June 26, 2023: Emperor Naruhito（天皇陛下）

I saw on the news that the imperial couple was in Indonesia. I have felt closer to him than to other emperors. This is because he is the same age as me and he is only one month younger than me. So I went to the Imperial Palace to see him when he ascended the throne in 2019. It was the first time I visited the Palace to congratulate the Imperial Family. Even I was inspired to see him so much that I expected the place to be very crowded. I first got off at Nijyu-Bashi, a station on the Chiyoda Line of the Tokyo underground, and walked up the steps to the palace. As soon as I got to the ground and saw the palace, there were so many queues for the visitors. The crowd was far more than I expected. I reluctantly joined one of the queues. But I had to wait for three hours or more to move to the Chōwaden Reception Hall. A few hours later, I finally arrived in front of the Hall and was able to see the Emperor for just a moment. Immediately afterwards, he and his family left the hall for a break and were out of my sight. I was so disappointed by it that I tried to wait for them to come back to the Hall. But I was too exhausted to wait for them. So I gave up seeing them again and left the palace.

　天皇皇后両陛下がインドネシアを訪問されているというニュースが目に留まりました。現在の天皇陛下とは年齢が同じということもあり、親近感を感じます。陛下が2月生まれで、ボクが1月生まれです。それもあって、2019年に即位された際は、参賀のために皇居に行きました。一般参賀は人生初の体験でした。ボクのような人間でも行くぐらいですから、参賀者が多いとは予想していましたが、ボクの予想をはるかに超える多さでした。千代田線の二重橋前で降りて皇居に向かったのですが、参賀者のあまりの多さにびっくりしました。皇居にはすでにたくさんの列ができていて、ボクもその列の一つに加わりました。それから、長和殿のベランダにたどり着くまで、延々と待ちました。結局、長和殿ベランダの前にたどり着くまでに３、４時間待ちました。ようやく、ベランダついたかと思ったら、陛下たちがちょうど離れられるところで、陛下の姿を拝見できたのはほんの数秒でした。その後もお出ましになるので、待っていてもよかったのですが、疲れ果てて、待つ気力が失せたため退散しました。