Japanese emperor and his family greet flag-waving crowd at the palace for New Year's

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his family greeted throngs of New Year’s well-wishers from a balcony window at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Thursday.

Some shouted “banzai” — “long live” — while others waved small paper Japanese flags.

“I feel for those who are still greatly suffering,” Naruhito said, referring to the quake in western Japan that struck a year ago, as well as flooding and other natural disasters throughout the nation.

Last year, his appearance was canceled at the last minute because of a devastating quake in the Noto Peninsula that killed hundreds of people.

In the royal family’s New Year video message for this year, released earlier in the week, Naruhito showed a beautifully crafted mask from the Noto area, which are worn by drummers who perform in a traditional style called gojinjo daiko.

The emperor's 2021 and 2022 greetings, which attract huge crowds to the palace’s usually cloistered grounds, were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Naruhito also offered prayers for people’s happiness in an appearance that also included his wife Empress Masako and their daughter Princess Aiko.

Aiko, who turned 23 last month, is at the center of a national debate about the rules of male-only succession in the imperial family. Under current law, she will leave the family, once she marries outside the imperial family.

Also standing on the balcony was Emperor Emeritus Akihito, who abdicated in favor of his son in 2019, and his wife Empress Emerita Michiko, as well as Naruhito’s younger brother and his family.

Satoshi Nishoji, who came from Osaka in western Japan and stood in line for five hours to join the crowd, said “I was so happy to see them all because I haven't made it the last five years."

“I want to come next year, too,” he added happily.

After the emperor and his family members waved, the crowd broke into a solemn rendition of the national anthem.

The emperor does not have political power but has symbolic significance for Japan. Historically, World War II was fought in the name of Naruhito’s grandfather Hirohito. Over the decades since Japan’s defeat in 1945, the Imperial Family has advocated peace.

In this year’s statement, Naruhito noted that 2025 marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, adding that he was filled with pain thinking about the death and suffering that remain in war-torn areas.

“I truly feel the need for people to accept our differences so we may work together, hand in hand, toward realizing world peace,” he said.

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Japan's Emperor Naruhito delivers a speech as Empress Masako stands next to him during a public appearance for the new year's celebrations with their imperial families at the Imperial Palace, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

Japan's Princess Aiko waves at well-wishers from the balcony during a public appearance for the new year's celebrations with her imperial families at the Imperial Palace, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

Japan's Emperor Naruhito, from left, waves with Empress Masako and Princess Aiko to well-wishers from the balcony during a public appearance for the new year's celebrations with his imperial families at Imperial Palace, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

Japan's Emperor Naruhito waves to well-wishers from the balcony during a public appearance for the new year's celebrations with his imperial families at Imperial Palace, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

Emperor Emeritus Akihito, right, and Empress Emerita Michiko greet well-wishers from the bullet-proofed balcony during a public appearance for New Years's Day with his imperial families at Imperial Palace Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

Well-wishers attend a public appearance for the new year's celebrations at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Emperor Naruhito waves with Empress Masako to well-wishers from the balcony during a public appearance for New Year's Day with his imperial families at Imperial Palace, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

Japan's Empress Emerita Michiko, from left, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako, Princess Aiko, Crown Prince Akishino, Crown Princess Kiko and Princess Kako wave at well-wishers during a public appearance for New Year celebrations at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)

PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Jimmy Carter 's long public goodbye began Saturday in south Georgia where the 39th U.S. president's life began more than 100 years ago.

A motorcade with Carter's flag-draped casket began at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, where former Secret Service agents who protected the former president served as pallbearers and walked along side the hearse as it left the campus.

The Carter family, including the former president's four children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, are accompanying their patriarch in a procession that will take his remains through his beloved hometown of Plains and past his boyhood home on its way to Atlanta.

Carter died at his home in Plains on Dec. 29 at the age of 100.

Families lined the procession route in downtown Plains, near the historic train depot where Carter headquartered his presidential campaign. Some carried bouquets of flowers or wore commemorative pins bearing Carter’s photo.

“We want to pay our respects,” said 12-year-old Will Porter Shelbrock, who was born more than three decades after Carter left the White House in 1981. “He was ahead of his time on what he tried to do and tried to accomplish.”

It was Shelbrock’s idea to make the trip to Plains from Gainesville, Fla., with his grandmother, Susan Cone, 66, so they could witness the start of Carter's final journey. Shelbrock said he admires Carter for his humanitarian work building houses and waging peace, and for installing solar panels on the White House.

Carter and his late wife Rosalynn, who died in November 2023, were born in Plains and lived most of their lives in and around the town, with the exceptions of Jimmy's Navy career and his terms as Georgia governor and president.

The procession will stop in front of Carter's boyhood home on his family farm just outside of Plains. The National Park Service will ring the old farm bell 39 times to honor his place as the 39th president. Carter's remains then will proceed to Atlanta for a moment of silence in front of the Georgia Capitol and a ceremony at the Carter Presidential Center.

There, he will lie in repose until Tuesday morning, when he will be transported to Washington to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. His state funeral is Thursday at 10 a.m. at Washington National Cathedral, followed by a return to Plains for an invitation-only funeral at Maranatha Baptist Church.

He will be buried near his home, next to Rosalynn Carter.

Bill Barrow, based in Atlanta, has covered national politics including multiple presidential campaigns for the AP since 2012.

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter welcomes visitors to Maranatha Baptist Church before teaching Sunday school in Plains, Ga., June 8, 2014. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - People wait in line outside Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., to get into a Sunday school class taught by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Aug. 23, 2015. It was Carter's first lesson since announcing plans for intravenous drug doses and radiation to treat melanoma found in his brain after surgery to remove a tumor from his liver. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

People line the street in Plains, Ga., before the hearse carrying the casket of former President Jimmy Carter passes through the town Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown, Aug. 23, 2015, in Plains, Ga. The 90-year-old Carter gave one lesson to about 300 people filling the small Baptist church that he and his wife, Rosalynn, attend. It was Carter's first lesson since detailing the intravenous drug doses and radiation treatment planned to treat melanoma found in his brain after surgery to remove a tumor from his liver. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)