The one and only..

So in Japan if you want to see the emperor in person you can only do it on 2 occasions. He will make a public appearance at the royal palace once on on the 23rdof December , on his birthday and once on the second of January to give a speech for the beginning of the upcoming year.

As I missed his birthday, I decided not to miss this opportunity while I was here , so I just went along at the palace on the second. I was pretty surprised to see how Japanese people greet their emperor. At the entry we would receive a small Japanese flag and when the emperor made its appearance you didn’t hear any cheers , any noise made , or any songs sang(like you do for example in England). No, instead people just waved the flag several times. Not even claps. And that was it. All in a civilized organized respectful and calm way.