannot ask to go to the US for decent treatment...
BurakuminDes
All the best of luck, bro. It seems he has been dealt a dud deal in terms of his health and body.
BurakuminDes
BTW - my grand-dad had this surgery 30-odd years ago in Sydney. He survived with flying colours - but the lung cancer from smoking ended up killing him!
cwazycanuck
I do hope he makes it through and goes on a while yet, can't say I'm looking forward to the next lot.