First Levee

His Imperial Majesty, Hirohito Tenno, the new Emperor of Japan (TIME, Jan. 3), held his first levee last week at Tokyo, and imperially proclaimed as follows:

"Our Imperial grandfather, endowed with supreme wisdom and discernment in matters civil and military, enhanced the grandeur of the Empire. . . . He promulgated a Constitution imperishable for all ages, and consolidated a system of government unparalleled in the world.

"Our Imperial father had always near his heart a reign of right and justice, and made it his constant aim to follow and brighten the path laid by his predecessor. . . . He has now passed away amidst our unbounded grief and sorrow. . . . Mournful and heavyhearted, we have now succeeded, to the Imperial line. With our limited gifts, we are mindful of the difficulty of proving ourselves equal to the great task devolved upon us. . . .

"Simplicity instead of vain display; originality instead of blind imitation; progress in view of this period of evolution and improvement to keep up with advancing civilization; national harmony in purpose and action; beneficence to all classes of people and friendship to all the nations of the earth: these are cardinal aims to which our profoundest abiding solicitude is directed.