Undeterred by an unseasonal dusting of snow, Emperor Hirohito and several other members of the imperial family trooped into their private box last week as the strains of Kimi-ga-yo, Japan's national anthem, wafted over the Senri Hills near Osaka. While multicolored flags and paper cranes swirled about them in the brisk breezes, cannons boomed a five-gun salute and a 100-piece orchestra blared Fanfare of the 21st Century, a piece specially written by composer Masaru Sato. Then two giant robots clanked into Festival Plaza, disgorging 110 members of a children's band who launched...
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