By AKIKO TADA/ Staff Writer
April 26, 2022 at 18:30 JST
Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko moved into a newly renovated residence located within the grounds of the Akasaka Estate in Tokyo’s Minato Ward on April 26.
Once the couple moves in, the new residence will be called the Sento Imperial Residence.
The Imperial Household Agency opened the building to the media on April 25 and showed off public rooms for greeting visitors and an area around the carriage porch.
The new residence is a two-story reinforced concrete building with a basement floor. It has a total floor space of 6,120 square meters. It includes private rooms for the couple, public rooms to greet guests and staff offices.
Emperor Naruhito and his family had lived in the residence, then called Akasaka Imperial Residence, until September 2021.
Renovation work was recently carried out to make private rooms barrier-free.
In the lead-up to the big move, Akihito and Michiko stayed at the Hayama Imperial Villa in Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture, from April 12 to April 26.
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