Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress (2025)

The Emperor has a keen interest in natural life and its conservation. He encourages research projects on natural life in the grounds of the Imperial estates.

For many years, the Emperor has made a taxonomic study of gobies, small fish found in fresh, brackish and marine waters. As a member of the Ichthyological Society of Japan, he published 28 papers in the society's journal between 1963 and 2003. The Emperor published 32 papers in all.
He was one of the contributors to The Fishes of the Japanese Archipelago (1st edition in 1984: the first illustrated book of all the fishes in Japanese waters). He served as honorary president of the Second International Conference on Indo-Pacific Fishes in 1985, and presented a paper, "Some Morphological Characters Considered to be Important in Gobiid Phylogeny," which was later included in the conference proceedings.

Despite his heavy official duties, the Emperor published two papers in a joint work in 2000, and became one of the co-writers of "Fishes of Japan with Pictorial Keys to the Species, Second Edition" published in 2000. An English edition was published in 2002.

For his work in this field, he was invited to become a foreign member of the Linnean Society of London in 1980 and was elected as an honorary member of that Society in 1986. He has been an honorary member of the Zoological Society of London since 1992 and of the Research Institute for Natural Science of Argentina since 1997. He is also a research associate of the Australian Museum. In 1998, he became the first recipient of the King Charles the Second Medal, which is awarded by the Royal Society of London to those heads of state who have made outstanding contribution to the advancement of science.

The Emperor has a keen interest in both Japanese and world history. At the request of the editor of Science magazine when it published a special issue on Japan in 1992, he contributed "Early Cultivators of Science in Japan", an essay on the history of early science in Japan after the coming of the Europeans.

Empress Michiko has an extensive interest in art, and is particularly well-read in Japanese classical literature. She has kept up Her interest in children's literature and contributed to that field Herself. Hajimete no Yamanobori (My First Mountain), a picture book for which the Empress wrote the story, was published in 1991. Empress Michiko has also made contributions in the field of translation. She has translated 80 poems of Michio Mado, known for his poems for children, and those translations were published in four books: Dobutsu-tachi (The Animals) , Fushigina Poketto (THE MAGIC POCKET), Niji (Rainbow) and Keshigomu (Eraser). The two former books were published in the United States as well. On the basis of those poems translated by the Empress, Michio Mado was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prize for Literature by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) in 1994, becoming the first recipient from Asia. For the 26th Congress of the IBBY convened in New Delhi, India, in 1998, the Empress, at the request of IBBY, made a keynote speech which was delivered via video. In response to many requests, the speech was later published in a bilingual book entitled, "Building Bridges --- Reminiscences of Childhood Readings." In 2002, at the invitation of IBBY and the city of Basel in Switzerland, the Empress attended the organization's Jubilee Congress in Basel as one of the three patrons and delivered a congratulatory address at its opening ceremony. This was published as a book titled, "From Basel --- to those who bring books and children together."

In October 2005, Ayumi (Steps), a book compiling Her Majesty's remarks on various occasions, replies at press conferences and waka poems, was published. The book was published bilingually, in Japanese and English.

The Empress is fond of music. She plays the piano, and is a good accompanist to the Emperor, who plays the cello and to Crown Prince Naruhito, who plays the viola and violin. When She finds time, She enjoys playing in a small chamber ensemble with Her musician friends. Every summer, Her Majesty participates in the annual Kusatsu International Summer Music Academy and Festival, practicing ensemble performance by playing to the accompaniment of musicians coming from many parts of the world. The Empress also gives encouragement and support to Gagaku, classical court music and dance, often attending the performances by court musicians and dancers, some of whom are descendants of former aristocrats.

Almost every day, the Emperor and Empress take early morning walks in the Palace woods and gardens where they can enjoy the changes of the seasons and be close to nature which they both love. On weekends they play tennis, their favourite sport, when their schedule permits.