When Hirohito, Japan's Emperor for 63 years, died on January 7, 1989, his youngest brother, the then 73-year old Prince Mikasa, may have been the only person alive who had seen and participated in the enthronement rites for a new monarch. Over the next two years, until December 1990, the new emperor, Akihito, or his representatives participated in no fewer than 30 separate events marking his ascension to the throne, each one an interpretation of a supposedly ancient ceremony, newly choreographed based on records of the most recent coronations kept in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
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