Japan's Emperor Emeritus to be hospitalized for heart examination

Japan's Imperial Household Agency has announced that the 91-year-old Emperor Emeritus Akihito will be hospitalized in Tokyo on 6th May for a heart examination. The agency says that the Emperor Emeritus underwent a regular checkup at the Imperial Household Hospital in mid-April, and showed signs of possible myocardial ischemia. 

Agency officials say he had not noticed any symptoms, such as chest pains, but after reexamination, he was diagnosed with a high probability of myocardial ischemia on Sunday. The Emperor Emeritus underwent coronary bypass surgery after being diagnosed with angina in 2012, when he was 78.

In July 2022, he was diagnosed with right heart failure. The agency says the Emperor Emeritus will postpone plans to stay at the Hayama Imperial Villa in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, from Thursday.