Their Imperial Majesties Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attended Wednesday Jan 11th with a part of the imperial family the "Kosho hajime no gi" ceremony.

Absent were Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Princess Masako and Princess Kako. The wife of Crown Prince Naruhito was not by his side to attend the "Kosho hajime no gi" alongside with some other members of the Japanese imperial family. With a sitting arrangement of women on one side, the men on the other, to the left and right of the imperial couple. T.I.M Emperor Akihito of Japan and Empress Michiko, sitting in armchairs in front of masked tables of shimmering fabric, faced the speakers who succeeded each other in the course of this annual ceremony. Dressed in turquoise-blue, Princess Mako, 25, had come with her parents Prince Fumihito of Akishino and Princess Kiko.

The "Kosho hajime no gi" or "First Conference" is organized annually in January at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, in the presence of the Japanese monarch and his wife, during the New Year ceremonies. Academics took the floor. Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo and member of the Japanese Academy of Sciences, Tetsuya Shiokawa evoked the French mathematician and philosopher of the seventeenth century Blaise Pascal, of whom he is an undisputed specialist. Also featured was Kazuko Mori, professor emeritus at Waseda University, whose main research interests are related to the politics and external relations of contemporary China, and molecular biologist Yoshiyuki Sakaki, 6th president of Toyohashi Technical University and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo.