Empress Masako’s Pearls of Remembrance in Tokyo

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako headed to the Nippon Budokan arena in Tokyo on August 15th for the annual commemoration. I’ll repeat my description of the ceremony from last year: “The memorial service commemorates the end of World War II in Japan. It’s held each year on August 15, which is the anniversary of Emperor Hirohito’s famous broadcast announcing that Japan had accepted the terms of surrender set out in the Potsdam Declaration. That broadcast was the first time that a Japanese emperor had ever spoken directly to the people, and therefore the first time that most people in Japan had ever heard an emperor’s voice. The broadcast was a recording made on a phonograph and then aired on NHK.”

The Emperor and the Empress joined dignitaries from around the country for the memorial commemoration. The official description of the ceremony calls the day a moment “for mourning of war dead and praying for peace.”

Emperor Naruhito wore morning dress for the ceremony, while Empress Masako was ultra-elegant and composed in a gray suit with a matching hat.

She also wore white gloves, pearl earrings, and a single-stranded pearl necklace for the occasion.

Here’s another view of the Empress’s pearls from the memorial.

If the ensemble looks familiar, there’s a good reason for that. Masako has worn exactly the same clothing and jewels for this remembrance ceremony every year since her husband’s accession to the throne in 2019.

Masako’s ensemble is so identical every year that it can be very difficult to differentiate photographs of the event from various years. Above, Empress Masako attends the ceremony in August 2019.

The mask worn by the Empress in this photograph helps to date it to August 2020.

This picture shows Masako at the ceremony in August 2021. (These pearls maybe look slightly smaller?)

Here, Empress Masako attends the ceremony in August 2022.

And here’s one more look at the Empress attending the ceremony a week ago. It’s an interesting choice, repeating her attire so exactly each year for the same occasion. For one, it keeps the attention on the matter at hand, rather than on any imperial fashion notes. And it’s also a version of a uniform—very much like the morning suit that her husband gets to choose for the ceremony. What do all of you think?