During breaks in their tour of areas affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko tried to put themselves in the shoes of victims and relief workers.
They spent hours listening to experts and government officials, picking their brains on all aspects of the calamity.
Their dedication to the task was not unlike the way a student prepares for exams.
Kenji Satake, a professor who heads the Earthquake and Volcano Information Center at the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute, was contacted April 7, 2011, by Ichiro Kanazawa, then president of the Science Council of Japan.
Kanazawa said he was calling in his capacity as medical supervisor of the imperial household.
Explaining that the imperial couple wanted to learn from experts on earthquakes, nuclear energy and radiation, Kanazawa asked: "Can you come to the Imperial Household Agency? I will have a chamberlain explain the details."
Satake, 55, assumed that he would be one among many experts who would be asked to speak for five minutes or so, each on their topic of specialization.
The following day, a chamberlain called and set him right, saying: "You will have one hour. Also, you will be the only one speaking."
At 2 p.m. on April 20, Satake found himself in the residential quarters of the Imperial Palace. He had once welcomed the imperial couple to an opening ceremony of a scientific conference, but this was the first time he had ever talked to them in such an intimate setting.
As Satake began talking about earthquakes in Japan that had occurred along the Nankai Trough, Akihito suddenly asked, "Where did the Jogan Earthquake take place?"
The emperor was referring to an earthquake said to have occurred in the ninth century off the coast of Tohoku.
Satake said, "Your majesty, I will explain about the Jogan Earthquake later."
As he was explaining about earthquake intensity and magnitude, Michiko asked, "What term do you use in English to explain such matters?"
Satake said, "The term Richter scale was used in deference to the American who thought up the idea of magnitude."
"When was that scale created?" Akihito asked.
"In 1935," Satake replied.
"That means there was no unit for magnitude at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake (in 1923)," Akihito said.
Before starting his lecture, Satake had been told that the arrival of a chamberlain would be the sign that the session was ending. However, the imperial couple continued to pepper him with questions for 10 minutes after the chamberlain entered the room.
On another occasion, Nobuyasu Kubo, 62, the commissioner of the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, was summoned to the Imperial Household Agency to explain what firefighters from around Japan were doing to assist disaster victims in the Tohoku region.
On April 25, Kubo met with the imperial couple for about an hour, along with Yuji Arai, 62, the chief of the Tokyo Fire Department.
Kubo explained that more than 200 firefighters had died in the process of guiding evacuees to higher ground when the tsunami hit.
He sensed that his words brought tears in the eyes of the imperial couple as they were clearly at a loss for words.
Of the 160,000 firefighters in Japan, 30,000 were deployed to the three worst-affected prefectures of the Tohoku region.
Akihito asked, "How is the asbestos situation in the disaster-stricken areas?"
Arai explained how members of the fire rescue task force carried hoses into the grounds of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to spray water into the pool holding spent nuclear fuel.
"How is the health of the firefighters who entered the plant site?" Akihito asked.
"The central government will assume responsibility for their health checks," Kubo said. "We will also conduct testing for leukemia."
Michiko said, "I hope you will take good care of them for a long time, even after they leave the fire department."
Kubo was struck by how much thought the imperial couple had given to what the firefighters did when he heard Akihito's speech at a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the disaster.
"We cannot forget that among those who died or are still missing are those who did not flinch even in the face of danger as they conducted rescue and relief efforts and gave up their lives, including the firefighters," the emperor said.
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