Happy birthday

Congrats to her!

But I do wonder why they are staring at these statues....I mean....they're in the Imperial Palace Garden....and they don't look like they are brand new...you know what I mean?

Happy Birthday Uesama!

Emperor thinks: "Hen-pecked" Empress thinks: "Hen."

Another exciting day in the palace. How long did it take them to get all dressed up to go outside?

Don't suppose they could have had a barbecue, instead of the usual IHA menu....

The emperor is plotting to invade Manchuria. He needs the advice of the phoenix.

Oh, what, no poems released this time?

They're slipping.

I wouldn't want those monstrosities in my garden. ( the things on the left )

50 JT points on the statues moving first.

They often come out looking for food before hibernating during the winter.

is that a kid's size small or medium the emperor is wearing?

I couldn't good translating from JPN to ENG for "Phoenix" mean...

At the mean of Japanese "Phoenix" is "do not die" and "alive forever", so I think Emperor and Empress stand next to that statue mean, they think and love all of Japanese live forever.

they look like figurines, I am struggling to recall a natural photo of those two.

Wonderful photo!

Most of Japan's Phoenix statues look like gigantic chicken/ostriches owing to the Chinese tradition.

Welcome to Jurrasic Park.

Wow ! This picture doesn't look staged at all ...

First, Happy Birthday to Michiko - she looks regal as always.

On JTV this morning they showed the Imperial Couple playing doubles tennis and she stopped the match when she saw on insect (bee?) was on the court. She used her racquet to move the poor bug off the court. It was so sweet of her. Yes, playing tennis at age 76!

I wonder what her favorite flavor of birthday cake is? Maybe the staff ordered one of those ice cream cakes from Baskin Robbins 31!

However, this photo makes them look even shorter than they really are. And it looks like they were photoshopped in.

They looked so bored.

Poor Imperial family members. It's like being a zoo exhibit for your whole life, without a cage.

i think she is one of the more beautiful of royals of that age in the world right now

In the future, there will be no more wild animals and we'll see more photos of them looking at statues of wild animals.

Have been waiting for double breasted suits to come back in.Will dust mine off tonight. If its good enough for the Emperor...

mrskit

i think she is one of the more beautiful of royals of that age in the world right now

Agreed. She has this ephemeral quality about her. Absolute grace !

Happy birthday.

I love double-breasted suits. And I, for one, appreciate the sentiment within this picture. Nice to see these folks and Happy Birthday.

Looking at their eyes seems to me they are looking at another camera or someone is giving them directions to do something natural. Action packed photo !!!!

Whiskeysour, looks to me like the Emperor is answering someone's question while the Empress looks on.

I find it interesting that for these "official" photo ops, the Emperor dons western clothes while the Empress wears traditional Japanese clothing. You would think they'd both go one way or the other. Is this the "norm" for the Royal couple?

Michi: Where the hell did they come from??

Aki: Dunno. Maybe someone gave 'em to us.

Michi: Are you sure, Aki? They look kinda old...

Aki: Mmm... I think your right, Michi.

Michi: It's amazing we never noticed them before.

Aki: Well, we do have 7 and a half acres!!

Michi: Is that all?

Aki: Sorry dear, my bad. That's 7 and a half square kms.

Michi: Always the funny man, Aki, always the funny man.

Dear posters, it seems that we can NOT use negative comments with our dear leaders. Hmm...why is that moderator, or could you identify only those negative adjectives that we can use. To save us some time, you know. U-N-B-E-L-I-V-E-A-B=L-E, how some people will protect royalty!!!

People--how much of your tax dollars did this whole stunt cost?

Like to use a negative comment about the cost of this photo op but Moderator says to use only positive adjectives for our leaders.

Moderator: The moderator said no such thing. Please lift the level of your contributions which are generally quite poor and add nothing to the discussion.

Can use the word r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s.

Amazing. And it looks like these two have at least TEN more years to go. Gosh! I will be 60 before they shuffle off.