People, Jan. 14, 1957

Names make news. Last week these names made this news:

Emperor Hirohito, in cutaway and striped trousers, and Empress Nagako, in a pastel kimono and silver fox furs, greeted some 170,000 well-wishers in Tokyo from the balcony of a pavilion on their palace preserve. Customarily presenting a poem to his subjects on New Year's Day, Hirohito this year delighted everyone by producing two. Both, as always, suffered from translation into English. The first, inspired by Japan's annual tree-planting rites last spring, was titled Reforestation:

Together with my people

I used a mattock

And planted...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!